this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2026
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how it feels trying to gently introduce to libs the idea that perhaps school shooting happens because liberalism dehumanises people and destroys collective connections rather than guns themselves (lemmygrad.ml)
submitted 1 month ago by opiumfree@lemmygrad.ml to c/thedeprogram@lemmygrad.ml
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[–] amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 month ago

It seems to be a culture thing where guns are way too tied into american culture.

I wish I could remember now where I read it for a source (maybe it was something posted on here), but I have this memory of reading about how in early US, part of the way the genocidal colonialism stuff was carried out, was individual / mercenary-like "rangers" who would murder natives. So that's already one reason for a culture of individual weapon ownership/access (whether guns factored in much back then, I'm not as sure about). Then there's the history of chattel slavery. That could easily be another reason, to aid in threatening/controlling slaves, though I don't know how many slave owners also owned guns. And there's the heavily rural aspects of the region's geography, with wildlife that can pose threats; this may not be as much of a thing now, with how much capitalism builds things out, but I'm sure still matters if you live in one of those "middle of nowhere" country places.

Then in modern day, there is the NRA and its lobbying, there is mass media (movies, games, etc.) that fetishize gun/weapon ownership. And of course the constitution itself, where there is some contention over what the second amendment actually means/meant, but some people believe very strongly that it's a fundamental right to individual gun ownership; usually more so among reactionaries, from what I can tell. It's convenient in a way for militant leftists, but I'm also not sure how much it's worth if the state can hunt you like a dog with military-grade weaponry and surveillance. As we're seeing in global conflicts, drone warfare is a significant thing now; up close firefights with guns still matter, but seems they matter less than they used to.

That said, MeowZedong makes a great point that US policy typically has little to do with what is popular/unpopular among the people. So it may be something of a red herring to think the culture is what's holding back change there.