Gun culture

Houston gun show at the George R. Brown Convention Center

The gun culture is a culture shared by people in the gun politics debate, generally those who advocate the preservation of gun rights and who are generally against more gun control. In the United States, the term is used solely to identify gun advocates who are legitimate and legal owners and users of guns, using guns for self defense, sporting uses (hunting), and recreational uses (target shooting). In places where those rights have been lost such as the UK and Australia, "gun culture" refers to the use of guns by criminals (as they are the ones who remain armed).

In the US

Firearms became readily identifiable symbols of westward expansion.

That the United States has what is probably the most deeply ingrained and vibrant firearm culture in the world is so obvious as to require no further comment at all. What is not so obvious, however, is that the US is not the only country in the world where the common citizen understands both the value of firearms and the value of the right of the law abiding citizen to be armed.

Origins

In a 1970 article titled America as a Gun Culture, the noted historian Richard Hofstadter used the phrase gun culture to describe America's long-held affection for guns, embracing and celebrating the association of guns and America's heritage.

According to political scientist Robert Spitzer, the American gun culture as it exists today is founded on three factors: the proliferation of firearms since the earliest days of the nation, the connection between personal ownership of weapons and the country's revolutionary and frontier history, and the cultural mythology regarding the gun in the frontier and in modern life. Spitzer writes that:

• Two elements of the modern American gun culture have survived since the earliest days of the country; the hunting/sporting ethos and the militia/frontier ethos.

• The Hunting/Sporting ethos emerged when America was an agrarian nation in which hunting was an invaluable source of supplying food for settlers. Guns were also a means of protection from animal predators, and the market for furs could provide a source of income. Acquiring shooting skills was connected with survival, and acquiring these skills was a "rite of passage" for boys entering manhood. The role of guns as marks of maturity survives to this day and hunting survives as a central component of our culture, although some predict that "hunting heritage" may disappear in the twenty-first century, if proper wildlife management and preservation policies are not followed.

• The Militia/Frontier ethos emerged from early Americans' dependence on their wits and skill to protect themselves from hostile Native Americans and foreign armies. Survival depended upon everyone carrying a weapon. In the late Eighteenth Century, there was neither the money nor the manpower to maintain a full-time army; therefore the armed citizen soldier carried the responsibility of protecting his country. Service in militia, including providing your own ammunition and weapons, was mandatory for all adult males. Yet, as early as the 1790s, the mandatory universal militia duty gave way to voluntary militia units and a reliance on a regular army, with a decline of the importance of militia trend continuing throughout the Nineteenth Century.

• Closely related to the militia tradition was the frontier tradition, with the westward movement closely associated with arms. In the Nineteenth Century, firearms were closely associated with the westward expansion. Outlaws and hostile Indian tribes necessitated an armed citizenry ready to defend themselves. Expressions such as the gun that won the West, however, typically exaggerate the impact of a particular gun (such as Sam Colt's "Peacemaker)", and they ignore that the taming of the west was largely an agricultural and commercial movement. Western style "shoot-outs" were virtually unheard of.

• Today, this tradition of firearms has left a deeply felt belief that guns are both an integral part of, and a force responsible for, America as it exists now.

Present-day gun culture in the United States

A shooter on an indoor range in Scottsdale, AZ.

Erik Luna, Associate Professor at the University of Utah College of Law, describes the differences between a "pro-gun culture" and an "anti-gun culture" in the United States and describes some traits of a "pro-gun culture" as follows:

• They acknowledge that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution enumerates an individual right, (as further elaborated by Justice Antonin Scalia of the SCOTUS). Generally they see people as trustworthy and believe that citizens should not be prevented from having guns unless they have proven otherwise.

• They know that guns provide protection against criminality and tyranny. This ranges from a feeling that it is good to have a gun around the house for self-protection, to an active distrust of government and a belief that widespread gun ownership is protection against tyranny.

• They are, by a large majority, responsible with respect to firearms handling. They have an awareness (or internalization) of either Jeff Cooper's Four Rules or the NRA's Three Rules, providing for some level of safe handling of guns and try to abide by them at all times when handling firearms.

• They support, widely and in principle, the gun rights associated with hunting and other outdoor sports activities, although these activities are not always practiced by all within the gun culture. Some members of the gun culture remain avid collectors and shooters but this is not universal.

Present day gun culture outside the United States

It should be noted that some aspects of gun culture are different in other countries. Gun politics in Australia consists of just the two sides of gun control versus the gun rights of sportsmen, with virtually no inclusion on the gun rights side of self-defense rights as seen in North America, as there is no Second Amendment equivalent. Nonetheless, Australia has historically had a well-established gun culture focused on sporting and farming requirements. In Australia, the minimum age for owning or purchasing a gun with a permit is 18. Those aged 12-17 may have a junior licence to shoot under supervision and is usually upgraded to a full license when turning 18.

Likewise, gun culture is significantly different in the UK. It is currently an offense for anyone to be in possession of any gun without a valid license (a similar situation currently exists in Canada as well). A license may be obtained by anyone aged 17 or over who has a valid reason such as hunting or target shooting.

In New Zealand, the minimum age for possessing a firearms or gun license is 16. At this age, one may legally own a gun. New Zealanders can also own fully automatic weapons with a license, though this is restricted to collectors and security personnel.

In Japan lawful ownership of firearms is rare and difficult, though there is some hunting and sport shooting.

Gun nut

The term "Gun nut" has been used to describe those who are involved with the gun culture. It can have different connotations depending both on how it is perceived and the intention of the person using it. To some gun owners, it is embraced affectionately, such as in the popular outdoors magazine Field and Stream which has a column called "The Gun Nut". However to others it is regarded as a pejorative stereotype cast upon gun owners by anti-gun advocates as a means of implying that they are fanatical, exhibit abnormal behavior, or are a threat to the safety of others. The term has additionally been used at times by some law enforcement agencies to describe a profile to categorize criminal suspects.