Sitting in the middle of Harvard University, Massachusetts was not the way I intended to write this article. However, upon reflection, it could not be a more fitting contrast. Wandering around Boston this weekend and dealing with the social issues that I'm familiar with — such as bars not serving straws in order to save the turtles was a welcomed change of pace. However this article is not about my weekend in Boston, it's about my weekend prior in Grand Rapids, Ohio. Where for some unknown reason I was exposed to guns in everyday life.
So, without further ado, it is time to discuss guns in America. Gun policy is something that Australia was at the forefront of change on, which is not overly common. In 1996 Australia experienced an act of brutality at a popular historical tourist attraction in Tasmania, where a man open fired killing 35 people. To this day, 22 year on, this has been the only shooting massacre I have been alive for in Australia. That was all it took for the entire country to abolish guns and strengthen the process of obtaining one for legetmitate purposes. So, as a result, I never grew up with guns, I never held a fascination with them and I surely don't share the belief that's guns will always protect me.
However, I'm not here to compare gun policies between the nations, instead, I wish to dive deeper into why guns are so highly regarded in US society. Gun culture has always confused me, I was never able to understand people's fascination with them outside of being a means of protection and a constitutional right.
However, after my day in Grand Rapids Ohio, it suddenly becomes clear. To parts of this country, guns are entertainment.
I'm sure some psychologists somewhere, has concluded research on the idea that the more you see something every day the more unphased you are by its presence. Therefore the repeated use of guns as entertainment builds a normalization of guns in everyday life. It becomes apart of your life, something you don't even think twice about and you don't know why.
Take my time in Grand Rapids, for example, I was not going to the town to see a gun demonstration rather I was going to attend the annual apple butter festival. The town seemed quaint although busy for the weekend with picture perfect buildings. The more I wandered around, the more it felt like I was going back in time. Historical reenactments lined the river's edge with people weaving their own clothes in linen tents and making homemade products with tools from over 100 years ago. It was an adorable peak into what life would have looked like in the 1800s. So when I heard gunshots I assumed the theme continued to a demonstration of the civil war era. However, upon reaching the end of the river I could not have been more wrong. Large army tanks and camouflage products provided the backdrop for men wearing German SS military uniforms. It seemed illogical and deeply offensive. As if they were making a mockery of horrific acts committed long ago in foreign lands.
Unfortunately, it got worse, a lot worse.
Hidden behind a crowd of people was like nothing I ever expected to see, especially at a fall festival. Simply a thin rope separated the spectators and an entire table of guns. The table was overflowing with every type of gun imaginable. It seemed surreal and in my mind played out in slow motion. One by one the men behind the rope wearing era-inappropriate military uniforms took great pride in firing the guns in absolutely no historical order. As onlookers as young as four looked on in awe.
As the sounds of an automatic WW2 machine gun rang out across the river, that's when it sunk in. It wasn't about what kind of gun it was, nor was it about the history behind it, it was just another form of entertainment. They never stopped to think how many people were murder by each gun, how many lives were changed by holding those guns in their hands, they never questioned the legitimacy of the men firing the guns or the message they were telling their children. It was just a pretty show, another way to kill time on Sunday afternoon.
In my opinion, the normalization of guns has overwhelming consequences on society. It's created a society that refuses to part with guns despite how harmful they are and honestly most people don't even know why, they just know they can't. It's a never-ending cycle that is clear won't be stopped by the governments desire to end the rising gun death tool. Rather it needs to be changed little by little by removing guns as entertainment from society until one day the majority of this country no longer feels attached to them.
