Guns as a Symbol of American Individualism

Abstract: Due to continuous gun violence, Americans crazy love for guns has always been attacked home and abroad. Americans passion for guns derives from individualism through the development of American history. They consider guns as a means to guarantee independence and freedom, and therefore as a symbol of American individualism.

Key words: Guns; Symbol; American Individualism; Origin; Gun Control

中图分类号： H319文献标识码： A文章编号：1672-1578（2011)09-0013-02

As the deadliest school shooting incident in U.S. history, the Virginia Tech massacre, claiming 33 lives on April 16, 2007, shocked the whole world and American gun culture again becomes the focus of tense debates home and abroad. After each harrowing gun violence, the government would be confronted with such a global attack in speech and press. However, even under such enormous pressure, American gun issue remains the same. “Gun culture” is a new term in China where private use of guns is strictly banned and a lot of Chinese people find it difficult to understand this term and they have kept wondering why private use of guns is allowed in America in spite of the strong outcry. As a matter of fact, it is Americans firm embrace of individualism that has led to their present awkward position in the gun issue. The typical American gun culture came into being while individualism was continuously intensified in the march of events in American history.

1 The Origin of American Individualism

The origin of American individualism can be traced back to the beginning years of the countrys history, when first immigrants came to the North American continent with the purpose of looking for better life and getting away from the control of European feudal tradition and the oppression from various powerful classes. Therefore, the elements of anti-yoke and searching for freedom were bound to be part of the nature of American people. Naturally, they are very proud of the Declaration of Independence; it emphasizes, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Individualism makes American people more independent and think that their fate should be decided by themselves. Therefore, individualism in America mainly refers to self-independence, self-struggle, and to maintain ones own personality. And some Chinese scholars, like Li Qirong, have analyzed the reflections of American individualism and they have more or less agreed on the notion that “individualism has nine reflections in American Culture: 1.personal privacy 2.self-reliance 3. self-expression 4. independent thinking 5. personal freedom 6. independent determination 7. personal equality 8. free competition 9. personal lifestyle.”

2 Major Individualist Beliefs

As the core of the social value in American culture, individualism takes up the most important position in the American national philosophy. Individualism is the representation and epitome of the outlook and opinion toward national politics, economy, religion and social customs, focusing on individual liberty, independence, and personal right. All of them are sacred and inviolable. The value system of individualism is mainly embodied in the following individualist beliefs: individual is the gist of all values; society is just the means to fulfill personal goals; all men are created equal and each person has right to choose his own life style regardless of social bounds. Individualism, ever since its birth, has been influencing and has penetrated into all aspects of life in American society. In his classical book Democracy in America published in 1835, the French political reviewer Alexis de Tocqueville, who first promoted the term “individualism”, clearly expounded that “the personal value was the most lofty, attaching great importance to the notion of self-control and personal development without any form of intervention and obstruction against individual from absolute power especially the tyranny in a nations history, the nation itself, society or any other external factors.”

3 Guns as a symbol of American Individualism

Values guide actions and beliefs, which is clearly shown in American peoples attitudes toward private gun use and gun ownership. While firearms symbolize violence to some; for many others, they represent self-reliance and freedom. Most Americans believe that they must be self-reliant in order to keep their freedom. If they rely too much on the support of their families or the government or any organization, they may lose some of their freedom to do what they want. In those eyes, the right to bear arms is a primary element of feeling competent and independent as individuals, rather than relying on the benevolence of a powerful, impregnable government. And they believe a disarmed population is a population that has completely surrendered the power to defend its homes against local, state or federal authorities. They hold that all these beliefs have been justified during the American history. Every gun privately and legally owned in America is therefore considered by most Americans as a means to guarantee independence and freedom, and therefore as a symbol of American individualism.

Individualism, as many other social values, has its merits and demerits. It is unfair to ignore its credits to the development of its economy and politics during the American history. While individualism encourages American people to pursue their happiness, supplying them with the opportunity to enjoy their life and guarantee the nations success, it has also brought about many social problems since its birth. To be specific, it is the incorrect interpretation of individualism that gets many Americans out of trust in the government and into wrong belief in guns. It is a generally accepted truth that most Americans have never trusted their own government, whether colonial, federal or state, and they do not trust each other. In some countries, a feeling for the common good gives the government an unchallenged right to carry out strict gun control, as in China. That indicates a degree of trust among citizens themselves, and between citizens and the state, that America apparently lacks. In any country where most people support gun control, a strong confirmation of the priority of the common good is prevalent.

4 Conclusion

In the march of events in history, guns have been given a lot of credit since the United States was founded and no wonder Americans can hardly fall out of love with guns. It is their private love for guns and their national faith in individualism that cause a lot of difficulties for gun control to take a step. Many believe that an Americans right to life is much more important than an Americans right to have his gun unregulated. It is appropriate to acknowledge that “the price Americans pay for this freedom is the loss of 30,000 civilian lives each year.” There is no easy way round this embarrassment on its way forward, American government sooner or later would have to stop to work at it. The debates over gun control will continue to rage, because the debates have been part of the American heritage, and of the American national identity.

References:

[1]Kennett, Lee B. and James L Anderson, The Gun in America: The Origins of a National Dilemma[M]. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1975.

[2]Gottlieb, Alan and Dave Workman, America Fights Back: Armed Self-defense in a Violent Age[M]. New York: Merril Press,2007.

[3]Hofstadter, Richard,America as a Gun Culture[M]. American Heritage Magazine 19 Jan, 1970.

[4]Spitzer, Robert J., The Politics of Gun Control[M]. New York: Chatham House Publishers, Inc., 1995.

[5]Tocqueville, Alexis de, Democracy in America[M]. New York: Saunders and Otley, 1838.

[6]李其荣.美国精神[M].武汉：长江文艺出版社，1998.

作者简介：许丹（1977-），女，本科学历，讲师，主要从事英语语言与文学和基础英语研究。