Tuesday 7 August 2007

Armed America - scary Americans

On Sunday I read the Sunday Times Magazine. Fine. Then I got to the middle bit and I saw a vision of hell.

No really. Did you see it?!

Page 26. Double page spread in full colour of a mum and dad with little boy who looks about 3. They are arranged in a lovely, smiling portrait style pose. The little boy wears a Superman costume but we can forgive him for that. (He's only 3 and they could be PJ's). What is disturbing about this scene is the fact that mum and dad aka Donno and Judi are wielding, along with their angelic-butter-wouldn't-melt-family-devotees smiles, two assault rifles that wouldn't look out of place on the Serengeti. What, one wonders, are they hunting in their sitting room?

Worse. They named the kid Uzi. Oh dear.

So the right to bear arms, in the good old constitution for over 200 years, was almost acceptable given that there were wild animals to deal with back then, oh and tomahawk marauding Indians (well, my rather pissed off ancestors actually who did have genuine cause for complaint, but we won't go on about that now...).

But back to the article. Turn the page and it gets worse. A young boy who looks too young to drive proudly shows off 6 handguns of varying scariness, and what looks like 4 assault rifles. Dan has "a dozen" guns apparently, (and a dozen Domino Pizza boxes in the corner of an otherwise empty yet pristine room). He says, "I consider the ownership of arms not only a right, but a duty of a free people to themselves and future generations." Oh shit! Pardon me.

The pic below is another family - mum, dad, and small child who chews on something while daddy brandishes another massive assault rifle. Another family has "an M4 carbine with telescopic sight - the semiautomatic version of the rifle favoured by the US and Israeli security forces." They also have 2 dogs and a child in the shot (boom boom).

More information on the article can be found here and the book, Armed America:Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes by Kyle Cassidy is published by David & Charles, more info here. I think I'll be too freaked out to read it though!

9 comments:

Jon M said...

Never understand why anyone needs a gun. especially not in this country (UK. Not for recreation, not for self defence, not for anything. In my humble opinion...

hesitant scribe said...

I'm with you all the way Jon. The only good guns are those tranquiler guns that vets use so that they can save an animals life. Otherwise guns are crap. utterly crap.

Did you see the pics on the links though?! OMG! Soooo creepy. *Shudders in a kind of freaked out kinda way*

Jon M said...

too scary!

Zinnia Cyclamen said...

Scary indeed. Although I'd like to include, in the amnesty, those fairground ones you can shoot two-dimensional metal ducks with. They're good guns too. A boyfriend once won me a teddy with one. It was so romantic. (Well, I was only 18 at the time!)

Anonymous said...

So is this the time to tell you about shooting targets in the backyard (field) of a house in Arkansas whilst very small children were wandering around and jumping in and out of the pool?

Weird reading about it, even weirder being there!!!

hesitant scribe said...

Zinnia - okay *reluctant shrug* you can have your fairground guns as long as they don't lead to the need to shoot real duck-ducks!

Chilli - OMG too true! Oh yes indeedy. Almost forgot about that... good job there were lots of paramedics on hand just in case, eh!

TestyMctester said...

I am a human being. I as all humans have the inalienable right to my own life, liberty, and property. I choose to exercise my liberty to acquire property in the form of guns. I use these guns for recreation. They are a hobby. I aspire to use guns to hunt for food I eat - those who think that wrong most likely haven't closely examined the source and ethics of their own food, whether they are omnivorous, vegetarian, or vegan. Should I be forced to I will use my guns to defend life, liberty, and property from thieves (I don't mean shooting an unarmed burglar either), rapists, murderers, home invaders, and the other sick criminal element of our world. That is my right.

You can choose to not own guns, you can choose to not defend your own life, liberty, and property. But if you choose to support banning guns, then you are a criminal, for you support the theft of other people's life, liberty, and property.

There is no fear as bad as the fear of the unknown. Those who think guns are "bad" should read this book, go target shooting, and or do some reading up on rights, liberty, property, and firearms.

TestyMctester said...

"The more I learn, the more I realise I know absolutely nothing. " - Author's self description.

Have you ever fired a gun? Been trained to use one? Have you ever even held one? What do you really know about guns?

hesitant scribe said...

Paul,

Am going to respond to you in a blog post, as I'm afraid it's going to be a bit long :)