What Should they Do?
I love to get international perspectives and teach English at the same time. So, whoever is reading this, please “pipe up” in the comments section. ”Pipe up” is a fun way of saying “just say something!”
Here is the basic situation. There are about 12 000 gun related deaths EVERY YEAR in the USA. The USA is a huge country, but that is A LOT of killing. You shouldn’t feel scared to go to the US (I’ve been there many times and never seen a gun) but the point is, it’s still a big problem compared with other countries.
The US has a unique history regarding guns. It’s a history that people from other countries can’t understand. I can’t understand it. It’s one big difference between Canada and the USA. Most Canadians don’t feel it is their right to be able to carry a gun for self protection. Many Americans do feel this way. But… I don’t want to get into a history lesson here. I believe Canada has only about 150 gun deaths per year. Canada has far fewer people, but still, the problem is MUCH more serious in the US.
This is an interesting problem for the USA. If the government just said, “starting tomorrow, it will be 100% illegal to own a gun” there would still be a lot of gun violence. Remember, people who want to shoot other people don’t really care about the law anyway.
So, I’d like to ask you guys, what do you think the government should do? They could make it more difficult to buy guns. They could make the really scary guns illegal (You know, the kind of gun that can kill 20 people in a minute). They could make some type of education program so that kids learn the dangers of having guns. (Not all gun deaths are on purpose. There are many accidents)
No opinion is right or wrong here at the 232. I just want to hear what you guys think. What do people from your country think about American gun violence? Is it possible to slowly change their culture? I’d love to hear what you think!
Hope you are having a great holiday weekend!
March 31st, 2013 at 9:28 am
Hi guys. my opinion would be a little different than usual, but I’ll tell you why.I’ve never been to America and do not know how things are right there with guns and killing. I think that it is better to have a weapon for self-defense. why? in my country Bulgaria has many Gypsies as well as in other countries, but here they have no fear of the law.I mean it go unpunished.They steal from old people in the villages and fight them and kill them. And if you defend yourself, say you kill him, you’re guilty, you go to jail.I think in America it does not have this problem because they have a weapon for protection.
So guys, if you think about how many a day die from car- accidents, AIDS and cancer ? I do not think gun ownership is more scary than other things.
March 31st, 2013 at 9:41 am
Thanks for your opinion Ivan,
Very interesting indeed. I had no idea that was going on in Bulgaria. I hope to hear more from everyone! Great stuff!
March 31st, 2013 at 12:59 pm
It seems that some of American believe they need a gun to do self-defence, because so many crimes happened. The reality is that the more guns the more crimes, and gun owners are not except to become a victim of gun violence in most of the cases, while they are protected by law until some of them go mentally wrong and become another killer.Since it’s illegal to carry concealed gun in public without a license, it is virtually impossible for you to fire back on the spot while being attacked by psycho killer.
When it comes to crime, America might not be much better than some third world countries, many American realized they have had enough, but they can’t live without gun, since it is a part of their culture from head to toe, and many people even profit from it. That’s why US government have been facing dilemma on gun control from a long time ago.
We know after several tragic school shooting, many parents are desperate, even ask their child to wear bulletproof clothes to go school to prevent unexpected incident, but we don’t know how many have to live the life to pray not to be gunned down.
To be honest, I don’t dislike gun, and even shoot few times when I was trained as militia 30 years ago. It’s excited to open fire, and it could be addicted. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, if I got a gun, be careful.
March 31st, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Thanks for your comment Mike. That was really interesting.
I’m curious, where are you from and what do you think America can do to change this situation? Do you think they can slowly change it? Or, is it too much a part of their culture and now it’s a “lost cause”.
Andy
March 31st, 2013 at 3:54 pm
In that concern, why there are many cases in USA, in which a guy take a gun and open fire in a crowd place? I mean, here in Brazil, people are much more violent than that, however, I few cases like that took place. Personally speaking, this is related with games.
March 31st, 2013 at 4:29 pm
Hi Cristiano,
Thanks for your comments. I’m curious, what do you mean by “games”? Video games?
I think the cultures are certainly very different. From what I understand, a lot of the violence in Brazil is from people trying to steal money. Is that right? I don’t know really, I’m just asking. I know that when someone in the USA shoots several people in a movie theatre or a public school, that person isn’t doing it for any money or reason like that. They are mentally disturbed psychos. I’ve also heard that the Japanese people play a lot of video games, but the gun violence in Japan is incredibly low. Almost none at all. I’m curious as to your thoughts on this. Thanks again for commenting!
