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I own plenty of guns, but I've never felt pressured by anyone to go out and buy a gun. If anything, I feel more pressure from the media to get rid of my guns.
Every adult? I don't think so. All young men are drafted into the military where they recieve military and weapon training. Imagine if mandatory conscription was a prerequisite to gun ownership in the U.S.?
Switzerland trails behind the U.S. in per capita gun ownership. All guns are permitted and automatic weapons are banned.
The Swiss maintain a culture of personal responsibility and safety and are generally risk adverse. It is reflected in everything they do.
99% of the people have mandated private healthcare insurance with defined minimum coverage. Insurers are mandated to cover the healthcare risks of the elderly and pre- existing conditions. The government owns and operates most hospitals. The government subsidizes 40% of the people's premiums.
The federal and canton governments stay out of social welfare. Instead, local communities ( think counties) tax and handle it. At this level, everyone knows everyone's business given the population is only 8 million.
Housing tends to be more permanent with property transferring generation to generation. The cost of living is high and the standard of living trends moderate.
Most people are bilingual.
While guns are common in suicides, they are not in violent crimes.
Huge differences between a country of 8 million generally like- minded people and 315 million with more personalities than people.
Sorry, I really didn't want to highlight the rather sexist atmosphere that dictates every MALE between the age of 20 to 30 report for training and are issued weapons. I prefer our system. And yes, as I stated in another post, the Swiss are like minded and homogeneous. Big difference from this country.
It's completely different here in San Francisco. I never see any advistertinmests or anything. However, I am encouraged to buy one because the criminals in this area are so confident and brazen. There are news reporters being robbed for their equipment in broad daylight. Criminals here are not afraid about robbing anyone and most of them all use guns, but the government here is so anti-gun, hardly anyone owns one, it's virtually impossible to even get a concealed carry permit as well.
It seems like everywhere I look and see, I'm being pressured to buy a gun...not just one gun, multiple ones. Gun shows all over the place, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, and non-stop talk about guns on TV and the radio.
It's like American culture expects me to be carrying around a gun 24/7, and that if I don't own multiple firearms, I'm somehow a second class citizen. Anyone else tired of this?
I think the problem is with you and not "the gun culture". I live in Tennessee and have never felt any "pressure" to buy ANYTHING and in particular firearms. Maybe you are too easily influenced by marketing?
Maybe you should be more selective in your choice of radio and television programming?
In what way are you "somehow a second class citizen" if you do not own a gun? It is all in your head. Seek help.
It seems like everywhere I look and see, I'm being pressured to buy a gun...not just one gun, multiple ones. Gun shows all over the place, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, and non-stop talk about guns on TV and the radio.
It's like American culture expects me to be carrying around a gun 24/7, and that if I don't own multiple firearms, I'm somehow a second class citizen. Anyone else tired of this?
I've lived in the same home for almost 20 years now. Most of my neighbors are older and now retired. Out of the 8 or so houses on our cul-de-sac, I know for certain that 3 neighbors are hunters, one is a retired Army officer with a nice collection of handguns and long guns, and one enjoys shooting as a sport. That's 6 families out of 8, including mine. In all of that time, we haven't had a single shooting. Or ever since the subdivision was built in the mid-80w. As a matter of fact, there were only two shootings committed with legally owned firearms in the whole township (over 100K people) in the past two decades, both domestic / marital disputes gone wrong - which can happen anywhere and often doesn't even involve a gun.
I used to travel a lot for work and I was comforted by the thought that my family stays surrounded by armed people who wouldn't hesitate to come to their rescue should something bad happen (although we do live in a very low crime area).
My state, MI, did not issue concealed weapons licenses until 2001 or so. It was a "may issue" state that in practice meant you had to be a former LEO, or well connected rich person who could make a sizeable "donation" to get a permit. Since they changed it to a "shall issue" state where the state can't refuse to give a citizen their carry license unless there is some concrete basis for it, the crime rate went down. There were certainly other factors that contributed to this, but the fact is that with much higher percentage of the legally armed citizens, the crime rate went down.
Now, if you don't want to have a gun, don't have one. That's your choice and you're entitled to it and I respect it. But don't tell me that I have no right to legally own a gun just because you are afraid of it. You should be afraid of the crackhead with an illegally obtained weapon, because that's who commits the vast majority of murders. Taking my gun away won't make committing a crime harder for him; it would make it easier.
OP, No-one is forcing you to buy a gun. In fact most of us would prefer that you didn't. If I were my your next door neighbor, I would even put up a gun free zone sign in your front yard to protect you.. Just being neighborly.
And nobody is forcing cons to be "politically correct" but that doesn't stop them from bitching about it
And nobody is forcing cons to be "politically correct" but that doesn't stop them from bitching about it
Is that the topic of this thread?
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