A Gun Culture In America

Bob Costas.  Jason Whitlock.

I’ve lived in a farm town, Minneapolis, back to the farm town and then a smaller one.  Back to the big city in Seattle only to go back to Minneapolis.  Then onto the suburbs of Raleigh.

When I read Jason Whitlock say that there is a a “Gun culture in America” I hear, and envision, the inner city population carrying guns to increase “street cred.”  I do not hear rural farmer owning guns to protect dogs, chickens and homes.

I have friends here in the burbs that carry.  There’s no desire to increase “cred.”

Am I wrong?

6 responses to “A Gun Culture In America

  1. I always have a fire extinguisher at hand, but do not ever wish to be a fireman.

  2. There is definitely a rural/suburban/urban divide here. My own view is that, within reason, DC/NY/Chicago/LA should be allowed greater leeway to regulate guns than is probably necessary in places like Montana or rural Oklahoma. Nor should gun control be so weak/non-existent in certain places that it completely undermines regulation elsewhere. Basically we need to find a reasonable minimum and then let individual jurisdictions figure out whether and how much regulation they want to add above and beyond that minimum.

    • Nor should gun control be so weak/non-existent in certain places that it completely undermines regulation elsewhere. Basically we need to find a reasonable minimum and then let individual jurisdictions figure out whether and how much regulation they want to add above and beyond that minimum.

      Right. Even Wyatt Earp, the baddest of all gun men, banned guns in town!

      To me, the bigger hope is that the decision is based on data, see RR’s post over at your place, and less on ideology.

  3. There is a gun culture here in rural Maine (though I am not part of it). Most people own guns, it’s common to see folk carrying guns along the roads in hunting season. We have very low crime rates. I’m not opposed to gun control, but the gun violence we see is a symptom of a deeper set of problems.

    • I’m not opposed to gun control, but the gun violence we see is a symptom of a deeper set of problems.

      Right, but the point is, there is no gun violence in Maine. There is in Chicago.

  4. So in Maine where you do not need a gun for self protection, pretty much, you can have one . In Chicago where you have more need of one for protection, you are denied ?

Leave a Reply