Andy
March 31st, 2013 at 5:33 pm
Hello, I live in Brazil and here guns are illegal. We have 3x deaths more than USA. For me the problem is not gun. Is about education.
March 31st, 2013 at 5:40 pm
I think, one of the major causes of violence here in Brazil is the poverty and lack of opportunity . Many people are in harsh conditions, they have no choice living among bandits threatening everybody around. Just few guys can overcome such situation and thrive in life.
March 31st, 2013 at 6:53 pm
I think it could be legal to shoot bad people. I know, at first there would be a lot of death people, but then world will be the nice and safe place.
March 31st, 2013 at 7:35 pm
Hey Moraes and Andrey,
I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about Brazil, but I’ve also heard about some violence as well. I’ve never been there, but I’d like to go.
I’m curious why Brazil has such a violent problem. Is it part of the culture somehow? What do you think it is about the education that causes this. A lot of the world is very poor with low education. Only some places have such gun violence. In your opinions, what else might make Brazil more violent than other poor nations with low education?
Thanks for your comments everyone!
And Ramazo, do you really think that? We already have police to take the “bad people”. Do you really want regular citizens allowed to shoot at bad people? And don’t you think perhaps this would lead to much more violence. The “bad people” would certainly want to fight back. I’m curious as to your thoughts on this.
March 31st, 2013 at 8:02 pm
hey guys,
the problem described above in Bulgaria can be applied to Romania as well (my country). however i would like to point out that they get away with it because police doesn’t do their job (there’s a lot of corruption and indifference, the officers do not get paid much etc). however, US does seem to have strict law enforcement, from what I know.
well, to get back to your question… i think they should allow people to carry only non lethal guns (the type with rubber bullets). i think that is a fair compromise – you do get protection but cannot just kill people on a whim.
also, it is a matter of education.
classes for kids….i don’t think they would do much. i mean, parents are responsible for education, right? – i’ve never seen a parent to advise his kid to do drugs, carry weapons etc. but some of them still do it. this are the kids’ choices. no matter how much education they get, if they are set to be violent, they will be, no matter what “that lecture in high school” taught them. i know others may disagree, this is just my idea. I think that what those kids need is more concern from parents and teachers, more time spent with them, the induction of the “culture of peace”, so to speak. they should be encouraged to volunteer more, to see suffering at a small age. don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they should be traumatized with stuff they cannot handle, but you cannot understand others’ suffering unless you empathize with them. of course, I’m not ruling out such classes, they could be useful for the accidental uses of weapons you mentioned.
Alesandra
April 1st, 2013 at 1:49 am
Andy, it’s hard to explain in details, all these problems are part of daily life of so many people. It’s hard to draw the line where the violence begins, but one thing that I could point out is the ‘drug factor’, guys addicted to drugs are willing to do ANYTHING to maintain “the trip”. Drug traffic fuels addiction and violence. Public security knows that it is a complex problem.
Oh guy, I could write all night long here about this issue… Fortunately I live in a very calm town, located in the south of Brazil. It’s just my opinion but cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and others… well, I wouldn’t want to live in, the life looks so crazy to me (a small-town-boy) hehe.
April 1st, 2013 at 2:55 am
I don’t get it either. i think government should stop selling any kind of weapon to anyone and try to collect people’s gun. that was a mysterious issue for me so I asked one of my American friends, she said its because some people in US believe that they should have the right to have gun and they are proud of their selves and they don’t wanna lose these superiority over other people. that doesn’t make any sense to me however.
April 1st, 2013 at 6:45 am
hi. I’ve never been in USA..but you can consider the family that always are in struggle THEIR CHILDREN are depressed or aggressive and then you can supposed some AMERICAN movies. sometimes i can’t bear their violence.i think when you show killing easily .you’ll make it simple to people get along with violence. i remembered that my brother suggest me watching FARGO movie for practicing English .believe or not i couldn’t.but it was a true story.
April 1st, 2013 at 7:02 am
I think it is feasible to change this behavior but it is a long term process. As far as I am concerned, if the government act immediately and without any preparation the results and consequence of that rush act would be quit reverse. As you said, the best way is to have some continuous education program at school for kids in order to aware them about the danger of having and carrying guns. In addition, the government of USA can play a huge role. This means that they should do some activities concerning increasing the price and taxation of guns, making far more difficult to issue license, providing more education for those people who carry gun.
