DNA Exclusive: Is American gun culture the biggest obstacle to peacemaking?

New Delhi: The history of gun culture in America is as old as its constitution. The US Constitution gives all its citizens the right to own a gun. Finding guns in stores in the US is as easy as finding fruits and vegetables in stores in India. The result is that more than 1.4 million people have died in gun violence in America over the past 50 years.

Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Choudhary on Tuesday (September 21) discussed gun culture in America and its reluctance to address it despite the harsh consequences it has caused Americans.

The gun culture in America dates back to the time when there was a British government. At that time there was no police or any permanent security force in America, people had to protect themselves and their families, so they were given the right to bear arms. By the 19th century, America had understood that gun culture would never allow peace to be established. But due to pressure from the “gun lobby” and some politicians, no strict law could ever be made against it. As a result, an average of 100 people die every day due to gun violence in the country.

Under the Second Amendment to the US Constitution in 1791, American citizens were given the right to bear arms.

Even after 230 years, America has not been able to change this law. Not far from the White House, where some hope to legislate against gun ownership, are located several gun stores selling some of the deadliest machines.

To understand this gun culture, our team visited a gun shop in Washington DC. Inside we saw that each gun had a price tag as seen on a smartphone in any mobile store in India.

According to a 2019 report, there are 63,000 licensed gun dealers in the US who sold guns worth Rs 83,000 crore to US citizens that year. This is more than the health budget of India.

In the last 230 years, America has not been able to eliminate gun culture as the former president himself was obsessed with. There are many photographs showing former US presidents carrying guns. For example, former US President Theodore Roosevelt loved to be photographed with a gun. Similarly, there are photographs of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr. and George W. Bush carrying guns. All these leaders glorified gun culture while they were president.

Let’s understand America’s gun culture with some statistics:

Between 2002 and 2011, an average of 31 people died in terrorist attacks in the US each year, while gun culture killed an average of 11,000 people each year. Nevertheless, the US has declared a fight against terrorism but has done nothing to stop the gun culture.

According to statistics, 58 percent of Americans have experienced gun terror at some point.

An average of 100 people die every day in gun violence.

In 2018, there were 27 major incidents of mass shootings in the US.

The total population of America is 335 million, but the people there have a total of about 400 million guns. This is the situation when nearly 60 percent of Americans want tougher laws to curb gun culture.

In 2019, about 24 thousand people committed suicide using guns.

Buying guns in America is a very easy task. There are only three requirements: 1. The buyer must be over 21 years of age, 2. They must not have a criminal record, and 3. They must not be mentally ill.

Therefore, it is quite easy to understand the reason behind gun culture in America.

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