Last year, North America was horrified when 20 children died in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
A month ago, an Australian student on a sports scholarship was murdered in Oklahoma. That prompted a prominent Australian politician to accuse Americans of fostering a gun culture that “is corrupting the world.”
More recently, on Sept. 16, a mentally disturbed man used a Remington 870 shot gun to kill 12 people in a Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.
Even with these tragedies, the United States has still not passed restrictions on gun ownership. For some Americans, the right to own firearms is inherent. Last month, the CEO of Starbucks had to tell outraged gun owners to stop coming to his cafes and putting firearms on the tables. The resistance of some Americans to gun control is confusing to Canadians, but also to other Americans as well.
As an American, I find it hard to explain because I don’t fully understand it myself. These tragedies, although deeply saddening to Americans, still don’t stop people from fighting for their right to own guns. The cultural tie of this right will prohibit strict gun regulation in the U.S.
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Coos Canyon Schoolhouse was filled with 60 residents of Byron, M.E. for the annual town meeting on a Monday evening last spring. First on the agenda was a mandate to require every household in the community to own a gun and ammunition.
Retired teacher Brian Lewia thought it was a great idea.
“If I was a bad guy I would think twice about breaking into someone’s house if I had an inkling of them having a gun,” said the Skowhegan resident.
The proposal was defeated unanimously. Still, it represented both Maine’s deeply rooted independent streak and American gun culture.
Maine has the second highest rate of gun ownership in the United States, according to the Sun Journal. Gun rights are so important to Mainers that in 1987 Maine passed a law that stated: “Every citizen has the right to bear arms and this right shall never be questioned.”
Lewia thinks there should be less gun regulation.
“I just believe its part of our constitution that gives us our freedom. I’m pretty conservative. I’m not a big fan of government intervening and restricting in our country.”
He also said he thinks anti-gun activists just use school shootings as an excuse to achieve their long-standing cause for no guns. They should be focusing on protecting our children instead, said Lewia.
Lewia’s view on self-protection is one held by many Mainers who have grown up in rural areas.
Gun shop owner John Reid says gun sales have gone up “200 per cent” since threats of more gun regulation in the United States. J.T. Reid’s Gun Shop is located in Auburn, M.E.
“I have had many conversations with my customers, and they are afraid that this current administration will take away their right to carry firearms,” said Reid.
Reid also acknowledged Maine regulations are much more relaxed than other states such as New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. He said gun rights are part of Maine culture.
Tim Locke sleeps with a handgun underneath his bed every night. A future police officer, Locke owns more than one gun. The others he keeps locked up. The one under his bed is for protection.
The 20-year-old thinks, as an American, he has the right to use guns as a tool and for protection.
“In Maine if you are 18 or older you can buy a gun off anyone. I can walk down your street with a gun…not loaded. A person can also carry a gun in their truck but it must be in plain view or it’s considered concealed,” said Locke.
Locke does not think there should be more gun control in the U.S. but believes people should have a psychological exam and a basic background check before purchasing one.
The background check proposal is the closest regulation anti-gun politicians have come to achieving. Republicans do not oppose this mostly because of Sandy Hook or the Navy Yard shooting in which the murderer is suspected to have had some sort of mental illness.
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Geography and demographics make Maine distinctive, said STU professor James Gillies.
“Maine has a fascinating coastal-urban and very rural divide. There are very few places in the United States with as much uninhabited land as Maine…about two-thirds of the state has hardly anything.”
The political scientist said this type of geography causes differences in ideology within the state. In rural areas, the views are more conservative than in urban areas.
In light of recent tragedies, Maine still has not taken up any kind of gun regulation. This is probably because the rural population is over-represented, said Gillies.
Beyond that, the professor of communications and public policy said guns are historically part of American culture because the right to bare arms is included as an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“The reason they did that had to do with concerns over the ability of the individual to be able to defend themselves and therefore over time this has become something ingrained in – I wouldn’t even say in American gun culture – but in American culture.”
Gillies said Americans and Canadians view guns in different ways.
“For rural Canadians, guns have a part in everyday life, just as they have been for rural Americans, but I think in Canada that is one that is linked to economy, not necessarily the culture,” said Gillies, “I think a difference between the way an American farmer would treat a weapon…is that guns are a constitutional right – that is not the same way a Canadian would.”
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Not all Americans are pro-gun. Most Americans do want some type of gun control. These numbers tend to go up after tragedies such as Newtown or the Navy Yard shooting.
Karen Heck, the mayor of Waterville M.E., thinks there should be more gun regulations in the United States.
“We need reasonable controls on gun ownership but I’m afraid the NRA, the front for the gun manufacturers, has put so much money into campaigns that our politicians are more afraid of losing their jobs than they are of doing the right thing.”
Heck says this political pressure creates an illusion that many people do not agree with gun regulation.
Heck and others with similar views on guns show that Americans are all not crazy. I grew up in Maine but I did not live in an environment filled with guns. Guns are not something I want or need to own.
In the past year, Portland Mayor Michael Brennan and Augusta Mayor William Stokes have both made public speeches about the need for more gun control. Both Portland and Augusta are urban centres in Maine.
But it is a double-edged sword. The deep-rooted culture is not going to fade, and neither will the puzzlement of the rest of the world, but Americans need to figure out a way for the tragedies stop. That has nothing to do with our culture and ideology, it has to do with our humanity.
