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29.03.2023 Feature Article

USA: the ritual of death

USA: the ritual of death
29.03.2023 LISTEN

The Congressman of Tennesse posted Xmas greetings with his family under the Xmas tree all holding assault rifles and proudly smiling. Asked whether he regrets his action he said into the camera:" Why should I regret Hi celebrating Xmas with my family and use my constitutional rights?" (sky news, 29.03.2023 interview)

Almost each week mass shootings take place in the USA this time three schoolchildren and three school workers in Nashville Tennessee. Each time tears cover the street and churches of the USA for one week before the next mass shooting comes most certainly around the week after mourning. Politicians sing the old familiar song of grievances about the loss of innocent lives while upholding the constitutional right to wear and use firearms.

The circle of discussion on whether guns protect people from attacks or trigger attacks is of the same quality who was first the egg or the hen? The laws, structure, and maned institutions of a democratic nation should address this question appropriately.

So why did this right become a constitutional right in the first place and which spirit haunts the Americans?

European settlers used guns and weapons as means of protection in an unknown and potentially hostile new environment. In their home countries there were not used to the right to carry guns for personal protection only for hunting down wildlife for human consumption. Killing buffalos alongside native Indians that both protected their lives and territory were the main targets and basis for the constitutional right to wear arms.

During the American Civil War tables turned. No longer were guns directed against animals, native Indians, and the control of slaves but as a demonstration of personal power among the descendants of the European settlers. Widespread gang violence and drug-related shootings contribute further to the downfall of the Americans to be seen upholding the values of humanity. Money and political strength can easily shake when the pillars of values do not hold them anymore strongly.

USA President Joe Biden quite rightly expresses concerns about the image Americans portray themselves abroad while blowing into an old and broken trumpet hardly heard in his own nation only to witness further bloodshed to be seen next week.

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