US Town: Owning a Gun is Mandatory
(Lithograph of the June 27 Union charge on Confederates at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Published in 1888 by Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison.)
I find the American obsession with guns intriguing/fascinating. Whenever there is a major killing the pro and anti gun control groups clash and an emotional, almost violent, debate sweeps the US landscape/mindscape.
Yet another interesting Reuters story on this issue:
“The Virginia Tech killings have set off calls for tighter U.S. gun laws but anyone wanting to know why those demands likely will make little headway should visit Kennesaw, a town where owning a gun is both popular and mandatory.
“The town north of Atlanta had little prominence until it passed a gun ordinance in 1982 that required all heads of a household to own a firearm and ammunition.
“Kennesaw’s law was a response to Morton Grove, Illinois, which had passed a gun ban earlier that year as a step to reduce crime…”
In one of my posts earlier, one commentator gave me a friendly advice which amounted to something like this…”OK you fella! You live so far away from the US in a different world and have no clue about our ‘civilization’ and ‘culture’. So why do you waste your breath/energy writing about us?”
Point well made…and taken!!!
I made the following comment on the subject earlier in The TMV…
“Violence cannot be stopped by just banning guns. A majority of Americans seem to lean on arms owing to a fear psychosis that can be perhaps traced to the memories of being the settlers in an alien land not very long ago in history.
There are those who have, consciously or unconsciously, developed a macho trait to overcome this fear. These traits become more visible whenever the nation responds to a major crisis, such as the present shocking killings in the American campus, or when muscle power is used outside the USA.
There is no easy solution when fear and violence take possession of one’s mind and thought. Banning this, or having more and more strict legislation, alone would not help much.
9/11 has further complicated things for an average American. The past four years have clearly displayed that violent response to violent acts creates more fear.
Now add to all this the growing confusion in the minds of the people when things don’t work out in the ‘desired’ fashion despite having all the muscle power.
And we have the heady cocktail of fear, macho trait and confusion. A deadly combination that can sap the strength of the mightiest person/nation.
Violence (or fear or greed or whatever) is in the mind…and it is from there it has to be healed or removed. Otherwise a person/nation continues to suffer, and makes others suffer.”
“The Roots of Violence: Wealth without Work, Pleasure without Conscience, Knowledge without Character, Commerce without Morality, Science without Humanity, Worship without Sacrifice, Politics without Principles.� — Mahatma Gandhi
