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It's not a perceived part of American Culture it is a part of American culture. Most of New England's culture is strictly found in New England but that doesn't mean it's not American culture. It's part of it just a regional part of the culture is all. However gun culture also comes from the fact we have the 2nd Amendment in the US Constitution which is what makes it apart of the national culture with only a few areas like most of New England being odd balls in this regard.
I'm not sure where JerseyGirl415 has been making her observations and comparisons. There are quite a lot of guns and firearms stores, hunting stores, shooting ranges, etc., all over New Jersey, New York, New England, etc.
The biggest gun "fanatic" I know is actually a New Yorker. Just because you're in a liberal area doesn't mean there is little or no gun culture. Have to explore your region more to see these things, I guess.
I actually think America is on the whole extremely similar culturally regardless of what state you're in, with only a few exceptions. Even places as different as New England and the Deep South are 90-95 percent the same, especially when one factors in the differences of urban and rural culture.
Rural Washington state has more in common with rural Alabama than either do with Seattle or Birmingham, respectively.
I also think the similarities present throughout America, with the possible exception of Hawaii and southern Louisiana are stronger than cross-border similarities between the northern US and adjacent Canadian regions. Fundamentally Bellingham, Washington has more in common with Jacksonville or South Bend than it does with Vancouver or Victoria because it's an American city full of Americans.
Even though Southerners for example are more conservative and religious than people on my native West Coast, I think this has more to do with the South having a higher proportion of rural residents. Somewhere like Asheville or Austin is very similar to Northwestern cities like Eugene and Olympia, and a rural part of Montana or Idaho is generally very similar to rural Ohio or Tennessee. You can find plenty of Christian fundies in the Western states and they aren't much different from their Southern counterparts, same with urban southern hipsters being cut-copies of the ones in Brooklyn and Portland.
I think the differences between regions of America are over-stated and the difference between America and other western countries is understated. I find Canada quite foreign in many ways so I imagine Australia, Ireland, etc are far moreso even.
If you really believe this, then you need to get out more.
It's not a perceived part of American Culture it is a part of American culture. Most of New England's culture is strictly found in New England but that doesn't mean it's not American culture. It's part of it just a regional part of the culture is all. However gun culture also comes from the fact we have the 2nd Amendment in the US Constitution which is what makes it apart of the national culture with only a few areas like most of New England being odd balls in this regard.
I'd also like to point out that Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are all fairly high gun-owning states with fairly lax gun laws, so this actually lends credence to the hypothesis that there is a nationwide phenomenon of higher gun ownership in rural areas versus lower gun ownership in urban areas (a lot of people don't realize that rural areas don't have professional police forces--so this sort of private protection becomes more necessary).
Not to mention, this speaks to the variations that are found within sub-regions (e.g., I once heard a native New Englander refer to Maine as the "Mississippi of the North.")
That's quite an exaggeration (just as it is referring to rural PA as 'another country' compared to Cambridge). Massachusetts certainly has differences with a state like Pennsylvania--mostly due to PA having a more substantial rural population and a strong German/Protestant influence that is completely absent anywhere in New England--but honestly I've personally found a lot of striking similarities (at least in Eastern PA and Massachusetts) in terms of history, demographics, and other cultural attributes.
Then me and you are going to have to agree to disagree. I've found PA to have about as much in common with Massachusetts as it does with Alabama which is again to say not a lot and I have been to both states before. New England and in particular Massachusetts just struck me as extremely isolated from the rest of nation and it's Puritan streak is still there with people wanting to tell you how to live your life. People say the South is bad with wanting to tell others what to do I personally found New England to be far worse overall.
In terms of History PA has about nothing in common with Massachusetts that it doesn't have in common with the other original 13 colonies. PA was settled by Quakers who were laid back for the most part unlike the tyrannical Puritans were. PA is a fossil fuel state with a long history of coal being very important to the state and now natural gas. The first Oil Well in the world was in Pennsylvania. In Massachusetts nothing like that has ever existed. They had no massive dominating industry in Massachusetts like Steel was in PA with Pittsburgh producing half the world's steel at one point.
PA is not connected to the Atlantic Ocean like Massachusetts is. We have no fishing industry in PA like they do Massachusetts. Boating is not a big thing in PA like it is in Massachusetts. It's a rare thing indeed you will ever find someone from PA vacationing somewhere like Cape Cod. That's a New England thing. People from PA tend to go south for a vacation. Honestly New England is the last region of the country where I'd ever want to live in. In PA we just don't interact with people from New England unless you have family that lives up there or have to travel there for work/business.
I live in this region and the German influence is not strong what so ever... MN WI and Chicagoland are all pretty 100 percent Americana.
It's very strong in Milwaukee; inescapable. It's also strong in other areas of Wisconsin, especially NE WI where there's still a culture of polka, German sausages, pork roast, sauerkraut, etc., and many older people still speak German. I know this because I grew up in it.
I believe you live in MN, which isn't nearly as German (or Polish) as Wisconsin, so I can understand why you might think this is true and Chicago/Milwaukee are just like rural MN, but it isn't the case.
If you really believe this, then you need to get out more.
I think the OP's opinion is mostly accurate.
