America, Guns and Music
Like most non-Americans, I just don’t get that nation’s obsession with guns. As someone who grew up in a rural area, guns were treated as tools for protection of farm animals–gotta keep the foxes out of the henhouses and rabid animals aren’t much fun–and for hunting. And yes, my relatives who hunted always ate what they killed. Me? I’ve never owned a gun of my own, but I got pretty good with a .22 shooting cans and bottles at my grandparents’ farm.
In ‘Murica, though, it’s almost a civil responsibility to own multiple firearms and to be able to take them wherever you wish. Take this guy who took an AR-15 assault rifle through the Atlanta airport in full view of everyone. Why? Because he could. It’s a legal weapon and Georgia is an open-carry state. There was nothing against the law about this guy carrying this gun through the busiest airport in the world. And he wasn’t even travelling anywhere. He was just making a point. Sorry, but I find that extremely weird in a highly provocative way.
Now let’s head north to Tennessee. This surprised me, but in retrospect, it shouldn’t have. A state representative has introduced a new bill that would allow public concert venues to ban guns at live events.
Think about that for a second. In Tennessee, you can legally carry a gun to a concert because…well, it’s your Second Amendment right. Yes, concerts are often environment with raised emotions. Yes, I believe they serve alcohol at concerts (not to mention the drinking that goes on in the parking lot). And yes, I’m pretty sure there’s a little bit of drug use at concerts. Why would anyone think that taking a gun to a gig is a good idea?
Yet there’s a loophole. Because of the way the laws are written, it would only be possible to enforce this law in venues owned by the county or the city. Private bars, nightclubs and concert venues would be 100% exempt.
I just don’t get it.
“Yes, concerts are often environment with raised emotions. Yes, I believe they serve alcohol at concerts (not to mention the drinking that goes on in the parking lot). And yes, I’m pretty sure there’s a little bit of drug use at concerts. Why would anyone think that taking a gun to a gig is a good idea?”
If it’s that bad, instead of leaving one’s gun home maybe one just shouldn’t go to concerts like that.
Mr. Cross, since you are not from here please allow me to assist you. In America we have a tradition of taking care of ourselves instead of depending on government to take care of us. Yes, this applies to protecting ourselves from people who don’t have the self control to not harm others while they are listening to music.
That part Canadians understand. What we DON’T understand is why there need be those people you need you protect yourself against in the first place.
Canadians don’t even think about going to a show (or anywhere else for that matter) worried that they might have to defend themselves with a firearm against another person with a firearm.
I live in a metropolitan area with about 6 million people and we have less than 100 homicides a year, most of those with knives–and most of those homicides are gang-on-gang or bad-guy-on-bad-guy situations. To even THINK of worrying about encountering someone with so little self-control that they’d pull out a gun is COMPLETELY foreign to us.
This has nothing to do with depending on a government to take care of us. We just don’t see the need for guns to pervade society so much. But we don’t live in America.
Think of it as: America is freedom to, Canada is freedom from.
In America you are free to carry a gun and defend yourself.
In Canada you are free from gun carrying defenders.
And free from guns, mostly.