America's gun culture - fading slowly?

[WhiteFeather]

You all are going to NOT love this story.


http://www.reuters.com/article/reute...080109?sp=true
America's gun culture - fading slowly?

By Bernd Debusmann

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Is America, land of shooting massacres in schools and public places, slowly falling out of love with guns?

The answer is yes, and it runs counter to popular perceptions of the United States as a country where most citizens are armed to the teeth and believe it is every American's inalienable right to buy an AK 47-style assault rifle with the minimum of bureaucratic paperwork.

But in fact, gun ownership in the United States has been declining steadily over more than three decades, relegating gun owners to minority status.

At the same time, support for stricter gun controls has been growing steadily and those in favor make up a majority.

This is a little-reported phenomenon but the trend is shown clearly by statistics compiled by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center (NORC), which has been tracking gun ownership and attitudes on firearms since 1972, the longest-running survey on the subject in the United States.

The number of households with guns dropped from a high of 54 percent in 1977 to 34.5 percent in 2006, according to NORC, and the percentage of Americans who reported personally owning a gun has shrunk to just under 22 percent.

So, by the rules of democratic play, one might assume that the majority would have major influence on legislation. But that's not how it works, thanks to the enormous influence of the gun lobby.

The long-term decline monitored by the Chicago survey has buoyed proponents of tighter gun controls. "America's gun culture is fading," says Josh Sugarmann, who heads the Washington-based Violence Policy Center.

According to Sugarmann, those keeping the culture alive and those most vocal in resisting tighter regulations are white, middle-aged men whose enthusiasm for firearms, hunting and shooting is not shared by younger Americans.

Yet, at the moment it's difficult to imagine the U.S. without its gun culture.

But then, who could have imagined France with a ban on smoking in public places, Germany with speed limits on almost half its autobahns, or a black man as a serious contender in this year's presidential elections in the United States?

To what extent gun ownership will continue to shrink depends, at least in part, on a decision by the U.S. Supreme court expected this summer. The court will rule on one of the most acrimonious disputes in the United States: do Americans have the constitutional right to own and bear arms?

GUN RAMPAGES PART OF LIFE

At the heart of the long-running debate, argued with more passion than almost any other, is the meaning of the U.S. constitution's second amendment.

Written 219 years ago, it says: "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."

A string of lower court rulings over several decades held that the amendment meant to guarantee the collective right of state militias, not individual citizens. Such rulings have had limited impact: gun regulations vary from state to state and in most, weapons are easy to buy and legal to keep.

There are a few exceptions: handguns are illegal in Chicago and in Washington, where a court ruled in December that its total ban violated the constitution. That is the case the Supreme Court will take up this year.

No matter how it rules, the court's decision is unlikely to make much immediate difference to the mass shootings by unhinged citizens that have become part of American life.

Gun rampages happen with such numbing regularity -- on average one every three weeks in 2007 -- that they barely make news unless the death toll climbs into double digits, as happened at the Virginia Tech university. There, a student with mental problems killed 32 of his peers and himself.

President George W. Bush this week signed into law a bill meant to prevent people with a record of mental disease from buying weapons.

Virginia Tech was the worst school shooting in U.S. history and rekindled the debate over the easy availability of guns in America. There are more private firearms in the United States than anywhere else in the world -- at least 200 million.

While that arsenal has been growing every year, the proportion of U.S. households where guns are held has been shrinking. In other words: Fewer people have more guns.

One estimate, by the National Police Foundation, says that 10 percent of the country's adults own roughly three quarters of all firearms.

PREVENTION, NOT CURE

That is the hard core, which counts on the gun lobby, chief of all the National Rifle Association (NRA), to throttle attempts to impose restrictions on the sale of firearms.

The NRA, a group that claims some 3 million members, calls itself "America's foremost defender of Second Amendment rights" and backs candidates for political office on their stand on one issue -- gun ownership -- regardless of party affiliation.

Politicians tend to pander to the NRA, some more shamelessly than others. One of the Republican candidates for the 2008 presidential race, Mitt Romney, went so far as to falsely claim that he was a lifelong hunter and had received an official NRA endorsement in 2002.

Small wonder, then, that the debates following every shooting massacre tend to focus not on the easy availability of guns but on preventive security measures.

Metal detectors at the entrances of shopping malls, for example. Or bullet-proof backpacks. They were developed in the wake of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, where two teenagers killed 12 students and teachers and then themselves.

The Columbine-inspired backpacks went on sale in August and have sold briskly. "Sales picked up considerably in the Christmas period," said Mike Pelonzi, one of the two men -- both fathers -- who designed and market them. "Our market is expanding."

(You can contact the author at Debusmann@Reuters com) (Editing by Sean Maguire)

[Siobhra]

It may be in part true. As kids we all had guns in my area. Now there are ten times the people in that area and no kid has a gun.

The Anti's control the schools and media. They know they will not get us to change but they can get the kids to think like them. My brother and I both would go shooting together. Now his kids all are anti's and keep trying to get us to "see how bad they are".

[angus]

No matter how it rules, the court's decision is unlikely to make much immediate difference to the mass shootings by unhinged citizens that have become part of American life.

Because gun control legislation doesn't work to stop individual monsters with mass murder on their minds. Because the causes of mass murder are myriad and complex, and cannot be boiled down to mindless infringement of constitutional rights.

