My theory: Gun control is the cause of gun culture.

Everyone talks about the growing gun culture….

This is a subject that I have thought about for a long time, and the more and more I think about it, the more obvious the pattern is.

I have noticed a pattern in all my neighbors. The ones that raised their children with the guns locked up in safes (or restricted access to them in general) usually had children that grew up to be more obsessed, or scared of guns in general. Children that grew up in a house where a gun always rested in the corner of the living room, or by the door, usually grew up to look at guns with indifference. They was just a tool to them, nothing more, nothing less. They held no special meaning.

If you look at the psychology of it, it makes sense. Children are taught that you lock up things of high value, or high importance. Locking up your guns ingrains into your child’s mind that the gun is something special. Something separated from all the other things out in the world that can cause you harm in this world if you miss use it. it ingrain into them that the person that controls them has dominance. The one that owns the most has the most dominance!

Keeping them locked up, adds a “suspense” about them when they are removed from the safe. Whether that is an obsession with, or fear of the gun depends on the child’s experiences up to that point. It is almost as if the act of trying to protect our children from our guns, and trying to protect our guns from theft guaranties that the next generation will grow up either obsessed with or scared to death of the things.

One of the worst things in my mind is making a big deal about getting them their own gun when they turn a specified age. That heavily ingrains into their head that the gun is something sacred and special. Something that should be cherished. Something that you only get to possess when you come of age. Instead of being treated like any other tool.

People that grow up in a house with no guns at all, generally have an inflated opinion of the power guns bring and the value of them that is caused by their imaginations running wild with nothing to ground them in reality except for what you see on TV. People that have access to them know they are just pipes with a little bit of extra hardware. Nothing unique about it. Nothing to ohh and aww……. over

Another thing I have noticed that kind of supports that idea. All of the child shooting incidents I have ever heard of involve a child that has had heavily restricted access (or no access at all) to a gun up until the day he finds his parent’s pistol in the sock drawer.

The factors that leads up to that disaster are……..

He has never seen a real one, and doesn’t know that there is a real one in the house.

When he finds one, he doesn’t know that it’s real, and possible thinks it is just like all his other toy guns.

He will be intensely curious about it because it’s something he has never seen before.

He will want to show all his friends because he knows all his friends have never seen one.

Thus, curiosity will lead to tragedy.

If he grows up in a house with a shotgun by the back door. He will know exactly what it is. He will know it’s not a toy that you play with. He will have zero curiosity about the thing because it’s something that he has seen all his freaking life. And last but not least. He knows that you should not mess with it unless you need to kill something.

My own experience.
I grew up in a house where the guns were kept out in the open. If they were in a closet, everyone knew where they were at. I had as much interest in them as my dad’s carpenter’s hammer. If you need to drive a nail, get the hammer. If you need to shoot something, get the gun!

The first time I ask my dad any direct question about a gun was the old 410 single shot in the corner. He told me when he got it, and showed me how it worked. My hands were barely strong enough to operate the barrel break lever. My curiosity was satisfied and I never worried about it again except when I needed it. I could see it every time I walked out the door. Never occurred to me that it was an evil instrument that should be kept behind lead lined doors.

I had toy guns, but I knew the difference between a toy gun, and a real gun, because I have always known what a real gun was. If I ever ran across a real gun out in the rest of the world I would have recognized that it was a real gun and known that it wasn’t something to play with. The lack of that knowledge has caused the death of a lot of children.

Now that I am older…

I don’t see what fun people get out of shooting the things at targets all day. I don’t see the fun in wasting perfectly good ammo! I don’t see how people get enjoyment out of owning large stockpiles of weapons. I own guns, but I don’t buy guns because I love guns. If I buy a gun, I buy it because I need it.
… and…….
I don’t see why the gun control people obsess about guns when the mass murderer could have used any number of weapons if he didn’t have access to a gun. I don’t see why they want people to keep them locked away like they are some deadly contagion. I don’t see how gun control people think bans or laws will work in the first place. Guns are simple devices that can be readily made in the modern age. You will not make them disappear.

The only answer to the variation in views I can think of is….. It is how the children were raised around weapons that cause the obsessive attitudes toward such things.

If the parent tells the child they are something special, or acts like they are special, then it ingrains into the child that they should be cherished or reviled, depending on how they were raised.

So it could be said that gun control is what caused the gun culture.

The fact that a group of people think something needs to be controlled makes people fascinated about said item they want to control.

It’s like light bulbs. The huge amount of controversy and distaste that has been created by a law to ban something.

guns are mostly banned in my country.

you'd be amazed at how few people go around shooting each other!

