And the first amendment wasn't written with the internet and the Heaven's Gate cult in mind either.
Well, until someone invents a magic wand that can be waved to turn all the guns in the world into salt water taffy, your first question is a false choice. Guns are being smuggled into prisons, which have far more stringent measures against smuggling than we would ever voluntarily tolerate. So creating a gun free world is an impossibility. Removing guns from legal trade just drives that to the black market. Guns in the hands of ordinary private citizens in mexico has been largely illegal during it's entire history as a nation, and prior to that as a colony. Doesn't seem to have worked there either. Here in america, we have a bunch of different sub-societies in the country. Out in rural areas, guns are in pretty much every home, and shooting skills are taught as one of the necessary skills of life. Protecting ones crops and livestock from wild animals, be it deer eating the corn crop, to a mountain lion killing one's cattle, is needful. Not to mentions defending oneself from dangerous critters coming after you.
In the urban areas, you have the concentration of criminals that by definition, ignore any laws they care to break. The illegal trade in drugs (And please don't go off on the war on drugs, which is a whole nother can of worms) drives the drug dealers to arm themselves to defend themselves from other criminals. Drug dealers have lots of cash and desirable commodities on them. And they can't call the police to file a complaint about the guy who mugged them for all their drugs and cash, nor can they sue another drug dealer for interfering with their drug dealing business, nor sue their supplier for selling them fake drugs instead of real drugs. So all disputes generally reduce to one party backing down to threat of violence from the other. Thus the drug dealers want to have lots of guns. Not because they want to kill everyone on the street, but because they have to be perceived to be able to defend themselves against their competitors and their predators. This psychology is what drives the extreme violent reactions to disrespect from others in their subculture.
So the drug dealer subculture is awash in illegal guns. The bigger and badder, the better. Because the guns are not just dangerous tools, but they are talismans of power. This plethora of guns spreads out to all the other criminal subcultures for much the same reasons. Although the psychological effects of chronic illegal drug use make the use of these guns in fights more common. paranoia, rage attacks, nihilistic traits, and depressed higher brain functions all feed into this mess.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2014-10-28 02:43 am (UTC)Well, until someone invents a magic wand that can be waved to turn all the guns in the world into salt water taffy, your first question is a false choice. Guns are being smuggled into prisons, which have far more stringent measures against smuggling than we would ever voluntarily tolerate. So creating a gun free world is an impossibility. Removing guns from legal trade just drives that to the black market. Guns in the hands of ordinary private citizens in mexico has been largely illegal during it's entire history as a nation, and prior to that as a colony. Doesn't seem to have worked there either.
Here in america, we have a bunch of different sub-societies in the country. Out in rural areas, guns are in pretty much every home, and shooting skills are taught as one of the necessary skills of life. Protecting ones crops and livestock from wild animals, be it deer eating the corn crop, to a mountain lion killing one's cattle, is needful. Not to mentions defending oneself from dangerous critters coming after you.
In the urban areas, you have the concentration of criminals that by definition, ignore any laws they care to break. The illegal trade in drugs (And please don't go off on the war on drugs, which is a whole nother can of worms) drives the drug dealers to arm themselves to defend themselves from other criminals. Drug dealers have lots of cash and desirable commodities on them. And they can't call the police to file a complaint about the guy who mugged them for all their drugs and cash, nor can they sue another drug dealer for interfering with their drug dealing business, nor sue their supplier for selling them fake drugs instead of real drugs. So all disputes generally reduce to one party backing down to threat of violence from the other. Thus the drug dealers want to have lots of guns. Not because they want to kill everyone on the street, but because they have to be perceived to be able to defend themselves against their competitors and their predators. This psychology is what drives the extreme violent reactions to disrespect from others in their subculture.
So the drug dealer subculture is awash in illegal guns. The bigger and badder, the better. Because the guns are not just dangerous tools, but they are talismans of power. This plethora of guns spreads out to all the other criminal subcultures for much the same reasons. Although the psychological effects of chronic illegal drug use make the use of these guns in fights more common. paranoia, rage attacks, nihilistic traits, and depressed higher brain functions all feed into this mess.