this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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USA is cursed! (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Just read this news (only title tho) where a teenager murdered his sister over Christmas gifts.

I'm starting to think, as a land, USA is cursed. Every hour American military complex exports death all around the world. And these bullets and bombs are used by the literal evil mfers against weak victims.

The continuous death of innocent American children by psychos who have easy access to guns is an ironic and twisted equilibrium of fate against due to the greed of darker-than-charcoal-stone-heart Americans.

Nicholas Cage's "Lord of war" sums it up.

And my sincere condolences to victims' heartbroken families.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

Almost like the entire country was built over Indian burial grounds.

Let's be real though, there's no such thing as curses. This is a human situation problem.

First, you only read the headline of the article. If you're going to read headlines and speculate the rest of the story, you're going to create the most extreme version. Headlines are intentionally misleading and catchy to get you to click and share them. Read the actual story from multiple sources, and you'll probably find that the full story is a lot less crazy.

But yes, there are some stories that are just as gruesome as their headline. There's not much more to a story like "6 elementary school students dead after another school shooting" and these things happen here significantly more than elsewhere in the world. There's lots of debate about why and no one can agree on an exact reason, but it's definitely a situational issue. Meaning that if you took the exact same person who murdered children and gave them an entirely different life from birth, they likely will be an entirely different person. It's not something that some people are just "born" to do, it's something their situation points them to.

My personal opinion on the solution to the issue is to have ten to a hundred times more guidance counselors at school, with mandatory, regular confidential counseling/therapy for each student. (Of course with strong firearm regulations in the meantime.) But honestly I don't think the problem is going anywhere any time soon. The absolute craziness shown by millions of people during 2020-2021 shows that the people who need help the most will fight that help every step of the way.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I mean... It is built on an old native American burial ground. 🤔

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Well, have you read much news about other parts of the world?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

That's nice.

Now do your research into weapons manufacturing and learn about all the countries that are involved in this particular industry. You will soon find it's a global racket and isn't just isolated to one nation.

As an example, I use many brands of components that are produced by Nammo or other European companies in my own reloading room. (Berger, Vihtavuori, etc..) It just so happens I live in the US. Hell, even the "American" smokeless powders I use originate in Australia.

That is just the tip of the iceberg, friend.

Edit: Huh. Even CCI got sold of to a foreign company. CCI and Winchester make #41 primers mostly used in NATO 5.56 ammunition, btw. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vista_Outdoor#:~:text=Vista%20Outdoor%20Inc.,-Type&text=Vista%20Outdoor%20is%20the%20parent,%241.91%20billion%2C%20pending%20regulatory%20approval.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Damn. This is some fucked up shit.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Calling the USA "cursed" is abrogation of responsibility, because a curse is a third-party affliction.

The USA's situation is entirely a first-party affliction. It's cultural insanity at work: gun worship, the belief that violence solves all problems, the clinical-grade paranoia over any kind of collective solution to anything, and, more recently, the worship of laissez-faire capitalism.

There's no curse. There's a fundamentally broken culture and society. That is all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Yeah, cursed by a 2 party system with fascists on one side and right leaning capitalists on the other.

Gun violence, misery, and poorly directed anger has ruled this country for some time now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

As a UK resident with US relatives, it seems the same way to me too. If we look at gun ownership, the experiment of allowing such easy access has seemingly failed continuously. The rest of the world has clear evidence of the direct relationship between easy gun access of excess deaths and massacres. Sadly when it comes to funding bullies in other countries, the UK is on a par with the US.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The United States could put a fraction of its military funding towards mental healthcare and social safety nets and cut firearm deaths down 90% without even touching 2A. Similarly, gun ownership could be stopped overnight and shave maybe a few percentages off deaths. Countries with similar gun ownership (as percentages of households with at least one gun, 'gun per 100 people' statistics are not a fair comparison) to the US include Switzerland, Norway, and Finland, at 29%, 26%, and 38%, respectively, compared to America's 31%. If there really was such a direct correlation, these countries would have dramatically more gun deaths than their neighbors but don't.

Buying a gun in the US isn't anywhere nearly as easy as you make it seem. You don't just walk into the gun store and leave with an AR-15, a la Grand Theft Auto. The application process alone is several hundred dollars and takes weeks. For handguns, this may take months or thousands of dollars depending on locality. You're subject to a background check, which is permantly logged, regardless of its results, and if you pass, your weapon, and you are both logged. Oh, and if the dealer at any point gets cold feet or doesn't like you, they can cancel the transaction at any point. People convicted of even a non-violent crime or felony can not own a firearm in most cases. A history of any mental illness also exempts purchase eligibility, as well as people prescribed certain medications. There are lots of things preventing most people from buying a gun in America.

