re: #41 Dr Lizardo

And there’s the problem right there.

American culture believes that force - or the threat of force - is an acceptable method of settling disputes. It is an idea deeply ingrained in American culture and constantly reinforced in our popular media; from the late 19th Century dime-books about Jesse James or Billy the Kid, down the present day.

Gotta problem?
Kill ‘em.
Problem solved.

And until that thinking changes, there’s going to be more shooting sprees, more violence, more fear, more paranoia.

Honestly, though, I think the culture is changing. Fewer people are gun owners, and crime is way down pretty much everywhere from its peak a generation ago. It’s just going to take a while for the transformation to be complete, and you can bet that the usual suspects who are freaked out over the country becoming less white and less Christian are freaked out about this too, so they’ll just up the ante. There will be fewer gun owners, but those who do own guns will be more likely to be lunatics stockpiling assault weapons in their compounds to “protect” white, Christian America.