Let's face it. While platitudes are all well and good, they are merely a contrivance to fill the silence that has stunned devastated communities.
As many American citizens call for stricter gun legislation, there are just as many who advocate for their right to the Second Amendment.
How has this become the polarizing issue in the country while many other parts of the world maintain peace–presumably due to citizens not having the right to bear arms?
Genuinely curious to hear from a specific demographic, Redditor Wonderful-Wash-2145 asked:
"To the Americans who don’t agree with changing the gun laws? Why?"
People shared their informed opinions in great detail.
When Gun Advocates Lack Common Sense Or Knowledge
"I live in a state, California, which has all of the gun laws that people are asking for and then some. While our gun violence isn't as high as a lot of other states, it was already rapidly trending downward before our biggest laws, like our 'Assault Weapons' ban passed. And we've still had our share of mass shootings. With the laws in place it's easy to see why they're ineffective."
"Assault Weapons ban? Because the only thing separating an AR-15 from any other semi-automatic rifle are ergonomic features like the stock and grip, AR-15s and similar rifles are still sold here, just with those features swapped out for less comfortable alternatives."
"'Universal' Background Checks? What people don't realize is that every gun store around the country has to run background checks on buyers already, 'Universal' means that private sellers have to do that too. How is that accomplished? The buyer and seller have to meet at a gun shop so the gun shop can run the background check. The problem is, there's nothing to stop someone from just NOT doing that. If you want to sell a gun to your best friend, there's nothing stopping you from doing it in the comfort of your own home, no paperwork required. So universal background checks aren't universal, they're voluntary but if people called them voluntary background checks, it would be too self-evident that they're not much of a solution."
"Before people say 'Well one state having those laws is ineffective because people can just buy from another state.' No, that's not legal. You can only legally buy a gun in the state in which you reside. Do people still do it? Yes, people break the law by buying from private sellers, which more laws wouldn't prevent."
"Americans buy 15 Million guns a year from dealers, who knows how many are purchased from private sellers. Countries like Australia where gun control has been effective only had a few million guns in their whole country, much less the hundreds of millions that the US has."
"The reason gun nuts oppose 'common sense' gun control is that a prerequisite for common sense is common knowledge, and it's rare for gun control advocates to have knowledge of both firearms and the laws that currently regulate them in pro gun control states like California."
In The Absence Of Enforcement
"And, a lot of the existing laws aren't enforced. Domestic abusers are supposed to surrender their arms are rarely do and the police rarely follow up, for example. I saw a thread yesterday where someone cited 27,000 known firearms holders that were illegal that law enforcement didn't do anything about."
– allboolshite
Weak arguments were also presented.
A Proposal
"So why not make guns have to be registered the way cars are? If I want to sell my car to my friend, I have to fill out paperwork to tell the state that the title for that car is being transferred to my friend. Can’t we do the same for guns?"
– SenoraNegra
A Salesman's Statistic
"I sell auto insurance. Do you know how often someone comes in to insure a vehicle they purchased but never put into their name? Literally like 5 times a weeks if not more."
– Hemp_Milk
Troubling Situation
"A big problem with anything regulatory is how ripe it is to be exploited for the person doing the regulations. A lot of gun control measures have to be enforced by someone and if that person is racist, guess who gets the regulations enforced against them more often? It's still a policing issue when at the core a large group of people simply can't trust the police, and now this is putting both parties in an even more dangerous position."
– Marco2021st
The thread continued sparking a lengthy discussion about gun culture.
A Slippery Slope
"I think one of the concerns that people are thinking about is that the 'gun reform' movement is a stomach that can't ever be satisfied, meaning, they are always going to ask for more ways to reform guns until eventually people won't get to have any. And I think people who are against gun reform know that 'gun reform' is a slippy slope to banning guns outright and overturning the 2nd Amendment."
– BoringNoise9942
What's The Point?
