this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024
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Brazil has a lot of gun deaths. But it’s worth keeping in mind that lots of the Amazon region is essentially a lawless “Wild West” and that specialized police units are, in fact, in war with enormous trafficking gangs. “Regular people” get shot too, of course, in violent crime incidents. But besides this, many “regular people” don’t own guns and don’t advocate for guns in the same way as in the US. There’s not really a “gun culture” that regular people participate in — it’s not an identity. Certainly not as much as the US.
I think that’s what makes the photo a valid joke and criticism of the US and that it wouldn’t work for other countries like Brazil. It’s not just looking at total gun deaths or other absolute metrics, it’s also taking into account the layers that make guns in the US a cultural symbol. The US is basically the “gun country” of the world because in the US, guns aren’t just a gang or criminal thing, they're a “regular” thing.