Why do American's feel it so important that they own a gun, or have the right to own a gun?

Some people grow up hunting with their fathers. They may shoot skeet.

Some use guns to kill an animal to butcher or to kill coyotes that are eating their sheep, goats or cats. If you grow up hunting with friends and family then they have big parties with friends and family and wild game. My grandmother shot squirrels and fried them up and rabbit. That is how some people survived the Depression . So the point is if your family did this and it was a time of bonding. I don't hunt but played music for some of these hunting get togethers and managed not to eat any of the dead animals that were offered. Pheasant hunting is big here and deer hunting and they take pcitures and make deer jerky and if you have had deer jump out at you and wreck your car, you appretiate hunters even if you cried when Bambi's mom was killed. I got a call at three in the morning that my kid hit a deer and she was covered with blood and the car was wrecked. I had a friend who swerved to avoid a deer and ended up dead coming home from work. So it just depends on if you live in a rural area. Some people just go target shooting for the fun of it.

It is a part of their culture.

First let me say you read the huffington post a lying liberal gun control bigot rag that never give any truth.

No, permits are only required in the states run by the liberal gun control bigots, and those are the states that have the most violent crime because very few peole have or carry firearms in those states. The States with the least restrictive gun control laws have the least violent crime, proven fact.

Now to answer your question of why do American's feel it so important that they own a gun, or have the right to own a gun.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm.

When I carry a firearm, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.

The firearm is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.

Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.

The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an 85 year old lady as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.

The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation, and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

Now do you understand why American's feel it so important that they own a gun, or have the right to own a gun?

Of course there is a process where people applying for a license are screened. Ex convicts, people with mental problems are denied. Unfortunately it does not mean they don't get guns anyway. Americans just think that guns give them a certain amount of protection if the Government ever turns into some kind of dictatorship.

The laws on guns vary from state to state.

Federally speaking though, there is a screening process across the 50 states (57 by obama's count)

Every time a gun is purchased, ATF form 4473-1 must be filled out completely and honestly. Being dishonest is a felony.

https://www.atf.gov/file/61446/download

Are you a citizen of your nation or a subject of your rulers? Do you know the difference? A citizen is equal to any other citizen. A subject is subjugated. A citizen has rights. No one gives them rights except perhaps God. Their rights are innate. A subject is granted certain rights by their rulers which may be taken back should their rulers need. A citizen owns their government. A subject is owned by their government or rulers.

A citizen has an unalienable right to life. But, how can someone have a right to life if they lack a right to defend their life? It's like having a right to travel but lacking a right to use any form of transportation. You cannot claim that you have a right to life if you are forbidden to posses a means to defend your life should someone seek to take it.

A gun grants a fair chance to defend your life. It can be abused like anything else. A car can be used to mow down pedestrians but we do not forbid cars. A chainsaw can be a horrific weapon but we do not forbid chainsaws. Nearly anything can be abused and misused and cause harm. The same is true of a gun but the positive aspect of having the means to defend yourself and your family outweighs the negative of people who use a gun for evil. And every time we see some horrible event where a madman kills a dozen or more people with a gun and those who despise guns say "See. the evil you permit?" We think this won't happen to me and my family because I can stand equally armed against the madman, have a better than average chance to destroy him rather than be destroyed and we are reassured that we are right.

Incidentally the Huffington Post cherry picks data. In the US there were more accidental shootings involving children than confirmed terrorist killings. Our government would happily claim this is due to the tireless efforts of law enforcement to protect us from terrorists. But outside of the US in the rest of the world those numbers are vastly different. Boko Haram killed over 6000 people last year and they are just one of many groups we call terrorists. They kill so many because they are armed and their victims are not. If we sent the Africans guns instead of food and medicine they might solve their own problems and not need any help.

I'm American. I fail to understand it myself. I could understand it back when our country was being settled and pioneers had to deal with Indians and wild animals but once we supposedly became civilized I do not understand it.

Frankly I think our society is becoming less and less civilized; it's scary. People use guns just because they are so available.

have you asked any germans that question lately?