In the wake of yesterday’s tragic shooting of reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward live on TV in Virginia, gun control has once again come to the forefront of US national debate.
Tragedies involving firearms seem to be a constant reality in America, yet large swathes of the population refuse to acknowledge the link between gun ownership and gun violence.
To the rest of the world this seems insane, but in America most people really want to own guns, no matter the human cost.
A recent clip from Australian comedian Jim Jefferies sums up this situation perfectly. Despite once being the victim of a home invasion, where he was tied up and his girlfriend was threatened with rape, he doesn’t support gun ownership, for home protection or otherwise.
Jeffries says in the video:
In Australia, we had the biggest massacre on Earth [the Port Arthur massacre], and the Australian government went: “That’s it! NO MORE GUNS.” And we all went, “Yeah, all right then, that seems fair enough, really.
Now in America, you had the Sandy Hook massacre, where little tiny children died. And your government went, “Maybe … we’ll get rid of the big guns?” And 50 percent of you went, “FUCK YOU, DON’T TAKE MY GUNS.”
The comedian continues:
You have guns because you like guns! That’s why you go to gun conventions; that’s why you read gun magazines! None of you give a shit about home security. None of you go to home security conventions. None of you read Padlock Monthly. None of you have a Facebook picture of you behind a secure door.
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
