The Rising Gun Culture in Britain

Gun culture in Britain today is on the rise and fast becoming a major problem. The news makes for grim reading. Today, crimes committed through the use of firearms are on the rise. The number of deaths from the use of firearms is also on the increase. But perhaps more worrying is the proliferation of gangs, many of them consisting of teenagers, acquiring and using firearms with no remorse. We have to ask ourselves why is this the case. Why is it that today, we seem to be witnessing an increase in teenage crimes involving the use of lethal weapons?

The reason for this it turns out isn’t so difficult. Society today gives every indication that it glorifies the use of extreme violence as a means of meting out justice. By society, I mean the government since it embodies the system responsible for maintaining and preserving societal structure. The British government, on the one hand, passes decrees and bills and what have you outlawing crimes committed through the use of firearms and yet on the other hand, it is responsible for sanctioning the manufacturing of these weapons and using them to invade other nations under the guise of meting out self-appointed justice. It is impossible to have your cake and eat it. If the government is responsible in any way, either directly or indirectly, for promoting or perpetuating acts of aggression for whatever reason, then it has no moral right to ask its citizens to desist from carrying out the same acts against each other.

Natural law demands that every individual answers to a group ideology and structure. This is at the heart of evolution. It is how we develop, not only as a unit but also as a group. Consequently, the thoughts and actions of any individual are strongly influenced by group ideology, especially in the most formative years of adolescence. And so, structures like the family, school, peer group, local community and the government are groups that each exert an influence on the individual. However, all groups within society answer to the master group - the government. Being the master group, any ideology it propagates will percolate down through all levels of society. For example, it is no mystery that in a family unit where both parents have graduate degrees, the likelihood that their offspring will get a university degree is very strong. The reason being that throughout its formative years, the offspring will be exposed to an ideology that promotes the acquisition of university education. This is simply the law of averages combining with group influence. Similarly, it is no coincidence that since the British government went to war in Iraq, under assumptions that were later proved to be false, gun crime has seen an increase, especially amongst teenagers. Why is the significant? Well, the government has admitted that it was a bit too hasty in rushing to war and sanctioning the use of lethal force that brought death to thousands. And yet, no one has been held to account for this. Instead, the war is still ongoing, getting messier by the week and doesn’t look like finishing anytime soon. This must mean that it is okay to go to war and bring death to thousands of men, women and children. Thanks to media exposure, the gory details of war are there for all to see.

To justify its decision to use lethal force on men, women and children of errant nations, the government uses phrases like threat to national security followed by unilateral decisions to eliminate the perceived threat. This ideology has ingrained itself in the minds of every Briton, especially the impressionable teenagers. It tells them that it is okay for them to shoot people in reaction to any perceived slight that is interpreted as a threat to ones well being.

How can the worrying problem of gun culture be solved? Well the best way is to start from the top down. The rest should then take care of itself automatically. By this I mean that unless the government reviews its own policy with respect to the use of weapons, aggression or lethal action against adversaries, real or imagined, the gun crime in Britain will keep on rising. The government needs to stop the production and distribution of any weapon of war. Only then can it have the moral mandate to enforce a ban on gun crime. In fact, it will find that with the passage of time it will be increasingly unnecessary to enforce the ban. This is because a ban on the production, distribution and sale of weapons will automatically result in a decrease in crime committed with weapons. This is the only foolproof way to eradicate the rising gun culture in Britain today.

It should be noted that eradicating gun culture does not necessarily mean an end to the problems that led to the act of violence in the first place. The weapon is simply a tool. Take it away and the problem will find an outlet through the use of another tool. Examining the source of the problem will be the subject of another post.