In a seminal article, America as a Gun Culture, the noted historian Richard, Hofstadter popularized the phrase `gun culture` to describe America`s long affection for the gun, associating guns and America`s heritage. The origins of American gun culture...
In a seminal article, America as a Gun Culture, the noted historian Richard, Hofstadter popularized the phrase `gun culture` to describe America`s long affection for the gun, associating guns and America`s heritage. The origins of American gun culture trace back to the hunting and sporting ethos, the militia ck during the revolutionary war, and the westward expansion which draw from the country`s early history. Americans in the colonial period were free to possess arms under English common law. And during the Revolution, each of the states had its own `militia`-a military force comprised of ordinary citizens carrying their own weapons. They fought for freedom and independence against the British government. After the establishment of the Republic, firearms were closely associated with the westward expansion. From the travel accounts and memoirs during the period of 1800-1840, we found that hunting and target shooting were common parts of American life. Guns were also widely used for law enforcement, as well as self-defense. Guns were popularized throughout all frontier regions, showing that America had already acquired a `gun culture.` The right to own a gun and defend oneself is considered as central to American identity. This stems in part from the nation`s frontier history, where guns were integral to America`s westward expansion, The gun enabled settlers to guard themselves from American Indians, wild animals and foreign armies, and citizens assumed much responsibility for self-protection. The importance of guns also derived from the role of hunting and target shooting, which still remains popular in the country today. The gun was prominent in popular culture in America as well, appearing frequently in western adventure novels, movies, and television shows. Popular culture helped to shape gun culture as a distinctive American way of life. Cowboys and frontiersmen, the gun that they carried, came to symbolize the American spirit and identity-icon of American freedom, independence, patriotism and righteousness. However, the most important factor for the formation of gun culture in America was the enactment of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1791. A wide range of views exists regarding the Second Amendment, but most legal scholars are coming to agree that it, as a part of the Bill of Rights, guarantees the pre-existing individual right to `keep and bear arms.` This view was echoed by the Founding Fathers who saw the right to bear arms as crucial to what they believed was a prime natural right, self-defence. against a tyrannical government. This view was also confirmed by the Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller on June 26, 2008. The Supreme Court ruled that self-defense is a central component of the right. And this rule was frequently cited as decisive evidence against gun control laws by claiming gun ownership is a constitutional right.