Why are Americans so obsessed with guns???

Question

I was recuntly vacationing in Thailand and was having a political conversation with and incredibly intelligent man from Denmark. He was very well educated on american politics but he had one question that I could not explain well. He said that most Europeans don't understand why americans are so obsessed with guns and why they make it such a big political issue like it is the only thing that matters in government. He said that in most European countries it is legal to own guns but most people just don't care either way. It it in our constutution that the right exists and no one plans to change the constitution. Even if some one did try it would take a president to agree and like 2/3 of congress and senate to make the change. So why are so many americans obsessed and why do they vote like this is the only thing that really matters??

Answer 1

because there are gangs out there that put caps in people.

Answer 2

As far as the 2nd amendment is concerned I believe that its intent was to prevent the government from abusing the people. Having said that the founders envisioned that states could maintain arms in an armory for militias to use to protect the states from the federal govt. I think the amendment is really outdated because we have an all volunteer military that would never fight against its own people.

One positive of Americans being armed to the teeth is that during the years leading up to the WWII the US military was inadequate to say the least. I believe that Japan never tried to invade the US mainland because of fears of armed citizens.

Answer 3

because they are scared of each other, and have no confidence in their neighbours being nice people, also weak people who can not fend for them selves tend to carry weapons, guns give them a sense of power they dont have when they dont carry one, bit of mess your in with this issue, from an englishman!

Answer 4

It is a constitutional right to keep and bear arms, But special interest groups such as Handgun Control Inc. are actively trying to change the constitution with the ultimate goal of completely banning all firearms in the country. We are "obsessed" as you say because our constitutional rights are constantly being taken away from us.

Answer 5

Well maybe Europe doesn't have the same saftey issues that we do. People are crazy these days and if somebody wants to protect their home and family then it's their own business and they have that right. Plus you can't generalize all Americans

Answer 6

I don't understand why Europeans stick their noses into our politics or why they are so obsessed with Soccer either.

Answer 7

The only solution to a corrupt government is from the business end of a gun.  Politician, Monarchs, n**i, and any other non citizen gun supporting government knows that if the slaves, i mean citizens don't have guns, then they, well, don't really have a voice.

Guns keep you free.  Just imagine what it would be like if Americans did not own guns and the politicians had a total free hand.

I will give you a hint as to what it would be like.....ask a German Jew from n**i Germany (if you can find one)

Answer 8

You notice that HE had a problem with guns.  Americans are not obsessed with them...Europeans are.

Answer 9

Some people like them, but some doesn't just like any thing else, you look obsessed with obsession.

Answer 10

Because we're not Danes.

Or British.

Or German.

Or fill-in-the-blank.

You should have asked this man for sponsorship so you could hang out with Euros who obsess negatively about Americans.

Answer 11

You are correct. Our obsession with guns is a source of amusement to many countries.

There is no danger of the 2nd amendment being overturned yet every presidential election cycle we see the same thing. Candidates believe that they must have photos of them taken shooting or hanging out in gun shops. Rich city guys have to pretend they love hunting in the woods and have been shooting at things since they were four.

There are a lot of frightened rabbits who believe that their homes are in constant danger of invasion or that "the government"  are coming to take them or their house one day and somehow they'll hold off a squad of marines from the front porch.

Other countries scratch their heads because we allow and in some cases encourage private citizens to own assault-type weapons. Who can blame them?

The fact that nutjobs can wander the streets with concealed carry permits concerns me much more than a burglar getting into my house.

NRA and gun companies spend a lot of money convincing people they need guns and making sure guns come up as an issue every cycle.

Other countries think we are obsessed with guns, and compared to them - they're dead right.

Answer 12

Because firearms are the 18th century version of control-alt-delete if the government oversteps it's constitutional bounds.

Because private firearms ownership makes us citizens, not subjects. It's a symbol of freedom.

Because every totalitarian powers first step was to disarm the populace.

As far as the European countries being allowed firearms, I don't know which ones your talking about.  IF they are allowed they really restricted on what they can own.