Let me explain my comments on the use of arms and the ban on that use. I believe strongly in restrictive legislation on the possession and the use of arms. I was raised with those restrictions and still deeply respect the restrictions.
I hail from a family of hunters, gamekeepers and forest guards who maintained strict discipline about handling guns when out in the field and locking them securely away at home. My grandfather had three guns: a Ferd. Reuss double-barreled shotgun caliber 12, a Mauser rifle caliber 22 and a FN rifle caliber 22. He had official licenses for all three of them since the Dutch gunlaw was installed in 1917.
He always took one of those arms with him during rounds of inspection in the park woods or winderness. Poachers could become dangerous. Back home her took his keys for pocket, opened the gun cabinet, put the gun back, locked the cabinet and put the keys back in his pocket. Fixed ritual. This behavior was paet and parcel of the society he lived in.
Of course, installing proper legislation, against the will of a minority or majority in society, may reduce the number of accidents. But a force symptomatic for the American society, the strongly lobbying by the National Rifle Association (NRA), resists calls to install good legislation for long already.
I remember how those calls came up after the release of the dramatic movie ‘Joe’ back then in 1970. Sadly enough, they did bring new legislation.
So, what is in the American culture that makes, for instance, the NRA so powerful? By thinking deeper about this culture we go beyond the fighting of symptoms and touch on forces that may be causing many other problems in people and social life as well.
Joe, 1970: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYQUnA-q26M
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