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Gun Ownership and Gun Culture in the United States of America (Kocsis 2015)
Gun Ownership and Gun Culture in the United States of America (Kocsis 2015)
Introduction
Two deeply opposed and hostile camps: gun ownership supporters against those who demand restrictions on ownership of firearms
Gun ownership as their most cherished right, freedom vs and end to violence
Opponents on each side hold claims considered to be non-negotiable
Gun ownership supporters emphasise a number of arguments: 2nd amendment rights, responsible gun ownership, self-defence, gun owning celebrities and politicians, each argument does not hold self-validity, rather plays a larger role in a larger debate or a discourse.
Other side points to: increasing mass shootings, patterns of irresponsible gun ownership, and expert testimony. Express the freedom is abused dangerously and irresponsibly, many experts favour greater gun restrictions
Reflects a society wide conversation where the views of American citizens determine the legitimacy of a policy or political decision, highest political level, major interests involved
The efficiency and mobilisation of gun ownership advocacy groups has been an increasingly predominant factor in all levels of electoral politics
Truly enormous gap both real and ideological that places America in one of two camps
Gun ownership is deeply established in American culture and is a distinctive and authentic American right, supporters fail to see that a society free of gun violence is an equally important fundamental right
Are the social costs of gun ownership positive or negative is a fundamental question for the regulation of firearms in the US
The most disruptive political discourse in America today
Gun Ownership
Unfettered rights created by the Second Amendement
All laws are subject to revision, all rights are subject to adjustment of their scope and consideration of their social impact
Gun ownership is fixed deeply in a complex fabric of American liberty, constantly reinforced. An instrument of private freedom and private property, the things we own ought to be protected by government, Locke's appeal to liberty and private property influencing America's founding fathers. Urging individuals to develop themselves and their holdings in ways that advance the value of the whole community. Property is fundamental to personal liberty and as a means of protecting citizens individual plans of life . A citizen's property becomes the citizen
American liberty as an emberment : of of what is called possessive individualism
The compelling legal argument is that gun ownership belongs in the realm of "privileged rights" which enjoy non-negotiable status in the American social contract
A beacon of liberty and an indispensable tool for its protection
Gun Culture
How does this manifest itself in culture and myth- private property is foundational and gun ownership if enshrined constitutionally on certain values of liberty and property
Culture describes what is distinctive about a people's shared existence, a collective way of life, practices and institutions of a people's own making, gun ownership is an element of American culture
Charles Taylor- social imaginaries to emphasise the features that make culture distinctive
If gun ownership is elemental to the American national ideal, then the sense of gun ownership (outlined above) will have been continuously internalized by successive generations of Americans.
Gun freedom and the public good
Not freedom to own guns, but freedom from guns , gun safety in the terminology of "public goods"
If freedom to own guns is dangerous to public safety, gun ownership should be regulated to a degree that effectively affirms public safety
To the benefit of a community as a whole , also thought of as common resources that bring positive social outcomes
Common resources are susceptible to private exploitation, so restrictions are necessary, in the form of a degree of state control
In relation to gun violence, 1) high levels of gun mortality are associated with high gun ownership
2) The public good of gun safety can be achieved with little sacrifice to personal liberty , Canada has a strong promotion of the public good of gun safety without diminishing the right to own firearms . In Canada, gun safety is protected from overuse by restrictions balanced with benefits shared universally. Canadian citizens enjoy the public good of safety from deadly firearms because we have accepted minor restrictions on gun freedom as individuals.
3) John Rawls Theory of Justice, imaginary citizens determine the governing institutions and rights of society, no biased position, as neutral citizens
those constrained by the veil of ignorance would insist on
basic political rights and basic provision of resources for
society’s disadvantaged members. Those behind the veil of
ignorance would demand that all positions in society—even
those of lower ranks on the social hierarchy—remain safe
and dignified. Each of us has but one life to live, Rawls
argued, and thus we are unlikely to expose ourselves to
serious risks.
When the issue of gun ownership is our application, we need simply to ask; would those behind Rawls’s veil of ignorance be convinced by the platform of the gun supporters, or would they instead endorse the arguments of gun ownership restrictors? Rawls jurors would be disposed to prefer gun safety, freedom from guns
Conclusions
Reflections about guns are more philosophical than they are practical, arguments above rely on a normative and ethical analysis of justice and social issues. A greater commitment to philosophical engagement
Gun ownership has a place in American society that connects it with values of personal liberty and freedom from state interference, and this constellation of values, through two centuries of social development, has rooted itself in the public and private lives of countless American citizens.
However widespread patterns of gun ownership endanger the safety of citizens and the US as a national community
what I have called the public good of freedom from guns gives us a vision of the social and political situation that restrictors of gun ownership wish to bring into reality.
The paradigms of gun ownership are embedded culturally and socially in a way that proponents seem unwilling to appreciate.