I read hunting humans when it was first published and recall it as a brilliant and seminal book . Your article reminded me of the relationship between self perception as “ a loser” and the tragic outcome when guns are available and when victims are merely props to spectacular suicides. Trump’s categorizing those who anger him as losers would place this division firmly in the frame of American life . America is a cruel and unforgiving country for many and your article points to two systems which will never change : Hollywood’s glorification of violence, and the NRA propagation of gun ownership, which does the same : they sell so very well!
Thanks Diane. As a Canadian I find the tolerance of the stupidity of allowing almost anyone and everyone to have a gun the mystery. Then to me much of what happens in America is a mystery.
Excellent! As a Canadian, I (including my spouse) have lost the desire to travel to the US and spend months in the sunny south during our cold winters. Maybe all foreign tourists should stop travelling to the US to show them how backward their love for the Second Amendment has become? Hollywood also does not really show the true effects of being hit by a bullet; the victim gets back up until shot 10 plus times. Where's the reality check?
Thank you for your well-researched article. Bottom line: Australia's and Canada's governments have taken dramatic steps that have had a powerful impact on lessening random insane mass murders. ?? maybe James Smace disagrees.
The quality of life in the US, Mexico and Canada is being affected by an endless number of factors, but I think it is clear that an entire population being armed has not protected those who are innocent bystanders. Every one of the people who stood on the sidewalks recently, to watch a July 4th Parade could have been carrying a concealed weapon, and none of those would have been able to defend them against a hiding assassin, armed with a high powered rifle. Likewise, home invaders know that the odds of a homeowner having a handgun under his or her pillow does not stop the criminal from trying to rob you. They believe they have the upper hand, and I think they are correct. So for me, those who say they want a gun so they can defend themselves, is becoming a less valid argument. Different when you are on a battlefield. You best be armed. Who your enemy is is a whole bunch clearer in war...but not always, if you talk to Vietnam War vets.
The Texas Tower shooting marks nothing except one of the first instances of a brain tumor causing manic and violent behavior. Subsequent mass shootings are tied to heavy marijuana use. The other huge issue is gang murders, aka what happens every weekend in Chicago where there are no gun shops and virtually no legal ownership of a means of protecting oneself. That is why the "hood" in Chicago has a homicide rate of about 200/100,000 whereas the worst cities in the days of the Wild West were 50 times lower - about 4 per 100,000. So if one controls for demographics, the US is safer than most European countries where the weapon of choice is the knife. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-43610936
I read hunting humans when it was first published and recall it as a brilliant and seminal book . Your article reminded me of the relationship between self perception as “ a loser” and the tragic outcome when guns are available and when victims are merely props to spectacular suicides. Trump’s categorizing those who anger him as losers would place this division firmly in the frame of American life . America is a cruel and unforgiving country for many and your article points to two systems which will never change : Hollywood’s glorification of violence, and the NRA propagation of gun ownership, which does the same : they sell so very well!
I couldn't agree more with this.
Thanks Diane. As a Canadian I find the tolerance of the stupidity of allowing almost anyone and everyone to have a gun the mystery. Then to me much of what happens in America is a mystery.
Excellent! As a Canadian, I (including my spouse) have lost the desire to travel to the US and spend months in the sunny south during our cold winters. Maybe all foreign tourists should stop travelling to the US to show them how backward their love for the Second Amendment has become? Hollywood also does not really show the true effects of being hit by a bullet; the victim gets back up until shot 10 plus times. Where's the reality check?
Thank you for your well-researched article. Bottom line: Australia's and Canada's governments have taken dramatic steps that have had a powerful impact on lessening random insane mass murders. ?? maybe James Smace disagrees.
Diane, fabulous article, we’ll researched and summarized.
Thank you,
Roman Zakaluzny
Canada
The quality of life in the US, Mexico and Canada is being affected by an endless number of factors, but I think it is clear that an entire population being armed has not protected those who are innocent bystanders. Every one of the people who stood on the sidewalks recently, to watch a July 4th Parade could have been carrying a concealed weapon, and none of those would have been able to defend them against a hiding assassin, armed with a high powered rifle. Likewise, home invaders know that the odds of a homeowner having a handgun under his or her pillow does not stop the criminal from trying to rob you. They believe they have the upper hand, and I think they are correct. So for me, those who say they want a gun so they can defend themselves, is becoming a less valid argument. Different when you are on a battlefield. You best be armed. Who your enemy is is a whole bunch clearer in war...but not always, if you talk to Vietnam War vets.
The Texas Tower shooting marks nothing except one of the first instances of a brain tumor causing manic and violent behavior. Subsequent mass shootings are tied to heavy marijuana use. The other huge issue is gang murders, aka what happens every weekend in Chicago where there are no gun shops and virtually no legal ownership of a means of protecting oneself. That is why the "hood" in Chicago has a homicide rate of about 200/100,000 whereas the worst cities in the days of the Wild West were 50 times lower - about 4 per 100,000. So if one controls for demographics, the US is safer than most European countries where the weapon of choice is the knife. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-43610936