Gun Culture

[Gunsgunsguns]

Does anyone else actually get angry at America/ Canada pro gun culture?

Honestly I just feel angry. What is actually wrong with these people?!

Can they really not see that the harm this causes to children? The harm this causes to them! The mental gymnastics.

And I kind of ignored it for a while the past few years thinking well Trump is a bit psycho. I can see why maybe they did want to retain arms against a tyrannical government. And then I see what happened with ICE recently and whats going on over there. It looks like flipping handmaids tale - utterly dystopian.

And I see guns arent saving you from that! If anything it’s a good excuse to shoot you.

What are they imagining - that a whole street simultaneously decides to shoot up ICE, or some over Gov organisation, and they think that will result in what?! Thats going to stop them. Of course not. They are just going to end up dead or in prison, or being executed.

In a true tyrannical government; having a gun makes you top of the list for being targeted surely.

Seriously it doesn’t even make sense.

Honestly it angers me… very very deeply!

Canada is vast. Food in the remote north is incredibly expensive due to the high transportation costs. Hunting for moose, deer etc is a part of life and subsistence hunting puts food on the table. It is an important part of indigenous culture.

What happened in Tumbler Ridge is tragic. I haven’t seen any news confirming what type of weapon was used. I expect it was a hunting rifle and not a handgun.

The Canadian Federal government does have a gun amnesty and compensation program in operation at the moment in relation to 2,500 models of assault style firearms.

Look I am not getting into an a back and forth about Swiss guns based on AI answers unless someone on here is Swiss; in which case please go ahead and correct.

And we have guns here too!

What we don’t have is an insane gun culture with semi automatic weapons. That guy hasn’t gone round shooting that many people with a hunting rifle.

Unfortunately it’s in the second amendment in the US constitution, that they have a right to bear arms but as that constitution was written in the 1700s and they’ve moved on from new settlers and the Wild West I do believe now they should make significant changes, the gun lobbyists are very powerful players and have a significant influence and money in congress so unless something fundamental changes with their laws and the gun lobbyists these tragedies will keep happening in America, but as Canada doesn’t have right to bear arms but they do have gun lobbyists it will be interesting to see if any changes are made there, it’s upsetting every time there is a school shooting but probably not surprising anymore but I am surprised it’s in Canada and not the US

Well it’s not the same here, as you can only own a gun here in restricted circumstances. It’s more like America where many people have a gun at home and can choose whether they also want to go out a buy bullets and have them at home too…

You’re missing the crucial point that access to weapons and ammunition (like they have in the US and Switzerland) doesn’t immediately equate to mass killings (because we don’t frequently see these in Switzerland). The problem isn’t access to guns, there is a different cultural issue that is being exacerbated by access to guns.

And you are Swiss? Thank you this is very useful.

So your civilians are able to have semi automatic weapons and those issued by military are also semi automatic weapons. And you can freely buy bullets and magazines for use with semi automatic weapons with no control?

Speak for yourself. Like that poster probably I lead a very busy life and lots going on. Weirdly I still have emotional energy to get very fucking angry at the stupidity and arrogance of people who screech it’s their right to bear arms and seemingly not give two shits about the massacre of children this too often leads to.

🙏

There are several overlapping elements to gun ownership in Switzerland. It has some of the most liberal firearms laws in the world: essentially, if you want one and meet some fairly basic qualifications (in control of your own faculties, not assessed as a danger to others, over 18, no convictions for violent crime) you can get an acquisition permit and buy one - and the ammunition - legally. Many people do.

Separately from that, there is a very high level of firearms possession associated with membership of the armed forces, including reservists which means almost every able bodied male Swiss citizen in their twenties. These are military-issued guns, kept at home for the purposes of rapid deployment. Until 2007 military-issued ammunition was kept at home too, but after one murder using a military weapon this ended for most, but not all of the armed forces.

There is nothing to stop someone with a military-issue firearm obtaining an acquisition permit, going out and procuring their own ammunition (or indeed their own civilian gun too). And, upon the end of reservist status you have to right to buy your own military firearm once it has been reduced from fully to semi-automatic, as long as you have the acquisition permit and have done a certain amount of training prior to discharge. Civilian sales of ammo used for these weapons is even subsidised by the federal government.