"Governments do not care about their people. Look at selling drugs to the black community, poisoning alcohol during prohibition, anti-privacy laws, I could go on but there's no need to fill paragraphs of these things. And we're supposed to hand over our tools of self-defense and expect the government to protect us? The same government that just sat there outside the Uvalde school?"
"And how are they going to get guns out of the hands of criminals anyway? A good chunk of these shooters are already using guns they can't legally own. If they try to completely get rid of firearms through a 'war on guns' in the same way they've waged a 'war on drugs' for decades, then the amount of illegal, untraceable firearms is only going to go up with every passing decade."
– Mama_Mega_
The Challenge Of Regulating Culture
"I think people are dancing around a core point here as well: you cannot legislate culture."
"Say we do implement just the most severe of gun laws and, miracle beyond miracles, they are 100% effective. Alright, so if I want to hurt a bunch of people en masse and guns are out of the question what do I do? What about just running a van through a crowd? What about some improvised explosive devices? Knives?"
"People think guns are the problem, but they are just a very convenient tool by which the problem expresses itself. I’ve lived in many of the so-called 'safe countries' with strong gun laws. In some respects, they are indeed safer, but it’s because the laws reflect a pre-existing cultural sentiment. This also doesn’t mean random mass violence doesn’t happen. I’m going to use Japan here because that’s a country I spent a long time in: there were the famous sarin gas attacks in 1994, also a murderer who drove a vehicle through a crowd in Akihabara (early 2000’s, I believe), and a lot more public stabbing sprees than you’d expect. One even happened a few stations down from me while living there and three little girls on their way to school died. It’s more of historical crime now, but there was also an early 1900’s mass shooting where a man, rejected by local women, decided to cut off power in his local village and systematically execute everyone in their sleep before blowing his own head off at dawn."
"The effort needs to be put into why we seem to have so many disaffected people who are so far gone that mass shootings seem like a reasonable consideration. Gun laws are ultimately just a bandaid fix and, because a good portion of the U.S. is culturally attuned to firearms in a positive way, it’s a bandaid fix that one would have to fight tooth and nail for."
"It would be an inefficient fight and even absolute victory would just result in a half measure. I oppose gun laws for precisely the same reason I oppose the war on drugs; it’s a fight that will never end just by slapping on new policies. Generations of legislators and activists will commit to it and unfathomable amounts of tax dollars will be dumped into it and in 30 years we will still be asking ourselves the same fundamental questions about our safety."
"The uncomfortable reality, at least from where I sit, is that a lasting solution is going to have to be proactive, play the long game, and be willing to figure out what has gone so wrong in our social makeup as to push people to random acts of mass violence."
"And even then, there will still just be psychopaths beyond salvaging and reincorporating into functional society."
"I also know people will want to just say 'no, more just gun laws' or 'this is all the fault of capitalism' etc. etc. but I think those who hold these simplistic, one-note positions are fooling themselves into thinking that this is as easy as identifying the sole 'big bad thing' and then destroying it. As a historian, I can guarantee you that it’s never just one factor at play.'
"I couldn’t agree more that Americans need a more proactive and preventative approach to this issue. But I think guns are just the patsy boogeyman that is simple and comfortable to place blame on. If Americans choose to fight that fight, then so be it, but I maintain that it will be long and ineffectual. In the mean time, more will die and we can all happily believe we are doing something about it."
– Samhain27
What Is It About America?
"I get 'gun culture'. But why is the US more violent?"
I think madmen and people that commit acts of random violence are basically the same % in every country. Difference is that if a mad men in my country comes at a supermarket with a knife, he might kill one or two people but he will get tackled."
"Taking a car trough a crowd, been there. That's a different animal, is terrorism."
– Good-Groundbreaking
The thread was full of debates with pro-gun activists presenting their case and anti-gun advocates responding with arguments.
It's an endless discussion that has no resolve in sight.
So now what? What are your thoughts and suggestions that would promote a compromise or solution about gun control?
I've waited tables, so let me tell you... the under the rock people outnumber us. We're in trouble.
