Cultural Imperatives
Soul searching, national angst, earnest introspection, it all comes to the fore as the United States looks inward toward its fondest-held values, that of personal gun possession, guaranteed in the land of freedom and liberty under the Second Amendment of the American Constitutional Bill of Rights for U.S. citizens and how what was seen as sacrosanct may now be responsible for holding life less than sacrosanct.This is a gun-owning culture where there are enough firearms in the United States to supply every living soul in America with a gun of their own. Responsible gun ownership is the mantra of the National Rifle Association, along with their assertion of the divine right to gun ownership. The problems of readily accessible instruments of death is that they become such instruments in the hands of criminals, of the mentally unstable.
People fond of repeating the mantra that it is not guns that kill, but people, have no solutions of how to keep those guns out of the hands of people who kill. The casual acceptance of guns has even permitted their presence in academia. In March a State Supreme Court ruling was responsible for forcing the University of Colorado to allow students to carry their guns on campus as long as they were in possession of permits.
Many colleges in the U.S. have been permitted to make their own decisions whether students can carry firearms on campus. While most still forbid the practise, gun-rights advocates working through the courts and state legislatures have succeeded in securing a significant expansion of gun rights at public universities.
Out of the tragedy of the mass murder of twenty young children and six adults at the Connecticut Sandy Hook elementary school there are some calls to arm teachers. President Barack Obama has charged his vice-president with putting together 'concrete proposals' on curbing gun violence. Long a proponent of gun control measures, Vice-President Joseph Biden has his work cut out for him.
"The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse for doing nothing. The fact that we can't prevent every act of violence doesn't mean we can't steadily reduce the violence", announced the President. Politically unpopular to the point where it represents a poisoned political chalice, the move that gun owners most fear appears to be coming into focus; new gun laws.
Assault rifles and high-capacity magazines have been selling like those proverbial hotcakes. Gun shops are running out of inventory as firearms enthusiasts are concerned their ability to buy up new stock may soon be curtailed. In Colorado a single-day record has been set for gun background check requests following the mass shooting in Connecticut.
A manufacturer of armoured backpacks has seen a spike in sales of his product designed to shield children caught in a shooting. Seems like a national navel-gazing initiative might be in order.
Labels: Armaments, Crime, Culture, Defence, Democracy, Political Realities, United States
posted by Pieface @ Friday, December 21, 2012
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