I explained myself badly (sorry for my poor english). What I meant is the opposite: I don't think the US is violent because there are many guns - I think there are many guns in the US because it is an extremely violent society, and that violence is rooted in its culture. The USA has always being an imperialist power, and IMO this distinct characteristic emanates from a large part of the population being obsessed with its "god-given right" to apply violence. Yes, its always about "self defense", but you know how relative things might be... Saddam was supposed to have deadly weapons of mass destruction, so slaughtering hundreds of thousands of civilians was self defense; George Zimmermann killed a 17 year old unarmed teen in self-defense, and
this guy (video in the link) shooting a 13 years old kid would have probably been considered self-defense too if we didn't have a video.
Your point about culture is spot on. However, your examples are mountains made of out molehills and completely out of context to support your argument.
1 - Last I checked, "shoot first, ask questions later" will end you in jail. Killing a ANYONE who breaks into your house without just cause is called murder. Only if you have reasonable cause to fear for your life are you allowed to use deadly force. Anything else and you will likely be convicted of manslaughter or murder.
2 - You are quoting the Zimmerman case as made out by the public relations hired by the "unarmed teen"'s parents to portray their son as an innocent bystander and spread like reality by the anti-gun media. The truth appears to be quite the opposite, Zimmerman feared for his life and would have died if he did not defend himself. You can choose to believe otherwise, but the "jury of peers" believed that to be the case.
3 - Saddam was a CIA pawn who lost his value, and was used an excuse to invade Iraq to benefit of the military industrial complex and the corporate interests behind it.
And I know what some of you will tell me - "stand your ground is perfectly fine, because how can someone know if an intruder is armed or unarmed? How do you know if he will try to kill you? If someone breaks into your property, you just shoot him..." Wow, nice society living in constant fear and violence, where random kids go to schools and slaughter their mates. And if not, they can always go to Iraq or whatever come next.
How do you know? Very simply. You aim your gun/shot gun at him and tell him stand down. If he comes running at you, or appears to pull a weapon instead of standing down, it's very clear his intentions are malicious. Your implied alternative is ludicrous. What would you intend we do? Ask them to please not hurt you? Rob us blind, ignore my good looking wife and daughter, and leave us alone? Seriously?
I think the problem is very, very deep. Everybody here is so convinced about them being "the good guys", but you seem to forget that 99% of the people (including the criminals) consider themselves "the good guys", the bad one is always the other guy. That's basic human psychology. I already made the example of the military, and how relative is who is "the bad" or "the good" guy in real life - it's not all about law abiding citizens and psychopathic serial killers, things are more complex and subtle. And there you have people arming themselves and thinking "hey, I have the balls and the means to protect my family", this mentality is deeply rooted, and at some point some idiot will be totally convinced he saw a "bad guy" who might be a threat, who could have the exact same mentality and could be armed too, so its better to shoot first just in case because hey, that's how life is.
That's sick. Human life is the most precious thing we have. I'd for one prefer to live and let live by breaking this pointless and horrendous loop.
The problem with your answer is there is a good chance the "invadee" will not live. You assume that law abiding peaceful gun owners (the ones who are subject to so called "gun control" laws) will react with impunity and shoot for no reason whatsoever. The media and gun control fanatics love spreading that lie. The reality is quite the opposite, as I described above.
The solution to the problem is not less guns. The solution is restoring morality, which to my knowledge originates from God, either directly or indirectly. It's like the meaningless sports events that the masses attend. Once the masses wake up, they no longer go to the sports events, the sports teams dissolve. Likewise, when a Godly culture is restored, guns won't be needed anymore. I believe you have it backwards.
M