It is not the gun culture, many countries have relaxed gun laws compared to ours

Many countries hunting is wildly practised with a high number of people having a gun licence

America is a violent country built on violence this is the issue

Canada is not a violent country but as with all countries you will have terrible acts of violence

Americans mainly have a very different attitude to gun ownership it is such an ingrained part of the culture that the laws will never been particularly tight around ownership, politicians know this but will give lip service to how laws should be changed after a mass shooting

Canada is not the same in terms of legislation as the US. You need a license and registration and it is treated as a privilege, not a right.

However you are not wrong in that it does give law enforcement an excuse to shoot you if you appear to be reaching into a pocket/your trouser waist/behind your back. Or, if they say they thought you were.

But is there a way to solve the gun violence? Like @HRTQueensaid, America is built on violence. There must also be a lot of generational trauma imo and mental health issues. Just a lot going on there.

I can understand why people feel safer with their own weapons. They are just too far gone. How, practically and politically, can guns be removed from their society? It doesn’t mean they don’t care about children being murdered, far from it. Their solution is to give more ‘good guys’ guns so they can intervene.

Umm.
Don't lump Canada in with the US in terms of a pro gun culture.

No, you really can't.

You don't have to remove them but you can implement better/at least some background checks and mandate that they are stored unloaded and locked up, for a start. Would mean a lot fewer kids getting them out of a closet and shooting a family member by accident.

lol every country is built on violence. And although the right to bear arms is in the second amendment it didn’t become a big issue until the NRA (National Rifle Association) started throwing money at Congress and special interest groups in the 80s. This dovetailed with the Gulf Wars and the American anti-hero saves the world narrative that Hollywood has made billions on. Add the conservative Christian movement. It’s all happened since the 80s, and now it’s a part of the culture where it wasn’t before.

Every country is built on violence… which is why parts of Africa and the Middle East are as they are. Not particularly aspirational. The history and issues America faces are not comparable to Europe.

RE: Making it a requirement for guns to be stored properly, that must already be negligence to let kids access them??! I don’t know, I think it’s a bit late for licensing, not sure how effective it would be he in stopping people with malicious intentions.

You don’t think Britain was built on violence? Or France? All of Europe?

Something approaching 360 million guns in circulation in America.
A singer called Gil Scott Heron done a song titled The Gun some 40 years ago and his words are still relevant today.
Gil was a poet,social commentator on America and things that affected Black Americans in particular.

Sorry guys, had to tend to the kids.

I am actually just researching now as clear I don’t know much about gun laws in these places. Theres clearly big differences between these countries.

Also interesting to see we are allowed semi automatics in this country too! Excuse me what. That is insane.

And I am not sure what everyone is going on about hunting. If you want to hunt traditionally then hunt traditionally. You don’t need an SA rifle for that. I honestly cannot think of one good reason for a civilian to have one.

Interesting to see that Canada had just banned SA assault rifles. The amnesty was finishing 1st March 2026. Assuming this is a legally acquired and registered gun (and it is a banned type); then it was sadly a few weeks off being potentially seized. That is really tough to swallow.

Hi @WincyWince. Agree with much you have said and don’t have an answer. My comment was to a previous poster who said for one to be upset about this and other school shootings one must have an empty life.

OP, you do know that Canada and the US are completely different countries, right?
Canada doesn’t have the same gun culture as the US. Mass shootings do not happen on anywhere near the same scale in Canada.

Of COURSE people are upset. Your post is deeply ignorant.

How would banning guns even work if America did want to try it? How do you go about taking guns away from people who own them and don't want to give them up?

You’re right I know little about Canada. All I am seeing is a photo of a bunch of teen lads sitting on a sofa holding rifles and if that’s not gun culture I have no idea what is.

You can call me ignorant all you like. We always are so soft in Britain to be like aww other cultures. But no I am really just judging this now. I think the gun fanatics are ignorant!

guns, one picture does not equal a culture.