The land of the free and the home of the brave 🙄

That is exactly the problem in the USA. The NRA and their extreme right followers don’t care or give a damn about those who lose their lives in mass shootings as long as they can go on toting their assault weapons.
Trumps answer to school shootings was to arm the teachers!

Gun ownership is ingrained in US society, the best the country can hope for is a ban on assault rifles and stricter control on who can buy a gun.

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Ingrained or indoctrinated?

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Whatever?!! You’re clearly channeling your inner teenager this morning! #amibovvered #suisjebovvered

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Everyone gets to have a grumpy day now and again, I just happen to have 364 of them a year according to my wife :wink::yum:

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I even got a mug at Christmas with “Grumpy” emblazoned on it, oh, and a pair of Grumpy socks.

I think grumpiness is a product of as one gets older and realises just how things should be done conflicting with a diminishing ability to get them done.

I hope not giving a damn is the next phase :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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It was with my dad. When he got to his mid 80’s he became a speed freak in his car, clipping wing mirrors, overtaking police cars and driving almost in the hedges. Did he care? Not a jot, said he would take a taxi if he lost the car or licence. Even my sister saw him tearing up the main road passing everything when she was waiting for the shops to open. Previously he was a very careful and steady driver who would prefer to go miles out of his way to avoid big busy roads and motorways.

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It’s interesting that in many ways @vero summed the US up so well: “On fait comme on veut, on est en rĂ©publique, is what we think.”

My natural inclination is to side with those wishing to take guns away, but that’s an impossibility. However the issue isn’t simply guns, but rather the attitudes and understandings of the general population - if you compare guns with car use and ownership we see that while every country has many ‘accidents’ there are few deliberate killings with them. The issue then becomes why one lethal weapon is seen and treated differently from another.

A part of the answer must lay in the culture and the manner in which that is reinforced. What makes Americans think and feel that shooting each other is fine? Plainly it runs through the culture, and isn’t unique to poor or rich, black or white etc. I’m sure that movies play a part, with the almost universal use of deadly force presented in a glamorous and cheerfully light-hearted way - perhaps art does drive culture.

I don’t have an answer, but the solution is surely not going to be a simple one.

I’m American, from San Francisco, yet have lived here in France for 10 years now. Two big reasons I’m still here is the healthcare piece and overall safety. When I lived in SF there were shootings every week ie. mostly gang-related. And I knew where to go if I wanted to buy drugs or get a gun (certain neighborhoods). Not that I ever did that!
Now it’s commonplace for many Americans to own guns regardless of socio-economic level, education, race or region of residence. For protection they say
it’s now the top cause for children’s deaths.
The NRA is a powerful force in the US and politics, The polarization of the parties makes it extremely difficult to pass ANY anti-gun legislation. Article below illuminates this.

Sadly there are more guns than people in the US. And inflation and immigation top this issue with most Americans unfortunately.
Biden has tried to put forth more legislation but gets knocked down when anything is put forward to Congress. Thanks largely to Republicans.

I am never returning to live in the US and am VERY thankful that my only child (and soon to be mother) is married to an EU citizen and they have no plans for living there either.
I can only pray for change in a positive direction.

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How does this relate, if at all, to the situation re: La chasse, in France?

There is one quiet old hypothesis, that the US government (and others) follow a rather Machiavellian policy of keeping their populace in a state of fear. Fear from within and fear from outside. The proliferation of gun ownership is a symptom of this.

By keeping the population in a state of artificially heightened apprehension, the government-cum-media prepares the ground for planting specific measures of taxation, regulation, surveillance, reporting, and other invasions of the people’s wealth, privacy, and freedoms.

I’ve seen the reverse of that from gun-owning Americans, who think that their government should live in a state of fear that they will be overthrown by force of arms if they upset the populace.

Basically, everyone in a constant state of agressive fear and waving guns around. Very evolved! Not.

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I think they see it as a part of the great democratic experiment, of checks and balances.

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Well, that’s something to look forward to :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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Yes, news outlets and social media inducing fear don’t help either. They amplify the issues and incite more violence imo. But that applies globally; not just in US.

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Most certainly.

The UK was lead up the garden path by its government and the media with tales of Turkish hordes and EU dominance. Ended in Brexit. Look how well that has ended!

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It was a reply to tim who said that gun ownership in the US was ingrained.
How la chasse has anything to do with the US I don’t know.

Ah! Now that’s what I call sarcasm!

La Chasse doesn’t want AR15 style weapons to go hinting never mind for ‘home protection’. French citizens are much more sane in the use of guns than your average brainwashed American.