The United States has a strong cultural bond with firearms. The fact that weapons are part of American society still makes many people proud; protection tops the list of reasons for owning a gun, where 45% of people grew up in a household with guns. Furthermore, 59% said at least some of their friends own guns, and 72% have shot a gun (Parker). Americans think possessing a gun is a component of their freedom, whether they use it for hunting, target practice, or self-defense (Parker). At the same time, gun violence and specific components of gun culture have devastated the nation. Families grieve, and many conflicts/debates are going around about whether or not we should tighten gun control. As a nation, we are divided into many political issues …show more content…
must be identified to come to a solution indeed. Although there are many components of gun culture in the U.S., there are three main pieces: problems revolving around the 2nd Amendment, problems caused by the NRA, and problems involving self-defense mentality (Boine).
Mobilization of the Second Amendment
The Second Amendment is one of the most significant factors of gun culture, allowing people to own more guns. Specifically, the reinterpretation of the Second Amendment protects individual rights (Phillips). The Second Amendment: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." was understood to protect state militias from being unarmed. Currently, conservatives are advocating that the Second Amendment extends to individual rights due to the District of Columbia v. Heller. This case ruled that Americans have a constitutional right to own guns in their homes, knocking down the District's gun ban (Phillips).
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America's Complex Relationship with Guns. Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center.
Phillips, Amber. "How the Second Amendment Was Reinterpreted to Protect Individual Rights." Washington Post. Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/31/second-amendment-individual-rights/. Accessed May 31 2022.
Self-Defense Gun Use. May 2020. Violence Policy Center, vpc.org/revealing-the-impacts-of-gun-violence/self-defense-gun-use/#:~:text=The%20use%20of%20guns%20in,are%20used%20in%20self-defense. Accessed May 2020.
Semenza, Daniel. "More Guns, More Death: The Fundamental Fact That Supports a Comprehensive Approach to Reducing Gun Violence in America." Rockefeller Institute of Government., June 21 2022. Rockefeller Institute of Government, rockinst.org/blog/more-guns-more-death-the-fundamental-fact-that-supports-a-comprehensive-approach-to-reducing-gun-violence-in-america/. Accessed June 21 2022.
The Truth about Mental Health and Gun Violence. National Alliance on Mental Illness,