Monday
by The Living End

Trigger Happy
by Al Yankovic

The Hunting Song
by Tom Lehrer

Paraphrased from 'The Economist':

Basically, gun ownership was not a historical, founding tenet of American life. Very few Americans owned guns until the Civil War; when the North created a lot of guns for the army, they let the soldiers keep them after the war. This created a big glut of free guns floating around in the society; the urban crime rates soared. This is the origin of widespread gun ownership in the country.

The NRA was founded after the Civil War, but it was only a social club for retired Army sharpshooters. It only became a powerful political lobby within the past few decades. The whole little legend they've put together about gun ownership being quintessentially democratic and American isn't entirely true.

An insightful comment I found in my e-mail inbox, about this whole issue. It makes sense of why there are people like the below, the gun-lovers:

There's a complex combination of psychology and history behind the pro-gun movement in the U.S. Mostly it's fear of the unknown, whether it's crime or the government or bizarre conspiracies.

It doesn't make sense and it probably never will make sense. It's a part of the American mentality that may never go away.

It is definately one of those 'things' that I will never, ever (not in a month of Sundays!) understand.

I read a web page a little while ago. I couldn't believe what I read. "Are people REALLY this stupid??" I thought to myself.

It seems they are. It seems that other people, even more stupid people than the ones who put together the page, actually send MONEY to the web page creators. O_o

Basically, it's a page that tells people that having guns makes the world a happy, safe place. It tells people to send in money to 'spread the word', I guess. It's like one of those cults you see, who's members will probably end up killing themselves and others because they're a pack of sheep following a blind, deaf and dumb leader.

Here is some examples of their stupidity:

"The plight of the British, Canadians, and Australians is sad, but inspiring to us."

Errr... What plight is that? The plight of having a safer country than America? The plight of not having children turn up to schools, carrying guns? The plight of less kids being killed due to idiot parents leaving loaded guns where kids can find/reach them? (The other week a father, in the country, left a loaded weapon where his children could find it. The two boys started playing with it, and when he tried to take the gun away, it went off and killed one of his sons. This is headline news in the city papers. It was in the papers for days. Especially after finding out that the father was also in and out of jail, threatened police and held a gun to a security guard's head... Thank goodness things like this are isolated incidents over here, and not every day occurrences as it seems to be, at least in big cities, in the US.) The plight of people *not* *wanting* guns??

So we Australians are used as inspiration by gun-loving, unthinking sheep?? How insulting! To take our safety, twist it around into lies, and claim that we have a plight by not having guns?! Ha! I must say they share one brain cell between the whole lot of them, doing such a thing, and hoping us Australians (and the Brits and Canadians don't find out about their stupid, lying web page!)

I thank the Lord for giving us Australians a government with enough sense to restrict gun ownership! I'm glad to live in a country where gun ownership is restricted to people with enough brains to be able to use a gun properly (for sporting reasons, for life on a farm where the farmers must kill kangaroos, rabbits, etc, to protect their animals). I am very glad to live in a country where the government strongly discourages hand guns (and other guns!) for "self protection" (read: "family endangerment")!

Keep up the good work, all you anti-gun government types out here in Oz!!

"We have the facts behind us. More guns = more safety."

Hahahahahaha! What a good joke they made!

But, unfortunately, they are serious. -_-

Why, in that case, is America a much, MUCH less safe place to live than the UK, Canada and Australia combined?

Why, in that case, do less children die due to accidents with guns in the homes of people in the UK, Canada and Australia?

Why, in that case, are school shootings a very, VERY rare event in the UK, Canada and Australia, compared to the US?

Why, if more guns = more safety, is the US *so* unsafe??

"This is the kind of thing that makes me flinch, it's like watching a whole nation of people hanging by a string over an abyss" is a direct quote from a VERY open minded co-worker of mine.

It's very sad to see that these people BELIEVE what they are saying. Now I can see why American society is a laughing stock to other countries. Now I can see why America is such a violent, unsafe country to live in. It's very, very sad.

Guns are meant to be in the hands of those who have been trained to use them, properly, such as police and armed services (only while these people are working to protect citizens!), not for every man and his dog, as these gun-lovers wish!

*****

Two songs that I feel are very appropriate to this issue, which I suggest you look at, are:

Trigger Happy, by Al Yankovic and Monday, by The Living End.

*****

Paraphrased from 'The Economist':

Basically, gun ownership was not a historical, founding tenet of American life. Very few Americans owned guns until the Civil War; when the North created a lot of guns for the army, they let the soldiers keep them after the war. This created a big glut of free guns floating around in the society; the urban crime rates soared. This is the origin of widespread gun ownership in the country.

The NRA was founded after the Civil War, but it was only a social club for retired Army sharpshooters. It only became a powerful political lobby within the past few decades. The whole little legend they've put together about gun ownership being quintessentially democratic and American isn't entirely true.

An insightful comment I found in my e-mail inbox, about this whole issue. It makes sense of why there are people like the below, the gun-lovers:

"There's a complex combination of psychology and history behind the pro-gun movement in the U.S. Mostly it's fear of the unknown, whether it's crime or the government or bizarre conspiracies.

It doesn't make sense and it probably never will make sense. It's a part of the American mentality that may never go away."

It is definitely one of those 'things' that I will never, ever (not in a month of Sundays!) understand.

*****

I know that a lot of you will not agree with what I said. I do believe, though, that there are a small group of sensible people out there, who can handle guns in the correct manner. A few of them have written to me and we've had long talks about this. I still don't feel that there is a need for guns in society... but at least myself and the few can respect each other's decisions and feelings on the matter.

My feeling, at the end of these e-mail discussions, is that the want and need for guns in American society (a society that I am not a part of - the message about my society in the horrible web site brought me into this flammable discussion!) is due to the fact that Americans, in general, tend not to trust their own government. This is the feeling that I get from the Americans I've spoken to, and a feeling I hope never to have in Australia.

Fear and a want/need for guns are things I don't want in my life. Fear is a natural part of life, sometimes... but living in fear is not. I feel sorry for those who feel they need guns to survive in life.

This has been added since the sudden influx of people replying to me about a page that I'd completely forgotten about - this page was written some time during either 1999 or 2000 - but, anyway, this is what I currently think:

My main problem with guns isn't just the fact that criminals use them, but this:

Gunpowder (in it's original form) was originally a thing to make fireworks, to make something beautiful. That was then mangled into making something that was designed to do nothing but kill. It was only later that people made a sport out of it.

It's the killing people thing. But, then, I don't really like any weapon. I did win a sword, but it's in a box, somewhere in the bottom of my wardrobe in my room!

Well, my current opinion is that EVERYONE in a society should be _taught about_ guns and _taught how to handle_ guns, especially safety, before guns should be allowed to be freely used in that society. Without education, all the horrible things done with guns today will still continue to be done... Having a healthy fear and respect for guns is a good thing. I think that this is a good quote of how an 'ideal' gun owner should feel, where 'hate' is a term of fearful respect: "If ever you don't hate it any longer, then will be the time to throw it as far as you can and run the other way."

Anyway, thank you to the civil people who have replied to me... you are the only ones who have a hope of changing my mind. The nastiness that I get from the bad apples will only keep me firmly set in my path. But a big thanks to the kind and civil gun owners out there for talking to me. ^_^