People From Other Countries Are Sharing What The Mass Shootings In America Look Like To Outsiders, And It Shows How Essential Gun Control Laws Are
In response to the recent deadly shootings in Uvalde, Buffalo, and Laguna Woods, u/Lovingnature412 asked on r/AskReddit, "Non-Americans, how do all of the mass shootings look on the outside?"
Their responses are eye-opening when it comes to the way mass shootings have become normalized in America, and emphasize the need for stricter gun laws in the United States.
"It’s all about access to guns. Canadians have mental health issues, bullying, violent video games, and schools with multiple access points. However, what we don’t have is easy access to firearms, specifically high capacity semiautomatic rifles and handguns."
"There’s no need for the average person to have access to a gun, but some people genuinely think it’s against their ‘rights’ to not have a gun, which is absurd to me."
"I am from the UK. We had a school shooting in 1996, so we tightened gun laws, and we haven't had a school shooting since. I feel like America's relationship with guns is like a child who won't put the food in their mouth, and instead just flings it around the kitchen. And you all sit around talking about the best way to fling food back."
"Sickening. Imagine saying goodbye to your child at school and not knowing if you will see them again! The reliance on guns, the glorification of guns, the demonization of those trying to change the gun laws. It's utterly beyond me. I cannot understand anyone thinking this way."
"It is scary how the gun lobby (and others like pharma and tobacco) have captured the American government."
"It looks like a country in denial. We know this will happen again, but we need guns to defend ourselves, so let's shrug our shoulders and offer thoughts and prayers."
"It's really weird to see so many argue against gun control. Imagine how stupid it must sound to an outsider, that you NEED more guns to prevent gun related violence."
"Americans have clearly accepted the human price to pay in the name of the weapons industry, so I don't really expect anything anymore."
"It's like seeing a third world where Nestlé puts a hand grenade in every packet of breakfast cereal. Sometimes they go off and kill somebody, sometimes somebody collects them until they have enough to kill a whole bunch of people all at once. Most people want it to stop and definitely don't think hand grenades should be in breakfast cereal, but the politicians who are bribed by Nestlé, and the people who say they have God on their side have an old law that says every box of cereal should ship with an indoor firework, and that law gives them rights that are more important than the people who die of hand grenades. It's just astoundingly, speechlessly, horrifyingly stupid."
"As a Canadian, it's infuriating that most of the smuggled guns here come from the States. We see how much carnage it creates down there and know that the huge surge of gun violence here is because of the States' ancient gun laws."
"Looking from the UK, I think school shootings are the symptom of the disease. There seems to be so many issues if you peel back the layers and ask why. We need gun control. Why? So only 'responsible/safe' people can own a gun to prevent school shootings. Why do 'responsible/safe' people need a gun? To protect themselves. To protect themselves from who? Criminals who the police don’t deal with, or from the police. Why do you need protections from the police? Why don’t they deal with criminals? It seems to go on and on, and be a reflection of a broken society."
"Americans don’t care. They feel sorry for families for a month, tops. Depending on the shooter’s ethnicity, he’s either mentally unstable, or just a wicked human being, then life is normal again. No regulations. Nothing. No precautions. As someone who’s lived in the US, I consider myself lucky not to have been shot, because it is ridiculously easy to bring a gun into most schools without getting caught."
"At first there was shock, but now I'm used to it. It gets annoying how gun discussions flare up after a big mass shooting, and nobody presents any realistic solutions to the problem of gun violence."
"An absolute waste of life and unneccessary suffering, but I can't call it a tragedy because it's a deliberate lack of gun control."
If you're not from America, what you do you think of the gun violence in the United States? Share your thoughts in the comments.
The Senate has currently stalled two gun control bills that aim to make background checks for owning firearms more extensive. Please take action on gun violence, call your senator! Here are 11 other ways you can take action to stop gun violence in the US.
