Gun control is not a cultural battle

[SecularMotion]

(CNN) -- On the eve of the anniversary of the tragic massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, yet another shooting broke out Friday -- this time in a high school in the suburbs of Denver. A few people were reported injured, so far, while the gunman took his own life, police said. And once again, an American community reels -- bewildered that such violence could occur among its young people.

While the vast majority of youth murdered in the U.S. are gunned down in the street, school shootings that are rare in other countries occur far too frequently in America.

The U.S. does not have unusually high rates of crime, violent behavior or mental illness compared with other high-income countries; but our rate of homicide with firearms is nearly 20 times higher. Lax gun laws that allow dangerous people easy access to guns plays an important role in this disparity.

There was reason to believe that Congress would be forced to put public safety interests ahead of the special interests of the gun lobby after 20 young children and six adults were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School a year ago.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/13/opinion/webster-newtown-shooting/

[billh58]

1. The NRA and its apologists

have made the entire "gun culture" advertising campaign a cultural battle in order to sell more guns, resulting in more gun deaths. They twist proposed gun control measures into something nefarious based on the lie that "Democrats want to take away your guns."

Their other cultural mantra is that banning certain types of lethal weapons which were designed for mass killing on a battlefield, is "infringing on our God-given and Constitutional right to own any type of firearm I want, and fuck you if you don't like it." Couple that with the far-right call for the vigilante summary justice of stand-your-ground and "castle doctrine" insidious laws (see ALEC and the Koch Brothers), and you have an out-of-control culture of violence and death by guns.

So, in a very real sense the fight for sensible gun control legislation is a "cultural battle" against the inbred cultural insanity of the unfettered proliferation of firearms and the health risk they impose on the American public as a whole.

[BrotherIvan]

2. Bears Repeating

The U.S. does not have unusually high rates of crime, violent behavior or mental illness compared with other high-income countries; but our rate of homicide with firearms is nearly 20 times higher. Lax gun laws that allow dangerous people easy access to guns plays an important role in this disparity.