There are some archaic laws about private sales, but there have been no studies showing these guns are more likely to be used in a crime when they've been involved in a legal private sale. Not to mention the fact that these laws are very quickly being overwritten.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The difference is not the gun ownership rates, it's the lack of effective check, measures and training. Quite literally, any idiot can own a gun in the US. The mental health element is relevant, but not 90 relevant.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Quite literally, any idiot can own a gun in the US.

Do you have any numbers to back this up? Because nearly half of all firearm sales were blocked In 2021 (42% of all requests, 300,000 total declined). These aren't 300,000 people who were barred from buying firearms. These are people who thought they could and were still denied.

Re private sales: these people are still required to exercise good judgement and failure to do so can net them as accomplices to any crimes the buyer commits. Not to mention the fact that many guns are banned entirely from private sale. Handguns in particular, in most localities need a police officer present for all trades or transactions. Anecdotally, private sellers are much stricter in who/what they'll sell to than private sellers.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The total number of blocked firearms sales in the US taken in isolation is irrelevant. The absolute firearms ownership is about 31% in some EU countries, less in others. Yet the total and proportional number of shootings and mass shootings is so completely different. Here we see that it's which proportion of the population that owns a gun. Just check, compare and contrast the actual requirements to purchase a gun within the UK or the EU with those in the US. You really don't have to work very hard to find the comparisons. The issue to hand would be that if similar requirements were applied in the US, the number of people declined a firearm would likely double, but also, those in lawful possession would need to give up their firearms. The definition, the checks undertaken and the ongoing assessme for responsible gun ownership is different in the UK and the EU.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Disclaimer: I have a personal rule against responding to the same argument more than three times so I may read what you reply but won't be responding

The total number of blocked firearms sales in the US taken in isolation is irrelevant.

I didn't take it in isolation. You said that any idiot in the US can own a gun, and I gave statistical proof that that statement is false.

Yet the total and proportional number of shootings and mass shootings is so completely different.

Congratulations, you're seeing what lack of mental healthcare access and social safety nets has on a population. Let's look at the proportional number of people who are given access to adequate mental specialists and don't grind themselves to death at work and relax by watching quote-unquote News designed specifically to induce anxiety and paranoia.

Even within the context of America:America, your argument doesn't hold up. If "More guns = More deaths," then the opposite should be true: "more firearm deaths means higher ownership," but that isn't the case. Gun ownership in the US has stayed pretty steady for the past fifty years (please see the legend), yet gun death rates have more than doubled in that time. I don't see how you can look at this data and conclude that guns are the cause of these deaths (the majority being suicide), and not a symptom of something larger.

those in lawful possession would need to give up their firearms.

This is a complete pipe dream and is the reason why arguing with Europeans about US gun regulation is a waste. Firearm legislation, with a few very broad and defining pieces of regulation, is handled by states or local municipalities exclusively. The federal government legally could not enforce these laws on the state level. So, assuming that you could accomplish the Herculean task of getting all of these governments to agree, and after all appeals had gone through the courts, the seizure process alone would take decades. It's a conclusion that isn't founded in reality. You might as well be saying that we should invent a superhuman serum to prevent gun deaths.

Just so that my argument isn't being misunderstood, I want to state it very clearly: I am not saying that - in a vacuum, conceptually - full gun prohibition does not prevent gun deaths. I'm not stupid enough to say that a room of 100 people is just as likely to have such an incident if one of those people has a gun as if none of them do. But I believe that that same room of 100 people is more likely to have an incident if one person with severe untreated mental illness has a gun than if there are fifty well-adjusted weekend skeet shooters with shotguns. In other words, the quantity of guns alone does not indicate the likelihood of any gun violence.

I'm saying that your argument and the conclusion thereof is horribly Eurocentric and shows a lack of knowledge on US culture or government.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago

Perhaps we've reached the point where we have now demonstrated that you aren't able to offer solutions, just obstacles to change.

[–] ani 1 points 10 months ago

I agree with that. US's most definitely cursed. How can we free US from the curse tho? Do you have any ideas OP?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Oh my GOD, Americabad oh no oh God america