Freedom and 恐れる: the 創立／基礎s of America's deadly gun culture

• e-mail

It was 1776, the American 植民地s had just 宣言するd their independence from England, and as war 激怒（する）d the 設立するing fathers were 深い in 審議: should Americans have the 権利 to own 小火器 as individuals, or just as members of 地元の 民兵?

Days after 19 children and two teachers were 虐殺（する）d in a Texas town, the 審議 激怒（する）s on as 部外者s wonder why Americans are so wedded to the 小火器 that stoke such 大虐殺s with appalling frequency.

The answer, 専門家s say, lies both in the traditions underpinning the country's winning its freedom from Britain, and most recently, a growing belief の中で 消費者s that they need guns for their personal safety.

Over the past two １０年間s -- a period in which more than 200 million guns 攻撃する，衝突する the US market -- the country has 転換d from "Gun Culture 1.0," where guns were for sport and 追跡（する）ing, to "Gun Culture 2.0" where many Americans see them as 必須の to 保護する their homes and families.

That 転換 has been driven ひどく by advertising by the nearly $20 billion gun 産業 that has tapped 恐れるs of 罪，犯罪 and racial 激変, によれば Ryan Busse, a former 産業 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある.

最近の 集まり 殺人s "are the byproduct of a gun 産業 商売／仕事 model designed to 利益（をあげる） from 増加するing 憎悪, 恐れる, and 共謀," Busse wrote this week in the online magazine The 防御壁／支持者.

- Guns and the new nation -

For the men designing the new 部隊d 明言する／公表するs in the 1770s and 1780s, there was no question about gun 所有権.

They said the monopoly on guns by the 君主国s of Europe and their armies was the very source of 圧迫 that the American colonists were fighting.

James Madison, the "father of the 憲法," 特記する／引用するd "the advantage of 存在 武装した, which the Americans 所有する over the people of almost every other nation."

But he and the other 創立者s understood the 問題／発行する was コンビナート／複合体. The new 明言する／公表するs did not 信用 the nascent 連邦の 政府, and 手配中の，お尋ね者 their own 法律s, and own 武器.

They 認めるd people needed to 追跡（する） and 保護する themselves against wild animals and thieves. But some worried more 私的な guns could just 増加する frontier lawlessness.

Were 私的な guns 必須の to 保護する against tyranny? Couldn't 地元の 武装した 民兵 fulfil that 役割? Or would 民兵 become a source of 地元の 圧迫?

In 1791, a 妥協 was struck in what has become the most parsed phrase in the 憲法, the Second 改正 保証（人）ing gun 権利s:

"A 井戸／弁護士席 規制するd 民兵, 存在 necessary to the 安全 of a 解放する／自由な 明言する／公表する, the 権利 of the people to keep and 耐える 武器, shall not be （規則などを）破る／侵害するd."

- 1960s 銃砲規制 -

Over the に引き続いて two centuries, guns became an 必須の part of American life and myth.

Gun Culture 1.0, as Wake Forest University professor David Yamane 述べるs it, was about guns as 批判的な 道具s for 開拓するs 追跡（する）ing game and fending off varmints -- 同様に as the genocidal conquest of native Americans and the 支配（する）／統制する of slaves.

But by the 早期に 20th century, the ますます urbanized 部隊d 明言する／公表するs was awash with 小火器 and experiencing 著名な levels of gun 罪，犯罪 not seen in other countries.

From 1900 to 1964, wrote the late historian Richard Hofstadter, the country 記録，記録的な／記録するd more than 265,000 gun 殺人s, 330,000 自殺s, and 139,000 gun 事故s.

In reaction to a 殺到する in 組織するd 罪，犯罪 暴力／激しさ, in 1934 the 連邦の 政府 banned machine guns and 要求するd guns to be 登録（する）d and 税金d.

Individual 明言する／公表するs 追加するd their own 支配（する）／統制するs, like 禁止（する）s on carrying guns in public, 率直に or 隠すd.

The public was for such 支配（する）／統制するs: 世論調査員 Gallup says that in 1959, 60 パーセント of Americans supported a 完全にする 禁止（する） on personal handguns.

The 暗殺s of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and ツバメ Luther King, brought a 押し進める for strenuous 規則 in 1968.

But gunmakers and the ますます assertive 国家の ライフル銃／探して盗む 協会, 特記する／引用するing the Second 改正, 妨げるd new 法律制定 from doing more than 器具／実施する an easily 回避するd 制限 on direct mail-order gun sales.

- The 宗教上の Second 改正 -