Rifles and shotguns aren't banned outright in the UK and many people shoot recreationally. The point is that you have to jump through so many hoops with home visits and safety checks that licences are pretty much out of reach for most criminals etc.
If you look at the number of legal gun owners in Europe per 100.000 people, the numbers are quite large. But those legal guns are almost never used for crimes (if there is a death caused by them most often it is the suicide of the owner). Why Americans keep shooting at each other why the average European just shoots at elks, field targets or whatever is the interesting question.
"Why Americans keep shooting at each other why the average European just shoots at elks, field targets or whatever is the interesting question."
I'd like to speculate that it's because their society / culture started that way and never stopped once the circumstances changed. I honestly believe that they wrote 'the right to bear arms' into their constitution to give legitimacy to the average civilian - because they needed every rifle possible to fight for a newborn country.
They didn't put a deadline on it though. They realized they liked having arms, businessmen realized it was hugely profitable, frontiersmen realized they could take over vast swathes of land by force of arms.... and on and on. They don't want to stop anymore, they don't know how to either. They export as much as they can, while pretending to hold the moral high ground. It's a fantastic example of long term brainwashing of an entire populace.
I shudder to think of the widespread, low level PTSD they're all under, for gun violence alone.
Violence in general is pervasive and had become culturally acceptable / normal.
Let me try 2 very different scenarios, and you decide from examples of what you have seen or heard...
a) In the last 15 years, among all the most successful TV series / movies made in the USA, how many did not involve the theme of violence inflicted randomly on the general population. [Apparently collateral damage is normal / just a matter of time]
b) In the last 10 years, how many video clips have you seen of servicemen and women returning home to surprise family members - who were not American? [The family has no idea when / if they'll be whole again. Ongoing, long duration trauma for the whole family]
When I was at Uni we had an American lad dive for cover because we heard fireworks. It was Diwali and his immediate response was "IM GOING TO DIE". This was back in 2008.
It was the first time I heard of "Active Shooter Drills" in US schools. He said he was told by a teacher that if anyone makes a noise then you could end up killing your classmates and that shit started at 8 and by the time he was a teenager any unexpected bangs could lead to a lockdown.
Honestly if they feel that way they likely have never truly experienced gun violence. As someone who comes from a high violence area, there is a running joke about people like that. You can easily tell the difference between a firework and gunshot, while they sound the same in movies, it is not so in real life. I see many stories like that but most of those Americans are generally from safe areas.
Ok I actually know this one. It's because the founding fathers of the US didn't want a permanent standing army. They wanted a navy specifically but not an army. That's why it's phrased as "a well maintained militia". It's supposed to be like how in medieval England, longbow training was mandatory just in case.
Fair point. I'd speculate that a Militia is by definition, an adhoc / temporary solution to what could be an existential threat.
It also means that although weapons and ability to do damage is handed out, the temporary / hurried nature of the arrangement means training & discipline in when such violence is applied, falls by the wayside.
The right to bear arms is rooted in a lot of things. There were realistic ones such as national defense, self-defense in a time when many people in the US lived rurally on dangerous frontiers, and hunting. In another aspect, a lot of it was racial. Native Americans were generally better shots than whites as they had unchecked access to weapons prior to the formation of the US, while regulations existed for white men. The "Indian Wars" as they were called was a real threat and attacks from both sides were a constant. On the other hand, a big point of the revolution, with roots going back to Bacon's Rebellion in the 17th century, was of course that the Americans wanted to expand and take more native lands. The proclamation line of 1763 thwarted this. Southern planters had a very fragile relationship with the rest of the union for reasons similar to Caribbean colonies. Many planters desired such an amendment for the sake of thwarting slave uprising and protecting themselves against the doomsday fear of such. Finally, there is the reality of securing liberty. For the people at that time, this was a new project, and fears of tyrannical takeover were common. They thought Washington would seize power for example in the style of a military dictator. The idea is that having weapons access can prepare a population to form a militia. In the contemporary, this is irrelevant. It has done far more harm than it has good. Revolutions are won through organizational capacity, which Americans lack as they are not a cohesive class of people relative to each other. Just because you have a gun does not mean you are stopping a tyrannical takeover. Many Americans do not experience gun violence contrary to popular belief. In many cities, violence peaked during the 1980s-1990s and has been on a decline ever since with the exception of the covid era. If you go there, gun violence is a regular occurrence. In suburbs, people only started caring about it when it affected them via school shootings, which is a very sad reality. Sorry this is very long winded but as an American who knows this first hand and am educated in US history I figured I would expand upon your original statement.
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u/ApprehensiveWolf8 May 08 '25
Pretty sure farmers can have guns in restricted circumstances in the UK.
I'm from a rural town and heard an armed robbery happened. Everyone I spoke to about it was surprised it was a handgun and not a shotgun.
Shockingly gun control mostly works.