Gun Cultures Around The World

Guns accompany our society for centuries. In the 9th century, black powder was invented in China. Later the new gun powder came to Europe and the Middle East. This was the first step for the development of fire lances. This was the ancestor of all the repeating and automatic weapons we know today. The purpose of weapons varies from time, region and situation. One use of firearms is in the war, it became popular for hunting and later people start to use it as a status symbol. Nowadays, sport shooting became a very big sector. People meet to share their hobbies, exchange knowledge and expertise. The market of guns is growing, every type, model and customized utilization can be found. Millions of gun-supplies from safety measures, Targets, and cleaning kits are on the market. Holsters for waist, ankle, chest, and appendix from various brands like the Kydex holsters can be purchased. 

Since guns are a very old invention, all over the world different gun cultures developed. The term gun culture explains the attitudes, feelings, and behavior of a group where weapons can be found. Richard Hofstadter was the person who first used the term in an article about gun violence in the United States. 

Through historical events, social behaviors, gun laws, and political situations the gun cultures all around the world vary a lot. Probably the most discussed and researched culture is that from the United States. 

If we take Greece as an example we can see how big the differences can be even on a national level. The gun law is very strict and only allows ownership for the purpose of hunting and for people at high risk. Even though the island Crete and Mani peninsula developed a strong gun culture. 

In Pakistan, the gun culture comes from traditional culture. In the mountains, rifles were given from generation to generation for hunting purposes and celebratory fire. Now, because of increasing criminal acts like kidnapping and robberies, more people tend to have weapons to defend themselves.

In Israel, gun ownership originates from the many wars that happened. People want to be armed and prepared to protect themselves.

The Czech Republic is very special because firearm ownership is relatively low even gun ownership for self-protection is allowed.

Canada shows a totally different face of gun culture. Sport shooting is very popular, while gun ownership for self-protection is pretty uncommon. They argue that it is a total American history to use the gun for self-protection. The purposes of gun ownership are highly controversial and discussed in various debates. 

The United Kingdom has a similar attitude with a big interest in sport shooting and relatively high anti-gun opinion. 

Looking at Yemen it is similar to Pakistan where guns were used for hunting and celebratory fires. Furthermore, society sees gun ownership as a status symbol for leadership and manhood.

Russia is very popular to emphasize gun use mostly for military reasons and not for civilian ownership. Even though some researchers compare the Russian gun culture with that from the United States. 

Gun culture is a very complex field of history, social behavior, and political situations. It varies from countries regions and even families. The previously mentioned examples show this range of diversity and give a small once-over how complex and pluralistic gun culture is.