I think its in Switzerland guns are allowed and even children are taught how to use them and it has one of the lowest gun crime rates in the world

reply to post by Beavers


Bet they go around stabbing each other instead.

As to OP: I agree with this, prior to joining the military I had this fascination with guns, military gear, combat, all that #. As I am now older and no longer in the military, it all seems like childish # to me, a gun is no different than a knife, or any other tool. All the time I see people my age (20s) playing their war games and so on with the deepest fascination into the "realism" of the battle scene and all that crap. I have no care for this # after exposure.

My dad kept his guns locked up and I never thought of them as anything special.


I know if I had kids I would lock my guns up. I did dumb things as a child, like start fires and pointed a BB gun at my friends head. I knew it wasn't loaded but still,,,,, what if it were and I accidentally pressed it?

Kids do stupid things.

perhaps if american schools taught gun ownership/maintenance/the laws surrounding owning a weapon etc then it wouldnt be such a thing for kids to see a gun and go ooh lets go play with daddy's gun followed by a nasty fatal accident

reply to post by mnmcandiez


BB guns........

That is another thing that constantly confounds me. When I was growing up, I have seen various people get injuries from simple mistakes. I have seen people hurt by flying objects.

I knew enough that the idea of pointing something that launched metal objects at anyone, no mater the speed, would of made my blood run cold.

Yes, I had a bb gun when I was young, but I was not stupid enough to shoot it at another person.

That is why I when I see people talk about having BB gun fights, I just shake my head and wonder what the hell they are thinking when they do that.

reply to post by Maxatoria


I believe it is the parents responsability to teach their child about guns if they choose to have them. My daughter KNOWS my gun is a weapon that will kill you and not a toy to be played with because I have made it very clear to her.

If kids have a skewed sense of the importance of firearms its generally due to the lack of steering and education from their parents contrasted against popular media's depiction of firearms and how they function and are used. As for the concept of the restricted versus open access model I can see your point of view but I still don't want my 4 year old nephew to have ANY access to a firearm before hes had any real training or instruction in how to be safe with it.

A lot of the age milestone comes with the fact that kids have to reach a certain maturity level before they will appreciate the seriousness of possessing and using firearms, even more so if they have lost say a grand parent to old age and you can sit down and explain to them the concept of death and link it to the fact that a gun is a very deadly and dangerous thing, more so than most hammers or other shop tools.

Originally posted by Helig
even more so if they have lost say a grand parent to old age and you can sit down and explain to them the concept of death

That is one thing where living in a city vs a farm is different. When I was growing up, I knew what death was before I could carry on a complete sentence. I knew what death was before I could pronounce the word. When I was growing up, I saw death in every conceivable form. Death took no explaining.

And my parents never did explain it to me. It was a given.

That is something that the city folk are insulated from.

The thought of not seeing something die until one of your relatives die is just odd to me.

The only way a person in a city could get around that, in my own opinion, that is why people should own pets. So your children can see death at the earliest age possible. For a child to see a new litter of cats, and then after a month, only two of the five are still alive. That would drive home the fragility of life, and the absoluteness of death.

reply to post by Mr Tranny


Um are you kidding me? people get shot and killed in the city all the time. The inner-city = ESSENCE OF DEATH...... why do you think a lot of city schools have metal detectors? The rate of gun violence and carry is huge.

I grew up in the ghetto.... I've witnessed a drive by. There are guns and death ALL OVER. Where do you think most gun violence occurs? The most homicides? THE CITY

In Cleveland you would hear gun shots EVERY night. Seeing people die is 100000x worse than animals die. Or having people you know DISAPPEAR as a teenager.


Farm life is nothing compared to city life. It surprises me the ignorance you have of city culture/life.

reply to post by mnmcandiez


There is a difference between hearing about a death on TV and seeing/dealing with it first hand.

How many times do young people have to deal with people that have been killed in the city?

How many times have you had to handle a dead body when you were young?

When something like that happens, you shield the child’s eyes, and take them away as the authorities come to take the bodies away.

Just because a child lives in an area where a lot of people get killed, doesn’t mean that he knows what death is. Unless he knows the person that got killed, and then sees them afterwards, nothing will really sink in.

reply to post by Mr Tranny


Where did children come into this? You said "City folks" not "City children"

But anyway, the most people that get killed by gun violence are YOUNG. Not old people.... mid to late teens- young adult. I know 2 people that were killed myself and this is when I was 14.

Why would anyone handle a dead human body unless you are an offical? People generally don't want to touch them.

