Americans and guns

I would argue the frontier is in their dna, the difference between civilised and uncivilised. They need weapons to protect themselves against this ‘other’. They are also a very fearful society.

They would need a mass amnesty, it’s difficult to see how they would collectively achieve this though, but the stats are staggering, they just seem numb to it. Very sad
 
Unfortunately any action taken wouldn't be felt for decades at best. Guns are too far embedded in general life over there. Everyone carrys a EDC gun and with military grade guns available over the counter there would be stock piles available for years to come and for even longer on the black market.
Not that action shouldn't be taken, we just won't see the effects in our lifetimes. Then there is the political aspect.. that's another thread altogether.
 
This one hit close to home, literally. Highland Park is about 2 miles from my house and it sounds like the perpetrator actually lived in Highwood (which is the nearest town/village to my house). While I am on holiday in Brazil right now, I knew people who were at the parade today. Indeed my next door neighbor has two young girls and they were in the parade. He tells me he saw six people who had been shot, including one woman shot in the neck. Although he and his girls are physically fine, I doubt he will sleep tonight.

For context, Highland Park is about 20 miles north of Chicago in what is known as the North Shore. This is considered a safe, liberal and affluent area (Highland Park has a kind of Yarm vibe and is home to Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins among others). It's the least likely place for this to happen in all Illinois.
 
Guns are part of the culture unfortunately here however, the government are also to blame as they put sick people on the street, who have a history of either crime or mental illness and then blame it on guns. Guns can be easily purchased either legitimately or through the black market (via drug or other forms of gang related suppliers). The US government lost control of the gun situation decades ago, now it’s a case of either buying a gun so you can maybe protect yourself or not going into high crime locations— namely Chicago.
 
To briefly reply to Expat - IMO Chicago is a phenomenal city and should not be avoided. For the majority of people, especially tourists, you won’t encounter crime. Like any large city, it has significant issues concentrated mainly in specific deprived neighbourhoods. But having lived there for 10 years, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Back on topic though - I believe simple measures such as mandatory background checks, waiting periods and eliminating gun show loopholes would go some way to helping the problem. It certainly would not eliminate the problem, but it would be a start before tackling the issue of large capacity, semi-automatic weapons.

Sadly, given the current imbalance of the supposed “co-equal branches of government”, I don’t think anything significant will be done anytime soon.
 
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The decline of the US is actually staggering, isn't it? From the outside, it looks as if literally everything has gotten much worse there in the past 10-15 years (I am probably wrong, however, and am happy to stand corrected).
 
I have some very good friends who have lived in downtown Chicago for over 30 years, who until a few years ago would completely agree with your sentiment about the city. However, they’re now forced to employ armed guards on their property due to carjackings, rapes and gun battles which often go unreported by the city.

The city report that homicides are down for the year — what a complete joke as the deaths approach 300 so far and that doesn’t take into account all the gun-related robberies or drug crimes which is rife.

Common sense would (obviously) keep you away from the so called bad areas but the truth is that Chicago is getting worse for crime, and now if you live in Bucktown or surrounding districts the word is hire armed guards to protect your family and property.

I dare say that one of the reasons why Chicago doesn’t get much international airplay (until now) is that sadly there are worse US cities for crime. The likes of Detroit or Memphis are much worse perhaps the key here is Chicago’s large population— over 2.7m inhabitants. Therefore the shootings/murders are lower per capita than most other cities.
 
UTB 1953 said:
That is rubbish, America goes through this time and time again. How many times are Norwegians or Danes involves in similar situations?
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Why is it rubbish? Try telling that to the families of the people murdered.
Even one mass shooting should be enough to force their respective governments to act.
The UK acted after Dunblane.
 
We used to holiday in America a lot but I wouldn't even take a free holiday there now.
 
The US gun genie is well and truly out of the bottle and it aint ever going back in.

This week we have yet another young white mass murderer who is captured UNHARMED, and another young black man who was shot 90 TIMES when running unarmed from a traffic stop.

absolutely mental
 
Magicman70 said:
In truth the majority of the populace probably want tighter gun controls & freedom for women to chose etc , but the way the electoral college works makes it extremely difficult for any democrat government to bring in or overturn these legislations ?
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Exactly, but the usual generalisations and stereotypes are well and truly alive on this thread.
 
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