The Limey on the Long-Running U.S. Passion for Guns

written by Gavin Loch
November 2002 Vol 1 Issue 2

A young man is seething with rage and he is fast on his way to a university nursing school in Arizona to exact revenge in a particularly lethal fashion. Arriving at the university, he draws a handgun and fires, unleashing his hatred and anger. As can be expected, the outcome is not propitious: four people are shot, including two female professors. Then, the man turns the weapon on himself. The motive? He had been prevented from sitting his exams.

The incident is just another homicide statistic in a country that has a lot more than its fair share. This recent attack and the whole business involving the Washington sniper has re-opened the perpetual debate regarding the right to own firearms and, in many ways, the real significance of the famous 2nd Amendment in the 21st century U.S. What is interesting is that the central issue of civil liberties appears to be largely defined by the possession of a firearm. In a recent Zogby poll, 75% of Americans believed the 2nd Amendment protected their individual right to keep and bear arms. Also, Richard Poe in his book The 7 Myths of Gun Control, states the absurd claim that the 2nd Amendment is as vital to the lives and liberty of modern Americans as it was in frontier times. He goes on to argue that the drive to regulate and outlaw firearms is an assault on truth and freedom.

With an estimated 200 million firearms privately held in the country, why is it that guns are still such an icon of U.S. culture? One reason is that much of the history of Hollywood has focussed on America's experience with guns: notable in the sheer abundance of Westerns, war films, crime, and gangster movies. This simply re-enforces the notion that guns are very much a way of life. Second, and far more significant, is a passion that stems from a fierce and long-standing libertarian tradition that is largely absent in Europe. Possession of firearms is at the heart of the theme of individualism. A moot point, but this tradition belongs more to a bygone era in the country's short and turbulent history.

People living in an agrarian society unrecognizable to modern Americans drew up the 2nd Amendment in 1791, when communities needed guns to hunt and to protect themselves from Indians and highwaymen. Above all, this Amendment was born out of the War of Independence, being at a period when armed militias had the right to protect people and property: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” One of the best examples of this particular agrarian wild-frontier way of life is best encapsulated in the film, ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales,’ set at the close of the Civil War. Although the law perfectly suited that unstable period in U.S. history, in today's modern society it is, without doubt, an anachronism. Possessing a gun to protect your home from a dangerous burglar may be suitable on the grounds of self-defence; even today, the law overwhelmingly backs someone who shoots another dead in protection of his property. This law is especially relevant in Texas.

Yet, this is not the average homicide case. A far more likely scenario is that of a trivial incident becoming an argument, then resulting in a shooting due to the availability of a firearm. The difference in Europe is that an argument or an incident involving jealousy or betrayal will hardly ever end up involving a firearm, but will conclude with a fight at most. Research has shown that a person is far likelier to be shot by someone whom they know (a friend, lover, relative, neighbour) as opposed to the anonymous criminal or serial killer. During a frenzied situation, in the heat of the moment, before the person has calmed down and before reason and logic have had time to work, the gun is found and the trigger pulled. If someone has a problem, the philosophy seems to be: shoot first, think afterwards. At least in Scotland, we just stab one another!

With an annual murder rate of around 25,000, the question of gun control is still never that high on a politician's priority list. Never mind that this figure is eight times the numbers killed in the World Trade Center attack. Yet there is little public outcry over the daily national gun massacre. Although the fever over the Washington sniper has passed, there will be many more firearm murders to follow. One thing is certain though: however many victims, there will be no gun control. The right to own a firearm is deeply embedded in the American psyche like a splinter of granite: jagged and immovable.