And Fruits?
Hot Shots Idiot GIFGiphy"In referring to travelling outside of the country--- 'Do they have vegetables there?"'
Ava-Ablaze
“Sounds good!”
"I worked for a pizza delivery store. Had a lady call up, asked for delivery. I asked for her address, and she said she wasn’t going to tell me. So I asked, how are we supposed to deliver to you if we don’t know where you are? She says she doesn’t know what her address is. So I say, again, how do you expect us to deliver to you if we can’t find you? She says that if I won’t take her order, then she’ll just call someplace else. And I said, 'Sounds good!' and hung up."
Tru-Queer
Get a Map!
"'Isn't Mexico in Europe?' (this was in an higher education History class when we were learning about 1920's America). This was in a school in London, England."
Mackteague
"Alternatively, I knew someone who was a sophomore in high school and genuinely thought Mexico was a part of the US, and this was during the 2016 election. That fact could not have been made more clear."
ApidaeBombus
Different Places
“'France?! I thought you were going to Paris?!”'
Leezeebub
"As a french person this is hilarious because we do, in fact, like to insist that Paris and France are two completely different places. LOL."
"This is because France tends to be too centralized in Paris. Paris is the economic capital, Paris is the legal capital, 1/7 of the popultation lives in Paris, an insane share of national news are just happening in Paris, etc French people out of Paris tend to jokingly say that Paris is not France because life in Paris can be very different from life anywhere else in France."
frayien
Poor Isaac
Giphy"It was lunch and I hear 2 girls talking, they were basically havin' a normal conversation until one of them said 'Can we talk about how useless gravity is like why did Isaac Newton even create it?' The girl she was talking to laughed and called her stupid while I chuckle."
Nezzzaar
What's really scary is that some of these people drive and operate heavy machinery.
Starbucks?
Happy Good Morning GIF by GIPHY Studios OriginalsGiphy"My favorite was an American couple visiting my homeland Scotland and the guy asked 'Wow you have coffee here? How long have you had it? Have you tried it yet?' My answer 'Yeah it's been a few months at least, I have tried it but I don't like it, it's very bitter and gritty it gets stuck in my teeth. Like what..."
Rogueantics
Really Sherlock?
"Was talking about stuff with a close friend and we got onto the topic of money and growing up. This guy lived very comfortably, custom built pool and house w/add on. Had a nice car, good parental unit, etc etc... and he told me poverty didn’t exist straight to my face. After I told him I grew up in poverty, and he was very serious. his reasoning??"
'"No one can live comfortably on that little amount of cash. yeah, no shi* Sherlock.' I figured he was probably really sheltered so I tried to educate him about it and how it is very possible and how many people live it, but he refused to listen to me lol."
ilovedtransyIvania
Know History
"Had an in-depth discussion with an Amish guy once, he didn’t know what the Holocaust was."
Csquared913
"Most people, even those that know of the Holocaust, don't know the whole story. The vast majority of the Nazi regime's victims were Jews, Sinti-Roma peoples, and Slavs but victims also encompassed people identified as social outsiders in the Nazi worldview, such as homosexuals, and political enemies."
"According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the Holocaust was 'the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jewish men, women and children by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.' In addition, 11 million members of other groups were murdered during the "era of the Holocaust. Learn More"
ProjectDirectory
War...
"I was telling a co-worker that I'm from Transylvania originally, and she brought up Dracula because of course. Somehow the mention of Vlad Tepes came up and another co-worker invited herself to the conversation, telling me that the real Frankenstein was also from there. The crap I learn about my homeland sometimes... Next time they'll tell me it's where the white walkers came from originally when Sauron waged a war against Aladdin."
absynthefairy
Sure. Ok.
Season 3 GIF by Parks and RecreationGiphy"Roommate in university, shouting from the other room to ask for help on a paper she was writing with a completely sincere question:"
"'The Holocaust was in World War 3, right?'"
Trebleupclickdown
How do some people survive on their own out there?
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