Many people on this thread are mis-characterizing their region (making incomplete assessments) or exaggerating the differences with other regions to make it seem like the culture is more different than it actually is in real life.
Then me and you are going to have to agree to disagree. I've found PA to have about as much in common with Massachusetts as it does with Alabama which is again to say not a lot and I have been to both states before. New England and in particular Massachusetts just struck me as extremely isolated from the rest of nation and it's Puritan streak is still there with people wanting to tell you how to live your life. People say the South is bad with wanting to tell others what to do I personally found New England to be far worse overall.
In terms of History PA has about nothing in common with Massachusetts that it doesn't have in common with the other original 13 colonies. PA was settled by Quakers who were laid back for the most part unlike the tyrannical Puritans were. PA is a fossil fuel state with a long history of coal being very important to the state and now natural gas. The first Oil Well in the world was in Pennsylvania. In Massachusetts nothing like that has ever existed. They had no massive dominating industry in Massachusetts like Steel was in PA with Pittsburgh producing half the world's steel at one point.
PA is not connected to the Atlantic Ocean like Massachusetts is. We have no fishing industry in PA like they do Massachusetts. Boating is not a big thing in PA like it is in Massachusetts. It's a rare thing indeed you will ever find someone from PA vacationing somewhere like Cape Cod. That's a New England thing. People from PA tend to go south for a vacation. Honestly New England is the last region of the country where I'd ever want to live in. In PA we just don't interact with people from New England unless you have family that lives up there or have to travel there for work/business.
I think it all depends upon what portion of Pennsylvania you are talking about. Northeastern PA (the Wyoming Valley area, where Scranton is located today) was originally settled by people from Connecticut. New Englanders and Pennsylvanians actually fought a low-grade war over the area right before and immediately after the Declaration of Independence. Even today people in NEPA have accents more similar to New England than to the rest of Pennsylvania, and the housing stock is very New England like (detached wood frame, set back substantially from the street, no rowhouses). The same "Yankee traits" can be found all across the northern tier of PA all the way out to Erie.
I'd also like to point out that Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are all fairly high gun-owning states with fairly lax gun laws, so this actually lends credence to the hypothesis that there is a nationwide phenomenon of higher gun ownership in rural areas versus lower gun ownership in urban areas (a lot of people don't realize that rural areas don't have professional police forces--so this sort of private protection becomes more necessary).
Vermont depending on how you measure it, has the laxest gun laws in the country. Still, considering how rural it is, Northern New England has somewhat lower gun ownership than some rural areas elsewhere:
Wisconsin has somewhat higher gun ownership than Vermont or Maine despite being less rural than either. Maine and Oregon have the same gun ownership despite Oregon containing Portland (well Maine does too but it's not as big). Biggest outlier is Hawaii, southern New England is near the bottom of the list but it's also not that rural. California is higher, despite it also have a low rural %.
As for no gun culture here, sure plenty of people own guns. But it's not as important a part of the general culture, you wouldn't find the guns icons in stores in New England (or upstate NY) much the way JerseyGirl found in Texas.
Vermont depending on how you measure it, has the laxest gun laws in the country. Still, considering how rural it is, Northern New England has somewhat lower gun ownership than some rural areas elsewhere:
Wisconsin has somewhat higher gun ownership than Vermont or Maine despite being less rural than either. Maine and Oregon have the same gun ownership despite Oregon containing Portland (well Maine does too but it's not as big). Biggest outlier is Hawaii, southern New England is near the bottom of the list but it's also not that rural. California is higher, despite it also have a low rural %.
As for no gun culture here, sure plenty of people own guns. But it's not as important a part of the general culture, you wouldn't find the guns icons in stores in New England (or upstate NY) much the way JerseyGirl found in Texas.
In addition to gun culture there are other regional differences to be found. For instance:
I have read that auto racing / NASCAR are among the top sports in the United States. But you would never know that here in New York. Oh sure, there are some New Yorkers who love auto racing (one of my good friends is a fanatic) and we have a small course here on Long Island (Riverhead) and a big one Upstate (Watkins Glen). But it does not seem to have the same following that it does in other parts of the country.
Another example is Rodeo. Someone mentioned we have that here in New York. Of course, given the population we get a bit of everything. But it does not seem to be common like it is down in places like Texas.
Need I say - Country Music. My mother LOVES country music. But the average New Yorker? Not as much lol.
So yes, there are some cultural differences throughout the country.
It's very strong in Milwaukee; inescapable. It's also strong in other areas of Wisconsin, especially NE WI where there's still a culture of polka, German sausages, pork roast, sauerkraut, etc., and many older people still speak German. I know this because I grew up in it.
I believe you live in MN, which isn't nearly as German (or Polish) as Wisconsin, so I can understand why you might think this is true and Chicago/Milwaukee are just like rural MN, but it isn't the case.
MSP, and Minnesota in general, still have a sizable German-American population--my cousins are part of it...
Chicago also has numerous German restaurants which are quite good( unlike many northeastern cities), and has sections of the city with street names and churches which were developed by German immigrants ( Old Town , etc)..
The German influence is everywhere in WI, just like being Irish in Massachusetts.
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My mother LOVES country music. But the average New Yorker? Not as much lol.
