There is no simple solution. America has a gun culture. It’s part of their identity. It probably shouldn’t be, but it is. Trying to get guns out of the U.S. is like trying to get beef, or football, or Coca Cola out of the U.S. It’s so entrenched in their society that it’d be incredibly difficult to make any meaningful change even if people wanted it, which they don’t. Add in the NRA and the second amendment, and you just have a quagmire.
I’d say the first thing to do is make sentences for any crime committed where the perpetrator has a gun much harsher. Maybe an automatic double sentence, or ten extra years, something that hurts. That won’t stop a lot of these mass shootings, since most of these shooters plan to die in the attack anyway, but it would help with other gun crimes. Probably stop selling guns at Walmart. I mean yeah, some criminals will still be able to get them, but let’s make them work for it at least. Make it as difficult and inconvenient as possible. Right now, they basically hand the things out like candy in a lot of states.
The big thing is the culture, though. There are many countries that have a lot of guns. Some that have more guns per capita than the U.S. There are a lot more guns here than people realize. Yet here and in many of these other countries, gun violence is far less common. This suggests to me that guns, in and of themselves, are not necessarily the problem. It’s the cowboy culture. The Diehard culture. Charles Bronson’s character extrajudicially murders a bunch of people (who, granted, deserved it) in Death Wish, and he’s regarded as a hero. That’s not a healthy mindset. Vigilantes are not heroes, and yet they’re glamorized and held up as role models in American culture. The idea of a person who was wronged exacting bloody revenge is viewed as cathartic and almost romantic. It’s a difficult puzzle. I’m not sure there is a solution at this point. Honestly, I don’t expect anything to change. I think this is just how it is. Americans just value their guns more than they value human life and if a few thousand people have to die each year because of that, it’s an acceptable cost I guess.
I’d say the first thing to do is make sentences for any crime committed where the perpetrator has a gun much harsher. Maybe an automatic double sentence, or ten extra years, something that hurts. That won’t stop a lot of these mass shootings, since most of these shooters plan to die in the attack anyway, but it would help with other gun crimes. Probably stop selling guns at Walmart. I mean yeah, some criminals will still be able to get them, but let’s make them work for it at least. Make it as difficult and inconvenient as possible. Right now, they basically hand the things out like candy in a lot of states.
The big thing is the culture, though. There are many countries that have a lot of guns. Some that have more guns per capita than the U.S. There are a lot more guns here than people realize. Yet here and in many of these other countries, gun violence is far less common. This suggests to me that guns, in and of themselves, are not necessarily the problem. It’s the cowboy culture. The Diehard culture. Charles Bronson’s character extrajudicially murders a bunch of people (who, granted, deserved it) in Death Wish, and he’s regarded as a hero. That’s not a healthy mindset. Vigilantes are not heroes, and yet they’re glamorized and held up as role models in American culture. The idea of a person who was wronged exacting bloody revenge is viewed as cathartic and almost romantic. It’s a difficult puzzle. I’m not sure there is a solution at this point. Honestly, I don’t expect anything to change. I think this is just how it is. Americans just value their guns more than they value human life and if a few thousand people have to die each year because of that, it’s an acceptable cost I guess.
