Gun laws in different countries are based on gun culture. The laws circulate around public opinion of guns and gun owners. Here in America the gun laws are very loose, but on the other hand they also vary colorfully over the different states and territories of the country. For example some counties it seems like all you need to do is ask for license to carry and all that is required is your name and to be at least 21 or older. In some states it remains 18. There are a lot of lenient States where gun ownership is viewed as necessity or constitutional right.
In Massachusetts, for example, guns are hated and one must apply for a license to carry with the inclusion of a doctor’s note a note from your employer and attached in a nearby firing range for safety. In Massachusetts, there was a one year study where the prohibition of automatic weapons was enacted in order to study the effect it had on crime.
The effects were almost immeasurable because of how minute there were, however Massachusetts decided that they still wanted to have the prohibition of certain firearms anyway, regardless of the data found. When shown a diagram, a diagram of how difficult it was to receive a license, there were many different colors throughout the country and Massachusetts was by far the toughest.
Canadian gun laws are not unlike American gun laws in the Massachusetts region and other strict areas. It’s gun culture that is so extremely different. Canadians view guns as an American obsession and want all gun owners within their own country to not have their guns. That being said, the Canadian gun owners and their clubs have actually seen a spike in popularity, one such club tripling their members in the last year.
To own a gun in Canada one must also and a registration for that gun and that includes a rigorous criminal background checks, in modern days the computer runs a background check every single day on every gun owner in its database. Gun culture in Canada is extremely different in America. People don’t understand how owning a gun can be fun and really hate the idea only one altogether whether it’s for fun or with the intention of using it violently. Most Canadians perceive gun owners as violent criminals.
In Britain, guns have been entirely outlawed. All of the guns no matter how valuable or historic were turned in by law abiding gun owners to the government to be destroyed. Gun culture in the United Kingdom is completely different from America and in my opinion only marginally different than the mindset of Canada, with the exception of the Canadian gun owners. Those gun owners who feel very self-conscious around the believers in total gun obliteration. In the United Kingdom there has been actual total gun obliteration, and in recent years protest has arisen. Not necessarily for again owning guns, but rather democracy. The government took to tragedies as a political opportunity, and believed they had an agenda when most of the people protesting believe that they really did not.
Overall, it seems the best gun cultures are like Canada where guns are very scarce and owning a gun is within your rights but not viewed in a positive way. In Japan, where guns are also illegal, there have been many school attacks, almost once a month for a period of three years at one point. But the difference was that almost nobody was killed. People were injured, often life-threatening injuries, but because the attacker had used a sword or knife death was not threat. Here in America, you can kill a lot of people in moments, before anyone has time to react. The lenient gun laws in many parts of the country are irresponsible. People who want to kill a lot of people can own a gun that is capable of killing a lot of people. They’re not choosing revolvers, they’re using machine guns. Guns designed for modern warfare. This is unreasonable because although it is constitutional to own your own gun, definitely believe that the founding fathers did not even imagine the possibility of a gun killing 10 people in under a minute. They were using guns that took minutes just to reload and only had a single shot. Although the United Kingdom hasn’t the correct idea either, is for different reasons. There outlaw guns entirely seems naive because if you were someone who wanted to kill someone with a gun the law would stop you. The fact that all the guns in the country have been destroyed would definitely stop me, but clearly the people the government was worried about are not law abiding citizens.
So why does America rank so high in gun ownership? It is not the gun laws against the gun culture. Our country has a history that is no more violent than other countries and in many countries case much more violent. Gun culture must change. Guns are here to stay and need to be regulated.
- Gun laws: Massachusetts State Profile. Nraila.org. web. 11/27/15
