I cannot understand this weapons “culture” thing in the US, referred to a couple of times.
Is it this feeling of unlimited power and victory, pointing a preferably huge gun, at an enemy already on the floor ? not to mention the appropriate one-liner you’re free to think of, meanwhile. (Saltherring) Every 18 year old boy is a dirty Harry.
Is it power for the powerless ? Because this message is also conveyed in many comments : the mistrust against a government that seems overwhelmingly powerfull and uninfluencable by “normal” people.
Is the USA too big and too divers for many people so they do not feel represented in or by their government ? (but you will have the last word, after all, because you have a gun and shoot the whole world down.)
Is the possession of a gun romance ? The juvenile “Dirty Harry” feeling, or the feeling of power over a seemingly careless and stupid government ?
Because, in reality : you will never be Dirty Harry. It is far more likely, you will be laying bleeding on the ground if you confront criminals with a gun. And if not and you prevail : forget about your cool one-liner : it will be a very shocking experience hard to live with for the rest of your live.
And again in reality : whether you have a gun or not , the government will always be a massive institution, awe-inspiring and frustrating sometimes.
So is the “culture”-thing something from way back and far West, in times it mattered to have a gun : total freedom for all, no law, no order and lots of enemies around. A thing that persists now : a romantic feeling (good old days)for times long ago ?
I’m just trying to understand. Not to offend anybody or certainly not our friend Saltherring, the only man i trust with a gun, because he lives so far away in a rural area, there is hardly anyone to be hurt.
