The problem with trying to achieve anything with gun control in the US is
that Western neo-conservative societies have all created a culture in
the last 30 years where everybody is obsessed with individual rights and
individual responsibilities. These things have become part of our
national identities, so that any restriction of them, no matter how
reasonable, is deeply felt. Talking about our collective wellbeing and
the structural barriers that make it impossible for some people to
succeed apparently makes you a communist now. If someone needs benefits
or welfare to help them survive, we tell them they need to take
individual responsibility. If someone tries to make laws designed to
protect everybody, we start whining about our rights as individuals.
I can understand why some Americans want to hold on to their guns. Some people have no sense of being part of a wider society and having moral obligations to that society. This is why so many people in America and Europe complain about paying their taxes (god forbid the rich be made to help the poor). There is no doubt that restricting guns would save lives. In the UK, 0.25% deaths are gun related and in the US it’s 9%. That difference is purely down to the availability of guns. But if you’ve been brought up in a society that tells you “look after your own, don’t worry about anyone else and don’t expect any help from us” then you can’t be surprised when people want the means to defend themselves and to hell with the consequences for everyone else.
This 30 year project of Reaganomics and Thatcherism isn’t just economically unviable. It’s killing people. We need to stop obsessing about our individual circumstances and realise that what we do affects others.
I can understand why some Americans want to hold on to their guns. Some people have no sense of being part of a wider society and having moral obligations to that society. This is why so many people in America and Europe complain about paying their taxes (god forbid the rich be made to help the poor). There is no doubt that restricting guns would save lives. In the UK, 0.25% deaths are gun related and in the US it’s 9%. That difference is purely down to the availability of guns. But if you’ve been brought up in a society that tells you “look after your own, don’t worry about anyone else and don’t expect any help from us” then you can’t be surprised when people want the means to defend themselves and to hell with the consequences for everyone else.
This 30 year project of Reaganomics and Thatcherism isn’t just economically unviable. It’s killing people. We need to stop obsessing about our individual circumstances and realise that what we do affects others.