And to your previous argument about people not seeing death and using kittens as an example... Most people have pets statistically sooooooooooo...

reply to post by mnmcandiez


Recap…
I stated country people are exposed to “dead things” first hand. And usually starting from a young age. Something that city people are not exposed to.

You come back with a rebuttal stating that my statement is nonsense because human deaths are 100000 times worse on a person’s mind, and city people are exposed to them all the time.

My response to that was to ask how young people would come into direct contact with said “dead things” and to point out that hearing about something third person, or over the TV/radio, is far different that seeing it first person.


Your response is that you knew two people personally that got killed when you was 14.
My response to that is, I am talking about when a person is a couple years old. Not 14. 14 is not young. I was using a freaking chainsaw cutting down trees when I was 14!

And you point out that only officials should handle human bodies…….
And my response is…….. That is my freaking point!!!!!! That means the closest direct understanding to death a person can get without seeing a person die in person is via other living creatures …AKA animals!!!!!!!

And you point out that most people have pets.
My response… That statistic includes country people. The actual number of central city people that own pets is very small. And another thing that affects that is the fact that they are pushing for adoption. The pets you adopt are fixed, so the children will never see a kitty born. And the parent never lets the child see the cat slowly die from old age, or disease, then have to burry the now lifeless body. That means they will never see one grow up, and die. As for as that child knows, you just go and get a new cat out of cat factory when ever the old one quits working. That type of pet ownership demoralizes a child more than it instills morals into them.



Seeing the last breaths of an animal/person as you stand by them hits you far harder than hearing about their death from a third party. To hear that a dog you cared for got hit on the highway and died a bit later is one thing….. To have to carry the dog off the road with his back end split open and try to comfort him his last minute of life by putting some blankets on him to keep him warm as his body heaves from trying to breath. To have him look right at you with a begging look as he finally lays his head down and exhales his last breath. I am sorry, but that affects you more emotionally than hearing about someone you know passing away in another state.

Seeing something die when you are a couple years old will change the way you perceive the world far more than when you are 14 years old. A person’s world view hardens to change as they grow older.

All in all….. In my own opinion The young population’s isolation from animal husbandry is the primary contributing factor to the loss of morals in modern society. A young child’s mind takes what he sees the animals experience and extrapolates the his own existence from it. You can say there is a 100000 difference, but to a child, the relationship is closer to 1 to 1.

The theory may well in fact be true. A friend of mine conducts business at Gun Shows. Everytime someone raises a stink about guns, his sales go up. Everytime a liberal shoots their mouth off about printing more bad money, sales go up. Whenever negative news comes out of Washington, D.C., sales go up. No wonder the politicians are nervous about the right to bear arms.

I am obssessed with Bubonic plague probably cause i've never been allowed access to it. Maybe if they let everyone have a batch of it people wouldn't be obsessed with it.

Interesting.

reply to post by Yochuna


You are getting “gun culture” and “gun sales” mixed up. I am talking about gun culture which is independent of gun sales to a degree.

Sales of almost anything will naturally go up when people think someone is trying to restrict their access to that product. That is a natural social response.

But I am talking about “gun culture”. The unnatural obsession with, or fear of firearms that the population has. It takes longer for gun culture to take hold in people and population because it is a trait that is learned as you go through life. People that have taken up gun culture may show a heightened buying spree on announcements of gun bans in relation to the normal population, but it does not mean that gun culture is the cause of the buying spree.


My argument is that the long term effects of the measures that gun control advocates try to push may be the major contributing factor to the existence of the “gun culture” in the first place.

(IE) The things that the laws make you do, is the major contributing factor to the sharp social divide that has formed over guns.

Reply to post by Maxatoria

Not long ago schools did just that.

Rifle teams were also very common.

I have yet to find the catalyst which initially pulled rifle teams and firearm education from schools. Every ridiculous act seems to have some cause or event that pushed it.

There are no causes or events that I have been able to find which pushed for this to happen.

It's as if fostering ignorance and fear was the cause itself and the subsequent "ghetto" kids and Columbines were the events created by this action.

Why would anyone want to create ignorance, fear and violence? Control.


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reply to post by Mr Tranny


Yea the real gun culture in america are the gang cultures that define self by guns and cling to them for self identification, power and meaning. Guns are something that casue fear to their victims and give a man power on a personal animal level.

I knew a few folks in my youth that were hurt by guns but knew about 10 times that many that were hurt playing high schol football, swimming ect.

reply to post by Logarock


When you restrict access of a product.
It allows those who have that product to exert their power over those that don’t.
People will seek out that product to gain that power.

People that don’t have that product will learn to fear the people that do have that product.
People that do have that product will learn to glorify that product and glorify the fact that they have that product.