April 1st, 2013 at 7:24 am
It’s already mentioned, people must change their attitude to guns. It’s not necessary to keep gun for their security, more guns, more crime. And I think that most of USA people are crazy in many way so why not in crime…in my country (Czech Republic) I can’t imagine that someone (even teenager) could kill kids in these way (go to school/work and decide to kill others). Families in USA are used to keep a gun, here is the problem, I guess.
April 1st, 2013 at 7:59 am
Hello there!
This question is really complicated. I haven’t been to USA, but I think that at least assault weapons should be prohibited. Certainly, assault rifles or similar kind of weapons have nothing to do with self-defence. Rules on gun usage should be very strict.
I live in Moscow, Russia. Guns are prohibited here (well, not completely, one could obtain a license on a hunter rifle or something like that, but handguns and automatic weapons are illegal). Is it good or bad? It depends actually. Debates about it are going on and on.
Unfortunately, we seem to have people who are just crazy. They are not even real criminals. They could be drunks, drug users or something like that.
Killing a man in a quarrel for a parking space? Easy. Slashing someone into pieces in answer to slight rebuke? Easy too.
They could think that they will go unpunished whatever they will do. And if they have money and power they will go unpunished. If you are especially unlucky to confront one of them, you can go to jail instead. Well, the last case is really extreme. Such things don’t happen all the time. But they are possible.
I can’t foretell the future in these circumstances.
April 1st, 2013 at 8:40 am
it is certain that guns is a part of Americans culture, a kind of culture that is not welcomed in most of countries. there should be actions to decrease gun possession, but it is likely that the issue is out of the hands of the us government,i mean that policy is controlled by companies and companies are interested in profit more than in people’s life. it also Hollywood encourage gun violence in cowboys films by showing those killers as heroes.
April 1st, 2013 at 10:07 am
Hey guys, how’re you doing?
I’m from Brazil and some years ago the population voted to decide wether the guns should or not be allowed here. The majority said no and that’s why nowadays it’s extremely hard for a regular person to have an authorization to legally pursue a gun.
So, it’s not totally forbidden, but it’s more difficult and I think that’s what the US government should do. Make guns more difficult to be allowed for regular people (not cops, for example).
Another thing about Brazil: our country is not much more violent than the usa, as most of us brazilians say. The thing here is that most of brazilians have an incredible sense of inferiority. They think every country is better than ours and it’s not true. I have never suffered from a violent situation, for example and I live in a big city (Curitiba) in south of the country.
I guess that’s it. I think it’s terrible that in a country so developed as the USA, people keep dying and nothing is done about the guns.
April 1st, 2013 at 10:21 am
Hey Andy and Add.
My opnion is it is not a gun problem, is more related with education and culture. Brazil has les guns, like 10%, and hv a o lot of more dead, almost the double. You can check this numbers in the web easily.
April 1st, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Gusys Glad to see your blog!
So my opinion is that USA government should to make gun illegal, and try to take all guns from people. And accept the low about punishing person if someone find guns at his hand. fore example took away of him his average two mount salary. That will be better, and helpful to make some extra money for government.
April 1st, 2013 at 1:07 pm
Hello friends,
It is a difficult issue and hard to answer. I’ve never been to USA but I think it is awful to be scared to go out in a crowded place and never to know if you will get home alive. I can imagine the parents’ concern about their children who go to school every day.
I understand the idea of self protection. But those terrible events happened in American schools not were done because of self protection. There are too many mentally disabled people who own a weapon. This is the point, where the government should act. It should make much more difficult to buy a gun and the first condition for it should be a healthy psychological condition proved by an accurate mental health checkup. I think, most of these people are drug addicted, so these ones should be prohibited from the start. I recognize, it is not easy to do, and it takes a long time to have any small result, and the government should use the help of NGO too. I am convinced, that some measures were taken, but they don’t seem to be sufficient.
April 1st, 2013 at 2:14 pm
I’m from Brasil and I have never been in the United States before and for me it’s hard to understand the gun issue there. Brasil is a very violent country but here violence is very much associated to the drug traffic and also to criminal ‘organizations’(I don’t know if that is a proper term, but in Portuguese we call it ‘crime organizado’, so I am translating). It seems to me that in the United States, on the other hand, the use of guns has a different profile. I think the industry of guns might be huge and it probably might be great deal for the companies that produce them to keep on selling. Many of the American films I’ve watched before are very violent and I believe that if this kind of movie at the same time that stimulates violence they respond to a demand of what many people want to see. Maybe my example has nothing to do with reality but that’s my point of view as an outsider according to the information I’ve seen and read about the US – economic interests of important companies and marketing of violence. I think American leaders should weight what’s more valuable; lives of 12.000 each year or millions of dollars of this kind of business.