The media's reckless exercise of their first amendment rights reinforce the blaze of glory martyrdom many of these killers crave. One could use the same logic to shut down wall-to-wall media coverage of these incidents in the name of crime prevention. Should the media now have their first amendment rights cut back because of their responsibility for these crimes?

[RocketFoot]

I'm trying hard to find an anti angle to this article so I can email the author, but I just don't see it. He seems to be neutral. As a matter of fact, I think he is somewhat right. Like the poster above said, the anti's control the schools and media so the children are being brainwashed to be afraid of guns! It may take them a few generations to do it, but the anti's may be on their way to victory! We need to do something! SOON!!

[Jelanen]

Originally Posted by RocketFoot

I'm trying hard to find an anti angle to this article so I can email the author, but I just don't see it. He seems to be neutral. As a matter of fact, I think he is somewhat right. Like the poster above said, the anti's control the schools and media so the children are being brainwashed to be afraid of guns! It may take them a few generations to do it, but the anti's may be on their way to victory! We need to do something! SOON!!

Besides the fact that he quoted a guy (read: clown) from the VPC on America's gun culture? Like he has a freaking clue.

[God's Country]

OK perhaps a bit off topic, but this is how I feel:

I was going to respond to this with my typical pro 2A rhetoric, but quite honestly these articles are just giving me headaches.

I have no doubt that within a few generations there will be severe 2A restrictions. I'll be long dead by the time it gets scary (I hope), but the fact is if this country retreats much further from the 2A it will profoundly impact this country in ways that I can only imagine, none of which is positive. The citizens of this country seem to be eager to retreat from their heritage. From guns, family, freedom of religion, and the notion that by simply being free we can choose to become what we want. That freedom can only exist with our constitution.

We have become a nation of entitlement. Expecting our gov’t to manage everything that is wrong with our lives, and stay out of everything we perceive as good. Why should it come as a surprise that many/most of our citizenry would gladly give our guns for the false hope of utopia. We give ¼ to ½ of our income for false hopes every year.

There is no way to rebuff those who would take my guns away. Those people would blissfully watch the world come to an end. Certain that somehow that peculiar second sun in the sky, growing larger every second, will just miss them and their McMansion, and they will be able to get up and go to Starbucks tomorrow certain of their place in the world. OK that’s a bit out there, but give me a break.

We all have strayed too far from our core beliefs, and we are reaping what we have sown. IMO the only long term hope left is us. Refrain from apathy, and get out and vote, and bring someone with you. Shoot your guns, and try to introduce someone to the sport, and hopefully the constitution.

If the federal gov't tries to infringe much more on the nation then I'm sure some states will rebel. If it's left to the states to decide than I'm sure some states will abstain. If I’m still vertical look for me there.

[angus]

The whole tone of the article is biased. The term "gun culture" has no more meaning than does "freedom of speech/religion/assembly culture" or a "freedom from illegal search culture."

Anti-2A'ers use snide phrases like "America's love affair with guns" to connote some kind of warped obsession. Do we have a "love affair" with the "free press" or with "due process for accused persons"?

Terrorists use the internet as well as mainstream media to spread their propaganda. Mass killers like the anomic, frustrated losers from Columbine and VT count on heavy media coverage to validate their pathetic lives and make them immortal. Everyday felons count on the 4th and 5th amendment to help them evade detection and prosecution.

Arguing for restriction of the second amendment based on the actions of society's nasties begs the question: do we want to do away with the whole Bill of Rights in the name of security? Where do we start? Where would it end?

[Montanya]

Well we all need to do our part to make sure that kinda thing doesn't happen. If you sit back on your hands and say how there will be no gun rights in a couple generations...YOU WILL BE RIGHT. If you introduce new shooters to the hobby, bring someone to the range with you that never shot a gun before, enlighten the sheep and show them how much fun and how safe they CAN be.

I think there should be a "Learn to shoot day" holiday, where anyone who has some experience with firearms, no matter how minimum, as long as you can teach someone the basic safety rules you needent be able to teach them how to shoot bullseyes consistently, takes someone who has never shot a gun before out to the range with them. That holiday, should be any time you go out to the range.

Now you might not have a new shooter to bring out to the range with you every time, but when you know you are going, look for that opportunity. In the good old days there were more guns and more familiarity with guns because that knowledge was handed down from neighbors, friends, parents, grandparents....BE THAT PERSON that inparts that knowledge to someone new and we will all reap the benefits.

[PAhunter]

Originally Posted by WhiteFeather

You all are going to NOT love this story.


http://www.reuters.com/article/reute...080109?sp=true
America's gun culture - fading slowly?

By Bernd Debusmann

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - ......
But in fact, gun ownership in the United States has been declining steadily over more than three decades, relegating gun owners to minority status....

Maybe, but here are the stats from PSP for 2006;
http://www.psp.state.pa.us/psp/lib/p...2006_final.pdf

413,165 purchased or privately transferred firearms.
FFL's reported 164,212 handgun transactions and 248,953 long guns.

Pennsylvania seems to be holding it's own.


Jack

[RocketFoot]

Originally Posted by PAhunter

Maybe, but here are the stats from PSP for 2006;
http://www.psp.state.pa.us/psp/lib/p...2006_final.pdf

413,165 purchased or privately transferred firearms.
FFL's reported 164,212 handgun transactions and 248,953 long guns.

Pennsylvania seems to be holding it's own.


Jack

I was just thinking that articles like this are nothing more than anti gun propaganda! Designed to make everyone think it is a happy little world! Maybe so...but we can't let our guards down not now and not ever!!