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Buried deep throughout the unconscious of American thought lies a twisted infatuation with weapons and the violence they create.
People love their weapons greater than they love one another and it’s confirmed time and time once more with what appears like a mass capturing each different week.
In keeping with a 2018 report by the Small Arms Survey, there are 393.3 million authorized weapons in America–there are solely 329.5 million individuals in America. It’s the solely nation on this planet that has extra civilian-owned weapons than individuals. Let that sink in…
These figures don’t account for all of the unlawful firearms that make their means onto our streets via straw purchases and different black-market channels.
However why do People love their weapons a lot? To grasp higher let’s check out the historical past of weapons and gun violence in America.
There have been no weapons on the shores of North America earlier than Europeans introduced them right here.
Gun powder was first created by Chinese language alchemists within the ninth century making an attempt to create a fountain of youth potion.
By the thirteenth century, gun powder had made its method to Europe and hand cannons turned commonplace amongst English and French militaries.
When European conquerors sailed west for brand spanking new lands they introduced with them weapons and gun powder. The weapons had been used to exhibit their superiority over anybody they got here throughout. Some additionally imagine the Spanish may have introduced weapons to the Americas as they too tried to beat its lands.
Historians have additionally discovered information of weapons within the Mayflower, the notorious ship captained by America’s most well-known colonizer, Christopher Columbus.
The historical past of how weapons obtained to America’s shores is intriguing, however how they had been used after they obtained right here is one thing out of a horror flick.
Simply as America was constructed atop gun tradition, it was additionally constructed atop gun violence.
Gun legal guidelines in early America led to laws that may end result within the eradication of almost all of America’s indigenous individuals. Natives had been slaughtered and their land was stolen, all within the title of America.
The Second Modification to america Structure was ratified in 1791, solidifying the suitable to bear arms for well-regulated militias (no matter which means…). The modification was devastating to the Native People. Its racist language made Native People a goal for excessive violence, calling them “Blood Thirsty Heathen Pink Savages.”
By the tip of the Indian Wars within the later nineteenth century, there have been fewer than 238,000 indigenous individuals left in North America. When Columbus first arrived there have been an estimated 15 million. Let that sink in…
America’s twisted infatuation with weapons and violence wouldn’t finish with the Native People. Quickly they might flip these weapons on one another in one of many deadliest wars identified to man, the American Civil Warfare.
The Civil Warfare was a real testomony to the degrees of gun violence People had been able to. An estimated 620,000 males had been killed preventing fellow People. That was nearly 2% of the American inhabitants through the time of the struggle. If that struggle was fought at present, the loss of life toll would have surpassed 6 million individuals.
The variety of deaths yielded by each American Warfare mixed nonetheless doesn’t attain the variety of People misplaced within the civil struggle.
Many described the struggle as “brother in opposition to brother,” as tales had been instructed about brothers preventing in opposition to one different on reverse sides of the struggle, one finally killing the opposite. Blood is thicker than water, however not gunpowder.
When America was born, it had a twin named gun violence. The 2 grew up studying and rising from each other–now they’re inseparable.
In keeping with the CDC, almost 53 persons are killed every day by a firearm within the US. In 2022 alone, there have been 214 mass shootings, and greater than 17,300 individuals have misplaced their lives as a consequence of gun violence. However this isn’t something new for America, it’s simply what we do. Sadly, nobody does it higher.
SEE MORE:
OP-ED: Gun Violence Is A Public Well being Disaster That Calls for Public Well being Options
Donald Trump Jr. Argues Uvalde Shooter Might Have Executed The ‘Precise Identical Factor’ With A Bat Or Machete
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