The American Rifle

Copyright Wikimedia User Hmaag, GNU License 1.2

From the edays of settlement, resisting indians, and hunting wild turkey, the firearm has had a place in the American heart. With the gun comes warriordom; you are a fighter to be reckoned with as long as you have a gun in your hand.

For some people, this means defending against oppresive governments or foreign invaders, for others it means hunting and providing for their family in the way that nature made us too, for still others it is a defense against criminals and protecting your property. For a few very wicked souls, it means inflicting your evil on others.

Firearms crimes are often cited by gun critics as a reason to ban or phase out or limit gun ownership. There are several weakpoints in their argument: 1) criminals don't obey the law, 2) few criminals want to die or face a chance of death, and 3) statistically, even if you will only nail your bandit 20% of the time, and he nails you the other 80, you, as a law-abiding citizen, still have the advantage, because he must steal almost every day, and most American citizens will probably only be robbed maybe once in their lifetime. Even those who have it the worse will hardly face it everyday.

Also, in Europe the nation with the highest gun ownership rate, Switzerland, a nation where even millitary rifles are legal for most men and there is a holiday to celebrate their gun ownership tradition, has the lowest crime rate.

America is a violent country, and always has been, and will be for quite some time. This is not entirely a bad thing. That natural spunk and energy has made us a mighty force throughout the entire world with our innovation, curiosity, rebellion, activism, entrepreneurship and many other products of that same bloody mind - we are a Sanguine country, hear us roar. But it is true that, no matter what we do, our crime rates will always be higher then Englands, as that freedom of mind makes us prone to both good and evil.