I used to think Americans having guns was crazy. Until someone pointed out to me that 1 of the reasons we can't have them in Britain is that it would make a revolution harder to achieve. Now I don't know the answer but I do think youngsters will always bash horns occasionally and this may result in bit of fisticuffs, generally no ones seriously hurt. But now it seems for whatever reason, be it glorification in films, , t.v. music or just availability guns and knives are used more often, resulting in tragedy. I think this has a lot to do with ego, finding your identity and wanting to be cool. cool was a massive thing for me growing up, and its strange what is or isn't deemed cool. No one wants to be seen as soft and who didn't want to be Bruce Lee or rocky for a while, it just seems to be one step further and more accessible. As regards criminals having guns, well I consider law enforcement to be the biggest criminals, and let's face it theres just no profit in peace is there
This makes me think of another aspect that is often over-looked.
As far as I know, Movies, TV shows, Music, Games and all the Media overexposure happens pretty much the same in all the free world countries.
We never seem to hear about kids shooting up their schools or patrons shooting up their nightclubs or employees shooting up their workplaces.
Except in this country.
Is this because there are no guns to be found or because in those countries the families teach their children different values?
When I was growing up, I never once thought to shoot up my school, ever.
My heroes were real Vietnam soldiers fighting and killing with guns.
My fantasies concerning guns were of me being a soldier fighting the enemy. Sometimes it was me being a cop fighting bad guys like Dirty Harry did.
We had street fights, especially after high school games where kids from one town would fight with kids of another town but people were not getting shot or killed. West Side Story and The Warriors were gangs that none of us identified with and never tried to. As a matter of fact, gang violence was something that was extreme and unwanted due to the morals and values we were taught. I grew up to respect others, not just my elders, everyone.
I think this may be the root of the problem.