I now live in Atlanta, GA, and this is the third continent I've lived on. My neighbor asked me today - 'So, does these things happen in your country too?' The answer is no. Homicides - sure. Mass shootings? No. Her next question: 'Are guns illegal in your country?'. No, they're not. In fact, my country also have a history of hunting. My husband used to shoot target in high school. He was very good at it too. We occasionally eat guinea fowl when we visit.
So that left the question - why? Why is it so different here, in the US? Why does the US seem to be subject to these violent acts, while it only happen very occasionally in other countries?
It's not the media violence - we have that too. It's not that kids here have more pressure to perform academically - we have that. Drugs, alcohol? Check. Peer pressure - check. Mental illness? I don't know. No stats on that as far as I know. I doubt the care for kids with mental illness is much different from here.
But I can see a few things that are different:
1) There are just so many MORE guns than in my country! 88 guns per 100 people in the US. In my country - 12.7. Seven times more.
2) In my country, there are very strict gun control laws. Guns have to be locked up. Licences have to be renewed every 5 years. Gun licences are subjective to a background check and a competency test, even a inspection of the premise.
3) In my country, people fear guns. They see guns as dangerous. They keep guns away from their kids, and teach them that guns are dangerous. Guns-are-dangerous-and-drugs-are-bad - something like that. I always knew my dad had a gun in the safe, but I saw the gun only a couple of times (when target in rural locations a few times) and all the warnings to go along with that installed in me a proper sense of fear of it. In the US, it seems to me that people do not show guns the proper respect. Guns are treated with familiarity. With the sense that it is their born RIGHT to own that weapon.
Familiarity breeds complacence, and this is bad, because now, a certain barrier to using the gun - namely fear of the gun - has been removed, and using it in times of anger becomes an option.
Here's what I mean: let's pretend that an imaginary teenager somewhere is really very angry at his mom, as teenagers all over the world are at some point during their transition into adulthood. He's slammed his door, he's holed up in his room, ranting and raving, listening to loud music, and hating the world. Now in his imagination, this teenager is going through various scenarios of revenge - maybe he plans to run away from home, maybe he thinks about how he's not going to talk to his mom again - ever! - or he turns his music to the highest volume possible. And if you live in a house where you often see guns - maybe in that moment of anger you imagine taking that gun and shooting someone - you know - out of pure anger. He feels ashamed immediately of the thought. Soon, the teenager calms down, becomes more rational, feels ashamed of having such horrendous thoughts, decided not to speak to his mom for the rest of the day (or until he needs something) but pretty much gets back to his life.
Unless, of course, maybe this teenager is one of those who can't let his anger go. Due to personality, circumstance, mental illness - this thought of revenge in this angry moment plants a seed that grows and grows and takes form over the years until one day - the unspeakable, horrendous crime, is actually done.
But what if guns were not an option in the first place? What if guns were such an unfamiliar, unavailable object, that that angry thought never even entered his mind? What if guns were not such a popular, talked-about, household name? What if, like in my country, the topic of guns were hush-hush, an unfamiliar scary prospect, something that is off-limits - almost like cocaine or heroine - an item non-grata - the very thought installing that young adult with fear?
For me - these are the main differences between your country and mine. Gun-laws and mindset. Guns should be less available, more difficult to come by. But people need to start treating them for what they are: dangerous killing machines.
Have your dangerous killing machine in your house if you will - when it comes to your child - give them as many warnings about them as you do about hard drugs. Drugs kill - guns kill faster.
So that left the question - why? Why is it so different here, in the US? Why does the US seem to be subject to these violent acts, while it only happen very occasionally in other countries?
It's not the media violence - we have that too. It's not that kids here have more pressure to perform academically - we have that. Drugs, alcohol? Check. Peer pressure - check. Mental illness? I don't know. No stats on that as far as I know. I doubt the care for kids with mental illness is much different from here.
But I can see a few things that are different:
1) There are just so many MORE guns than in my country! 88 guns per 100 people in the US. In my country - 12.7. Seven times more.
2) In my country, there are very strict gun control laws. Guns have to be locked up. Licences have to be renewed every 5 years. Gun licences are subjective to a background check and a competency test, even a inspection of the premise.
3) In my country, people fear guns. They see guns as dangerous. They keep guns away from their kids, and teach them that guns are dangerous. Guns-are-dangerous-and-drugs-are-bad - something like that. I always knew my dad had a gun in the safe, but I saw the gun only a couple of times (when target in rural locations a few times) and all the warnings to go along with that installed in me a proper sense of fear of it. In the US, it seems to me that people do not show guns the proper respect. Guns are treated with familiarity. With the sense that it is their born RIGHT to own that weapon.
Familiarity breeds complacence, and this is bad, because now, a certain barrier to using the gun - namely fear of the gun - has been removed, and using it in times of anger becomes an option.
Here's what I mean: let's pretend that an imaginary teenager somewhere is really very angry at his mom, as teenagers all over the world are at some point during their transition into adulthood. He's slammed his door, he's holed up in his room, ranting and raving, listening to loud music, and hating the world. Now in his imagination, this teenager is going through various scenarios of revenge - maybe he plans to run away from home, maybe he thinks about how he's not going to talk to his mom again - ever! - or he turns his music to the highest volume possible. And if you live in a house where you often see guns - maybe in that moment of anger you imagine taking that gun and shooting someone - you know - out of pure anger. He feels ashamed immediately of the thought. Soon, the teenager calms down, becomes more rational, feels ashamed of having such horrendous thoughts, decided not to speak to his mom for the rest of the day (or until he needs something) but pretty much gets back to his life.
Unless, of course, maybe this teenager is one of those who can't let his anger go. Due to personality, circumstance, mental illness - this thought of revenge in this angry moment plants a seed that grows and grows and takes form over the years until one day - the unspeakable, horrendous crime, is actually done.
But what if guns were not an option in the first place? What if guns were such an unfamiliar, unavailable object, that that angry thought never even entered his mind? What if guns were not such a popular, talked-about, household name? What if, like in my country, the topic of guns were hush-hush, an unfamiliar scary prospect, something that is off-limits - almost like cocaine or heroine - an item non-grata - the very thought installing that young adult with fear?
For me - these are the main differences between your country and mine. Gun-laws and mindset. Guns should be less available, more difficult to come by. But people need to start treating them for what they are: dangerous killing machines.
Have your dangerous killing machine in your house if you will - when it comes to your child - give them as many warnings about them as you do about hard drugs. Drugs kill - guns kill faster.