The Significance of Firearms on the Cultural Identity of the United States

What is the importance of the gun? The gun is one of the most important tools in the defense of our nation. Guns are responsible for a lot of death and injuries, but these things were going on before the existence of the gun. Guns aren't the reason for the death and injuries, they are just a means to it. They are tools and an engineering marvel of our age. The gun has evolved from a simple weapon that caused limited destruction to the modern gun that is so fast and powerful it is capable of mass destruction. Through the evolution of the gun, it has become a political tool.

The right to possess guns is a fundamental element to American identity. The right to own and operate guns under certain circumstances is in fact guaranteed as part of the United States Constitution. Over the course of American history and particularly in the 21st century, there exists a great debate over the possession of guns of private citizens. Both sides of the debate argue with fervor. There are those that argue fervently for the right to possess arms; they argue for guns with regard to home protection, property protection, personal security, and that it is a fundamental right as a citizen.

"Battleground America," written by Jill Lepore, provides a strong history of guns and the way they have changed in the eyes of the American through the years. She proves her point with strong evidence throughout her article, sprinkling it with opinion and argument that is strongly supported. She presents her argument to convince her audience that the open availability of guns allows citizens to undeservingly purchase them by displaying the credibility in her sources, using negative connotations in her speech, and the strength and objectivity only a strong logos appeal can provide.

When America first became a country branching away from Great Britain, firearms played a huge role. After the war, firearms were still an every day thing for civilians, using them for hunting and or self-defense. With the second amendment has come with a controversial topic when it comes to regulating guns in our country. This topic affects the United States nationally, as well as local state to state as they try to regulate how guns should be handled. From the core amendment values such as the second amendment have changed how the amendment is viewed overtime, so has the evolution of guns and how they are viewed in today’s society.

Ott et al. find that CFM has a “near-total absence of reflection on the role of firearms in society” (Ott et al., 2015, p.219) and is “focusing on the presentation of firearms using an aesthetic of domestication and sterility” (Ott et al., 2015, p.217). Including the Coors Video Theatre, the hunting lodge, the frontier stage stop, and The Browning Gallery, none of these are showing the violence and reality side of the weapon. The way CFM describes guns as “necessary tools, commonplace commodities, and innovative technologies in nineteenth-century America is not historically inaccurate, just highly selective” (Ott et al., 2015, p.222). They also mention taxonomy and “the manner in which they (guns) are arrayed and hung” (Ott et al., 2015, p.225). The authors called these as “artistic arrangement”, which means, “the guns purified of violence, death, and war” (Ott et al., 2015, p.226).

They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”

In the United States of America the right to bear arms gave birth to a phenomenon called the “gun culture,” the term coined in 1970 by a historian Richard Hofstadter, which describes America’s heritage and affection for weapons(1). Not only did gun culture become an inseparable part of American democracy, but also it is considered to be synonymous with independence and freedom, the most important values for American society. Even though the crime rate and murder rate in the U.S. is higher than in any other developed country, U.S. citizens oppose every attempt made to pass gun control legislation(2). However, it may sound like a paradox, but the crime level in the most liberal states, when it comes to gun ownership, is the lowest in the

Historian Richard Hofstadter, in his article "The United States is a gun culture" in the concept of "gun culture" to describe Americans have a enthusiastic of firearms. Many people want to accept and support the rights of gun ownership is part of the American tradition. Some people that individuals possess a gun in self-defense is a central feature of American identity, especially in the Midwest and southern people. The original of United States to open up frontier history - guns, as the Americans against native Indians, animals, riot self-defense weapon, the United States is an important part of the 19th century westward expansion, because people need to be responsible for their own safety. Hunting firearms are also important from American

To comprehend that, it's essential to get a handle on not only the staggering measurements about weapon proprietorship and firearm savagery in the United States, however America's extremely one of a kind association with weapons — not at all like that of some other created nation — and how it plays out in our legislative issues to guarantee, apparently despite seemingly insurmountable opposition, that our way of life and laws keep on driving the normal firearm viciousness that imprints American life.

The United States has always a gun and hunting culture starting from the birth of the country itself. The men who fought in the war of independence were citizens who owned their own muskets. However the issue of gun control can be traced back to the Civil War, as new African-American citizens needed to protect themselves from their previous owners in the south that would often hunt them down. The problematic of gun control have changed greatly due to the evolution of times. From the late twentieth century until today, gun control has been highly debated because of recurrent mass shootings, such as Columbine, such as Sandy Hook, such as Virginia Tech, such as San Bernardino, and such as Roseburg - just to name a few. Many have pleaded for thorough background checks to prevent convicts or the mentally handicapped from owning guns, while others argue that US citizens should follow in the steps of advanced European countries and no longer possess these lethal weapons. Others who are often leaning to the right argue that this a fundamental right that defines americanism and shapes American pride and historic culture. However recurrent mass shootings are nothing to be proud of.

This paper will explore the history of guns, myths and realities of gun violence. Gun violence is a hot topic in America today and some may believe that America was built on gun violence. This country was colonized by the use of violence with guns. We’ve had wars since the invasion of this country. The violence has been around also with the well-known 1775 speech from Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Jr.). Give me death is a very strong statement that to me means this is of a violent nature. Since then violence with guns would only escalate from taking land to taking lives whether it be homicides, suicides or threats of violence against one another. With the violent history of gun violence in America and so many different opinions, who or what is responsible for the destruction on self and society and what are the some of the ways to discourage these behaviors.

The United States are viewed in the Western society as extreme in relation to weapons and violence because of its high police response rates to its widespread strong gun culture (Crank, 1998, p. 152). The United States will be introduced as a comparator to this research as it is already highly compared to other societies where the sale of weapons and its regulation is minimal, with only local law-enforcement agencies setting the policy with no national policing system.

In recent decades, gun rights and gun control have been high on the list of issues in the cultural war sharply dividing Americans. Gun control's passionate proponents and opponents clash in the media, city council chambers, state legislatures, Congress, and the courts. What one side perceives as necessary to stem out-of-control violence in urban centers, the other fears as the road to unlawful confiscation and abridgement of constitutional liberties. Fundamentally disagreeing on most of the essentials, the two sides concur that a tremendous amount is at stake. "Guns are lightning rods of American culture," observes law professor Adam Winkler in his "Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America."

Gun violence’s has been apart American history from the very beginning. On the day of March 5th, 1770 an event occurred that changed history of the world. That event was the Boston massacre in which 5 civilians were killed by a gunshot to their body and their names were Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, Patrick Carr, Samuel Maverick and James Caldwell they were some of first of many to come.( History.com Staff) America's prevalent gun culture branches from its colonial history, revolutionary roots, frontier expansion, and the Second Amendment, which states: "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. From this gun violence in America has grown into an epidemic of epic proportions from the date of 1770 to the present it has only continued to plague America with the blood of the innocent.

The discussion revolving around firearms in the United States has been a long-debated issue. With events such as the 2017 Las Vegas mass shootings becoming frequent, the existence of a gun culture within American society has become a topic of major concern. Within his news analysis Gun Culture and the American Nightmare of Violence, Henry Giroux suggests that gun culture in the USA is highly reflective of a political atmosphere which supports the idea of violence. On the other hand, Alia Dastagir’s article The Gun Debate Isn't About What You Think seeks to demonstrate how American gun culture is a reflection of the public perception of firearms. In order to successfully argue their theories, Giroux and Dastagir utilize different strategies to convince their respective audiences. While Giroux relies heavily on logos and pathos to appeal towards an educated leftist audience, Dastagir structures her argument around ethos and pathos to persuade a more extensive audience.