Given recent shootings in a New Jersey mall, LAX airport, a Nevada school and the U.S. Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., it is necessary to examine why Americans are so violent.
- We have become desensitized to violent acts.
These Halloween costumes “praise“ acts of extreme violence.
“I’m certainly not surprised,” says College of Charleston senior Mike Maus, admitting he was a little shocked. “Some people just do not know when to draw the line.”
- The news media glorify and sensationalize acts of violence.
Rather than stories about Boston Massacre survivors, Rolling Stone chose, “How a popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam and became a monster.”
The popular magazine sold 13,000 copies of the issue, which is more than double the magazine’s average sales for the previous year, according to Adweek.
- Americans are obsessed with violent media.
Grand Theft Auto V just broke seven Guinness World Records and has sold 29 million units. Cameron Owens, senior at University of South Carolina, beat the game in 36 hours. How healthy can so much exposure to that amount of violence be?
The gun lobby has a stranglehold on America’s politicians
Change in gun control legislation continues to be postponed because of monetary incentives. Stifling this legislation allows people to gain access to weapons easier than they should be able to.
“Money can make people do bad things. As cliché as that sounds it is true,” says Joey Ugast, a College of Charleston political science major, who believes the problem lies within that fact.
- American manufacturers reinforce the idea that guns make us more masculine in order to sell products…and it’s working.
A recent estimate found that there are at least 3.75 million assault rifles in the United States today. Defining masculinity as owning a weapon only adds to this staggering approximation.
“I think the advertisement makes me want to own an assault rifle,” commented gun owner Alex Jenkins, a College of Charleston senior.
- There have been 300+ mass shootings in the United States this year.
There is debate over the definition of a mass shooting (FBI doesn’t define mass shooting but calls four or more killings in one instance a mass murder), we can agree that approximately one mass shooting a day is far too many.
-by Ryan Mazza
Related articles
- Mass Shooting Victims And Families Speak Out (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
- A Mass Shooting Happened Yesterday But You Didn’t Hear Anything About It (thinkprogress.org)
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