Michael Adkins
Citizens around the globe view America’s abhorrent volume of gun violence as the result of our unique gun culture. Firearms manufacturers and gun advocates promote that culture. Truth be told, though, our gun culture was formed from myth and marketing.
The myth greatly revolves around America’s ideal of rugged individualism and centers around the white-hatted hero gunning down the black-hatted villain, often in the town’s street in a showdown. Truth be told, such showdowns were extremely rare. The West was not won by a Colt revolver. Native Americans were conquered by the carbine of the U.S. Army and lawlessness in the streets by laws. Cities, including the legendary Dodge City, banned the carrying of firearms in public. Ironically many state legislatures have adopted the reverse tactic by ignoring the success of the past and enacting unlicensed, open-carry laws.
After the taming of the West, the gun culture died out. Therefore, 20th Century gun makers began marketing guns, not as a necessity, but as a feeling; “what was once needed, now had to be loved.” They wisely reached out to the youth of America to bolster future firearms sales. An ad in 1921 read “You know your boy wants a gun; you just don’t know how much he wants it. He can’t tell you. It’s beyond words!” We even made icons of toy guns; “the holy grail of Christmas gifts! The Red Ryder 200 shot range model air rifle.”
In 1977 the NRA changed its Second Amendment philosophy from promoting firearms for hunting and sport to promoting guns for homeowner protection. Marketing Americans’ fears has since been a vital aspect of gun sales in the U.S.
The change in the nature of the NRA and other gun advocacy groups has shifted so far from hunting to fear-mongering, it has resulted in their advocacy for the right to wear body armor, bump stocks that turn semi-automatics into automatic weapons, high-capacity magazines, armor-piercing bullets, and even silencers. Is there anyone amongst us that will feel safer because we legally possess a silencer? These are examples of how America is unique in that no other nation’s policies abet violence, crime and terrorism as do our policies.
No longer are hunting rifles sufficient. Our ancestors brought home game for supper with single shot rifles. Apparently, we are poorer shots today and require rapid fire rifles such as the AR-15 to bring down our game.
After the recent Uvalde massacre of innocent children, DNA was used to identify many of the slain, mutilated bodies; such are the results of the damage done by an AR-15, a gun whose purpose it is to shoot a lot of high-caliber bullets very, very quickly and do a lot of damage. As one physician noted, “the organs, for example, like the liver or the spleen, that aren’t very elastic, they can’t handle that. They would basically rupture.” She went on to say “treating and saving anyone from AR-15 wounds is difficult, but that for children, the chance of surviving these injuries is slim.” I ask you to consider the question asked by British writer Andrew Gawthorpe, “what cultural value, what material interest could be worth this? It must be something that its defenders consider extremely important. Guns. That’s it.” Ask yourself, is your right to carry a gun so vital to you that you can justify AR-15, or any military-style weapon designed to inflict massive and lethal damage, that you can justify citizens carrying them?
Cultures can and do change but they take a long time. Let’s hope that we all come to our senses sooner rather than later.
Michael Adkins formerly was chair of the Hancock County Democratic Party. Send comments to [email protected].
