Guns and violence

Angelika And since I'm in the mood today to address quintessentially American phenomena (after all, in our last newsletter, I shared my impressions from my visit to Germany), I must write about the massacre in which 16 people lost their lives, carried out by two teenagers using firearms at an American high school in Littleton. This incident caused a real uproar across the country, likely because it wasn't an isolated case; such often more or less planned shootings have sadly become a part of everyday life at American high schools. Following Littleton, there were several incidents where students in other U.S. cities went to school armed and shot indiscriminately, injuring people--so-called copycats. After the Littleton incident, the American media feverishly searched for the causes of this increase in violence, digging up everything from the decline in values, the internet, the portrayal of violence in the media, overwhelmed parents, and the easy access to weapons.

It should be mentioned in passing that while all reporters condemned excessive portrayal of violence in the media, they relentlessly showed images of blood-covered teenagers or mercilessly interviewed completely shocked students. Or President Clinton tearfully mourned the victims of the shooting in a speech, while at the same time, CNN displayed which targets in Kosovo had been successfully bombed. This is what one might call first-class double standards. I am firmly convinced that the increase in the propensity for violence among children and adolescents is a worldwide phenomenon (at least in most industrialized nations), and the causes are certainly multifaceted. However, I am always fascinated by how lightly the arming of teenagers in the USA is taken and how deeply rooted the belief is that everyone has the right to own a firearm, even though teenagers are disproportionately often victims of gun violence: Teenagers up to 15 years old in the USA have up to twelve times the risk of being killed by a gun compared to children in the 25 most industrialized countries combined. Additionally, the gun industry lobby in America is about as powerful as the automotive industry in Germany. Naturally, after the Littleton incident, there is renewed discussion about tightening gun laws, but it tends to focus more on the details (e.g., raising the minimum age from 18 to 21 or making access to certain types of weapons more difficult) rather than challenging the fundamental right to own firearms. In America, it has become easier for a teenager to buy a gun than cigarettes or alcohol.

So much for serious topics -- Ring free for the jokester Michael: "Shall we let him in??? Let him in! Toot toot toot..."