Why is America So in Love with Guns?

The second amendment to the US Constitution guarantees it's citizens the right to bear arms for self defense and to protect their property. This amendment was originally taken from the English Bill of Rights written in 1689. Our Bill of Rights was passed in 1791. In the past 220 years America has changed dramatically.

When the Bill of Rights was passed there was no such thing as a police force of any kind. There were no city or village police departments, There were no sheriff's departments or state police agencies. And there was no Federal police force. There were volunteer militias and of course the Continental Army which defeated the forces of King George. The colonies, before and after the Revolutionary War, were a lawless band of states.The right to bear arms was important to the citizens of early America to protect their families and property, as they basically lived in a wilderness. Now each village, town, city, county and state has it's own police force to protect the lives and property of all of the citizens within their jurisdictions.

America has supposedly grown up and progressed, while some of her citizens have not. In the past month there have been a number of gun related mass murders, caused by mentally unstable individuals possessing an arsenal of ammunition and assault weapons. Most Americans are upset with our political leaders of both parties because they are controlled by the NRA ( National Rifle Association) or they are terrified of going against them. Whenever someone calls for more gun control to stop the senseless gun violence, NRA supporters always bring up the Second Amendment argument and whine that their basic rights are being taken away. It is perfectly understandable that some people who enjoy hunting or target shooting would need to possess a rifle or shotgun, but why would anyone need to possess not one but many assault weapons which are designed to kill as many people as possible? And why would they need and endless supply of ammunition?

In the aftermath of these recent shootings many Republicans blamed the poor economy, where a great many people are unemployed and are upset and depressed with their situation.They said more gun control is not the answer. More jobs are the answer. This is ridiculous. Even though our economy is struggling, most countries of the world are in way worse shape. Look at Spain, which has a 25% unemployment rate or Portugal or Greece. How many mass killings have you seen there? None. The reason being that guns are not as available as candy,like here. Europeans hunt and they have hunting rifles in which to do so. They are not demanding AK47's to hunt wild boar or pheasants. Why do they not need an arsenal of weapons? Maybe Americans need a gun to assert their masculinity? Maybe they don't feel like men unless they possess the ability to kill or at least scare others, Even in England, where gun rights began, there are no mass murders occurring routinely and no one is demanding the right to possess assault weapons.

With the recent completion of the 2012 Republican National Convention and the introduction of the 2012 GOP Republican Platform, gun rights supporters and the NRA are drawing laughs and ridicule from the rest of the world. The civilized part. Europeans cannot understand that with so much gun violence in this country why the Republicans want to grant the right to own a unlimited supply of ammunition and repeal any laws restricting the possession of assault weapons. At the same time the Republicans want more guns, an action that would cause even more deaths and injuries, they are pushing to repeal reproductive rights. Why do they feel it is so important to protect the unborn, and not to protect the born?

One argument the NRA and gun activists push is the mistaken belief that the Second Amendment grants the right to possess arms in order to repel foreign invasions and oppressive governments. This false belief is very terrifying. The Founding Fathers wanted the citizenry to trust and depend upon the new Federal form of government for their protection and the protection of the country. They provided an army to protect the country. They also provided for the direct election of congress and the president. If a president or congress was unpopular or oppressive, the citizens could vote them out of office. The Founding Fathers did not intend that a bunch of extremist, paranoid rednecks take up arms against the government. There are many people, whose mental capacities have been warped by right wing extremists like Limbaugh, Bachman and The Tea Party and have adopted a belief that the only way to change the government is through violence and not the ballot box. So much hatred has been generated by Conservative Republican extremists directed towards Obama, that I fear some of these people could actually decide to take matters into their own hands.

In regard to needing arms to protect the country from foreign invasion, I think this is the saddest argument of all. Right now the United States has the most powerful military in the world. No country would dare attempt to invade this country, with our arsenal of nuclear missiles. Even if some country was insane enough or suicidal enough, what good would a bunch of drunken NRA members and survivalists be in defending our country?

It's time this country stops fearing the NRA and our politicians stop selling out to them and legislate effective gun laws. In order to assuage the gun rights proponents perhaps the government could offer them sexual identity therapy!

It's now been three years since I wrote this Hub and absolutely nothing has changed, except for one thing. Mass shootings have increased to a point where they occur almost daily in 2015! There has been 355 mass shootings in America during 2015 and today is the 338th day of the year! I have basically given up on commenting about this problem because I feel it is useless. Our Republican members of Congress, after each of our mass shootings can only offer prayers along with their refusal to do something about the problem. Prayers don't work and haven't worked. God did not create this problem American humans created this problem and we should not expect Him to solve the problem if we are willing to do nothing!

We are constantly warned about foreign terrorists, but sit back idly while our own home grown white Christians kill our citizens. We always say they were people with mental problems, a way to place the blame on something else. If the latest shooting was carried out by someone other than a white Christian American, our right wing nut jobs will surely condemn a whole race or religion, instead of looking at the plethora of guns available to carry our mass shootings. We are so very lucky that what happened in Paris hasn't happened here - yet! It's just a matter of time. The big difference will be that in Europe guns are difficult to obtain, but here they are a common part of the so called culture and are available to anyone who has the will to kill.

I know I am wasting my time and breath as our cowardly members of Congress , all bought and paid for by the NRA, will continue to do nothing. Their answers to the problem is more guns and more money for the NRA and more deaths. Will it stop when our cowardly elected representatives suffer the fate of having their family members murdered or if NRA members are killed? I doubt it. The lure of more money is bigger than the lives of themselves and their family members. I'm afraid that it is too late for what is left of our once civilized society. There are now too many guns available to those who should not have them. I am afraid that in another few years I will be writing again, God willing, as the situation has become even worse.