POST 9: THE US GUN CULTURE

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FQUJ3sap2kAAozdjxLpbpTtlP8GFgeglGBdfIBZYgQQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

1. 
   

   Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence

   
   

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun

Violence are affiliated American non profit organizations that advocate for gun control

 and against gun violence. Together, they are commonly referred to as the Brady Campaign.

They are named after James "Jim" Brady, who was permanently disabled as a result of

the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt of 1981, and Sarah Brady, who was a leader

within the organization from 1989 until 2012.

The Brady Campaign was founded in 1974 as the National Council to Control Handguns

(NCCH). From 1980 through 2000 it operated under the name Handgun Control, Inc.

(HCI). In 2001, it was renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and its

sister project, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, was renamed the Brady Center

to Prevent Gun Violence.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

(2010)

This document is a poster made by The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun

Violence in 2010. The poster represents a gun on which the American flag, the

Stars and Stripes is painted. Above the gun, the scores of deaths made by guns

in different countries all around the worldin one year (2010) are written. We

can clearly see that the countries in which guns are not allowed own a lot less

deaths by gun, like 17 in Finland or 35 in Australia, than in the United States

where guns are allowed and where the number of deaths by guns reaches

9,484 in one year. Even the countries with the most of deaths by guns with gun

don't reach such high scores, Germany has 194 deaths and Canada has 200. It

is a lot for a country with gun restriction but it is nothing compared to the

United States’s scores.

Underneath the scores, we can read the sentence “GOD BLESS AMERICA.”

which is the main point of the poster. The United States are a really religious

country, mostly Christian. Americans are also very patriotic, so much that even

“God blesses them”.

According to the Bible (also to laws and morality), killing is a horrible sin,

but still, Americans allow what has been created in order to commit murder.

This contradiction makes the poster more polemic and shocking as it is ironical

so that people will realise the dangerosity of gun allowance. The goal of the

poster is to save people’s life by incorporating sensible gun laws just like

their logo says.

It engages people to give up on firearms, so that their country will be more safe,

there would have less deaths and they would also be closer to their beliefs than

what they actually think they are.

2. Human Index
   
   

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic (composite

index) of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators,

which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development.

A country scores higher HDI when the lifespan is higher, the education 

level is higher, and the GDP per capita is higher. The HDI was developed

by Pakistani economist, Mahbub ul Haq, for the UNDP.

The 2010 Human Development Report introduced an Inequality-adjusted

Human Development Index(IHDI). While the simple HDI remains useful, it

tated that "the IHDI is the actual level of human development (accounting for

inequality)", and "the HDI can be viewed as an index of 'potential' human

development (or the maximum IHDI that could be achieved if there were no

inequality)".

The index is based on the human development approach, developed by Ul Haq,

often framed in terms of whether people are able to "be" and "do" desirable

things in life. Examples include-Beings: well fed, sheltered, healthy; Doings:

work, education, voting, participating in community life. It must also be noted

that the freedom of choice is central-someone choosing to be hungry (e.g.

during a religious fast) is quite different to someone who is hungry because

they cannot afford to buy food.

2010 Graphs

This document is called Gun Murder by Country. It was made

by the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) in

2010.

It represents 2 graphs that shows the number of gun murder

by rate per 100,000 people in the top 10 countries for the first

one, and in the developed countries for the second one, both

enhancing the position of the United States.

In the first graph, we can clearly see that the United States are

not part of the top 10 countries of gun murder, they are 26th with

around 3 gun murder per 100,000 people while the top 1 is

Honduras with around 68 gun murder per 100,000 people.

Perhaps, on the second graph, it is clear that the United States

are the worst case of gun murder among the developed countries

with 3.2 deaths per 100,000 people while the other countries

stays around 0.3 gun murder per 100,000 people with Japan

on the top with no gun murder at all.

This document shows that even though the United States are the

ones with the most gun murders among the developed countries,

they are still far from the most dangerous countries where they

are around 20 times more gun murders.

It also shows that the kind of propaganda shown with the first

document shouldn’t only be spread in the United States but also

in all the other countries which have as much and/or more gun

murders.

3. Second Amendment,  Foudind Fathers of the
   United States & National RifleAssociation(=NRA)

Second Amendment

The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States

Constitution protects the right of the people to keep and bear armsand was

adopted on December 15, 1791, as part of the first ten amendments

contained in the Supreme Court of the United States. The  has ruled that

the right belongs to individuals, also ruling that the right is not unlimited

and does not prohibit all regulation of either firearms or similar devices.

State and local governments are limited to the same extent as the federal

government from infringing this right per the incorporation of the Bill of

Rights.

The Second Amendment was based partially on the right to keep and bear arms

in English common law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689.

Sir William Blackstone described this right as an auxiliary right, supporting the

natural rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act

in concert in defense of the state.

Foudind Fathers of the United States

The Founding Fathers of the United States were those of the Thirteen Colonies

in North America who led the American Revolution against the Kingdom of

Great Britain and contributed to the establishment of the United States of

America.

Historian Richard B. Morris in 1973 identified the following seven figures as the

key Founding Fathers: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton,

John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. Adams,

Jefferson, and Franklin were members of the Committee of Five that drafted the

Declaration of Independence.

National RifleAssociation(=NRA)

The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is an American nonprofit

organization that advocates for gun rights.

Founded in 1871, the group has informed its members about firearm-related

bills since 1934, and it has directly lobbied for and against legislation since 1975.

It also claims to be the oldest continuously operating civil rights organization

in the United States.

Founded to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA continues to teach

firearm competency and safety. It instructs civilians and law enforcement,

youths and adults, in various programs. The organization also publishes several

magazines and sponsors competitive marksmanship events. Membership

surpassed 5 million in May 2013.

Steve SACK, on www.startribune.com,

Gun Lobby and Congress (2010)

This cartoon was made by Steve Sack in 2010. It shows the relation between the government (the congress) and the gun lobby. We can see the gun lobby handing a bag of money to the congress saying '' Now, where were we, before we were so rudely interupted...'' while there is a trail of blood coming from next to them and coming into the White House

Dave GRANDLUND, on www.davegranlund.com, 

Second Amendment and NRA (2013)

This cartoon was made by Dave Granlund in 2013.
It shows two different embodiments of the Second
Amendment. The first one embodies the definition
of the Second Amendment as seen by the Founding
Fathers, it is reoresented by a statue of a civil with
a firearm, elevated by a ''marble stone'', probably a
memorial in honor of the American revolution.
He looks proud and powerfull. It symbolises America itself,
a Republican country, it symbolises liberty.
The second version is the one of the NRA, but this time
it's a soldier armed to the teeth holding lots of machineguns,
grenades and other killing items. He is standing on a pile of
munitions and explosives. He looks very dangerous and sort of dumb.
The cartoon shows that the vision of the Second Amendment is
completly alterated from the original one, this law became dangerous
and unsafe because of the NRA when it used to be something
made to protect people.