politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
While I do think gun fetishism contributes, the vast majority of gun fetishists aren't shooting up schools, and many people who are really into guns are also really into gun safety.
If I had to point a finger at any one cultural contributor, I'd say it's actually mass shootings themselves and the way our society has reacted to them in the past. These are always (understandably) treated like major tragedies, but people always want to know what was going on with the shooter, why they did it. There's ironically this huge outpouring of empathy (not sympathy) for the shooter, and these are often people who were very isolated and alone prior to their rampage. I think a big part of the reason we're seeing the rate of these mass shootings increase is that other loners are seeing that going out in this manner draws attention to whatever their personal cause was. So, it's a suicide method, but one that makes it likely people will finally start paying real attention to the issues the person felt plagued by, which is obviously attractive for a suicidal person.
The reason I don't think mental health issues are that relevant, despite what I just said, is that most suicidal people wouldn't even dream of going out in this manner. For those who do, I think there's other factors that make them prone to going out violently. Having problems with society and disliking the direction of cultural change is a big one, for example. There's a reason most mass shooters are conservative--traditionalism is on the way out in many respects, and a lot of people aren't happy about it.
Outside of mass shootings though, I also think there's a different kind of gun fetishism prevalent in poor, urban, cultures—and as much as people may not like acknowledging it—predominantly Black communities within those contexts. Some branches of rap have glorified guns and thug culture in general, and I do think this has contributed to the prevalence of gun crime in the U.S.
There are certainly many more cultural aspects that are relevant, but I think those are some of the strongest contributing factors.
I think that it is murky to wade into the division of blame when a shooting happens. I say that, but I want to clarify I'm not just referring to mass shootings - but also accidents, minor crimes that escalate, etc.
I think that malicious actors get much easier access to guns due to the pervasive nature of gun fetishists, and the common availability they provide of those arms, be it by legitimate purchase, theft of poorly-secured guns, or otherwise. I think more accidents happen with guns because gun fetishists are using them more often, and a certain percentage of them are acting irresponsibly - sometimes ignoring one or more of the rules for gun safety.
There are other countries out there with a high number of firearms, but absolutely no cultural devotion to them. A frustrated, mentally ill person wishing death on a community might not even know that three of their neighbors own guns, because they're always stowed in a safe, unused for most of the year unless they're getting cleaned.
Take two people - one who has a 25% chance of making a fatal mistake handling a gun due to clumsiness and lack of knowledge. Another, a gun professional who has a 0.01% chance of making that fatal mistake due to years of training. If the first person never handles a gun once, the chance of shooting someone is zero. If the second person handles their gun 8,000 times, the chances become much higher.