April 1st, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Hi, everybody. I agree with many opinions from here
My opinion is that it should be an education program to learn the dangers of having guns (even if you decide to have one or no) but not just for children. This program should be extended for everybody but specially for parents who are the head of the family. The family is the nucleus of society and any change that we wish to do it should start from there.
April 1st, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Hello, interesting correlation is diplayed here. the higher wealth gap in a country, the higher homicide by fire arms rate is. http://knoema.com/kdabqlc/crime-statistics-murders-with-firearms-and-homicide-rate
April 1st, 2013 at 5:52 pm
It is interesting to know that is a part of the U.S. culture. Glad the institution that I went to while I had my immersion program in the U.S. did not exchange that culture. lol. It is just simply unfortunate for me because it shows how people who have a gun are definitely insecure.
I believe the most immortal thing in this planet is a change. Anything changes. This habit might be changed someday depends on how the U.S. citizen or government want it to be. I’m from Bali, Indonesia. We still think a gun is luxurious thing that is owned only by a police or an army for our nation defense purposes plus it only exists in the some scenes of American movies, lol. I’d love living in the states though, without a gun
April 1st, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Hello..I am from KSA and I have never been in USA before so I think if people there get a good protection from their government then there is no need to bring guns . Here in my country it is allowed to own gun but it is NOT allowed to use it as you like unless you are in a dangerous case .
So it depends on what the government could offer to their people from protection so they won’t use it as they do now .
April 1st, 2013 at 9:49 pm
As to gun bearing in the US, I understand the selfdefence excuse but I can’t buy the idea of bearing a powerful war-weapon, like a M-16, AK-47 and alike, MAN!!! That is too much. Think about the following: have you realized that those who recently committed horrible killing in the US, like in schools, elementary schools, etc. they didn’t have ANY CRIMINAL BACKGROUND but they have at hand an arsenal at home?
April 2nd, 2013 at 4:01 am
Hey you guys,
I am writing from Istanbul.
Do you remember the Norway massacre ? 77 people had died. And then what ? The killer (Breivik) only get 21 years to draw jail terms. Do you imagine that ? Its a very tragic penalty. I think the legislation saying that its just 77 people, nothing important. If its not, somebody explain this funny 21 years jail penalty. So there was a this kind of ambiance most of the world, you can not make people to give up having guns. The legislation must be very aversive so nobody can attempt having a gun. Its the only way i think. Dissuasiveness is my priority.
Have a good day guys.
April 2nd, 2013 at 3:28 pm
My humble point of view is that many american people have had from the times of the Remington rifle and Colts a ” love affair” with guns , the reasons are various , self-defense , sportsmanship and the right of every citizen to own a gun . Usually a citizen without a criminal record can buy whatever gun he likes , the police will check him out and give the green light to the seller, but here we have a loophole in the law” the mental state of that person.”We can see that when these guys engage in a rampage of violence and assassination, later it turned out that they were known as antisocial or crazy people. Also ,as others have posted, too much graphic violence on TV and video games.
April 3rd, 2013 at 10:04 am
Hi,
I’m Iranian and in our country not only gun but also all kind of stabbing is illegal, but unfortunately violence isn’t decrease and it’s big problem, I think education is the best way for decreasing violence (in our society economic problems and low education cause violence, I think)
October 9th, 2014 at 7:19 pm
It is all about mentality. Guns are part of American culture. Owning a gun is so common in America whereas in other countries only sight of a gun itself is a big deal.
So for sure I can not imagine that any law that would make guns illegal would really work. There is some similarity when it comes to the way car drivers act and behave on te road in my country. Rules of the road become more and more stricter, unfortunately car drivers do not seem to behave more savely on the road. Too many people die on the road and it seems like new law regualtions do not prevent it whatsoever. So it is just liek I said it is all about mentality. As long as we do not make people think different way we can not expect any changes. All efforts should be focused on kids – make them think that owning a gun or driving carelessly is let say something that the should be embarrassed of.