Why do Americans feel so strongly about gun control?


The reason Americans feel so strongly about gun control is partly rooted in the history of the United States. Originally, colonial Americans mostly lived outside of towns, farming and hunting in the countryside. This meant that guns were not just for protection, they were for obtaining crucial food resources. The British threat to take away guns was more than a political imposition limiting resistance to British rule, it was potentially a life-threatening policy to families who depended on obtaining food via hunting. This background is in part why Americans originally had such a strong reaction to normalizing gun controls and access, which was codified as a right to bear arms in our Constitution. However, by contrast this aspect of the rationale against gun control largely does not exist today. Gun usage is for sport, and for protection, and only minimally to provide food on the table. However, because of this history, and constitutional codification, Americans feel justified in maintaining one of the world's most vigorous objections to any regulation or controls.