‘Gun ownership is rising with tension’

THE Chauvin case does not seem to have deterred American police forces from over-ready resort to excessive force.

The latest episode, in which the officer concerned drew a gun under the impression it was a taser and shot a man dead, has not improved prospects for the relaxation of tension.

But these police only reflect American society as a whole. Guns are available and, in many areas, people are almost expected to have them.

I have an American friend who used to live on a farmstead in Oregon. Guns were advertised at local fairs and markets. A good few magazines were devoted to them. The local gun club had a range on the outskirts of town.

There was a notice outside the library asking people not to bring their guns in. Children learned to shoot. Guns were sometimes given as graduation presents.

Yet gun crime was rare almost to the point of non-existence. The rules of caution were drilled into everyone. Guns were just part of life.

The gun culture is a legacy of previous times. The War of Independence in the 18th century and the drive to the West in the

19th encouraged a tradition of selfreliance, each man his own army.

But conditions are different now. Modern civilisation has rendered this tradition useless, indeed dangerous.

Most people live in cities, not on the remnants of the frontier. Guns can do far more damage, as several massacres have shown.

Margaret Brown

Staffordshire