Guns in America

Guns in America

2017, Society  -    -  Playlist 20 Comments
6.13
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Ratings: 6.13/10 from 56 users.

Guns in America, a documentary series produced by AJ+ Docs, is an ambitious look at the country's relationship to firearms in the age of relentless fear mongering, domestic and international terrorism, and widespread gun violence. This comprehensive series is divided into six 15-minute segments that each tackle a different angle of the debate.

The first segment, NRA's Trump Card, examines the evolving identity of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and its involvement in the mainstream political landscape. The filmmakers charge that the organization, which was originally founded as a non-partisan advocate for the right to bear arms, has fallen hostage to the profit motives of gun manufacturers. In recent years, they've courted sympathetic politicians who have the will and ability to promote their cause. In the last U.S. election, they provided over $30 million dollars to President Trump's campaign, and continue to wield enormous influence over his efforts to dismantle industry regulations.

Episode 2, Weapon of Choice, explores the controversies surrounding the ease of access to assault weapons. In particular, the AR-15 seems to be the weapon of choice for many instigators of mass shootings. The NRA explains the weapon's unhealthy allure to the romanticized portrayal of violence in popular media, but critics cite its unseemly capacity to produce mass casualties.

For some, the rash of school shootings has highlighted a need for more guns on campus. Segment 3, Arming the Classroom, explores whether allowing guns on school property makes sense in curbing incidents of violence.

Perhaps no region of the country is more ravaged by gun violence than Chicago. The fourth harrowing segment of the series, Chicago Under Fire, investigates the gang culture that dominates sections of the city, and the source of the weaponry that continues to flood its neighborhoods.

Can smart guns provide a solution to the epidemic? The next wave of innovative firearms - including those that operate on fingerprint recognition technology - is explored in episode 5, Locked and Coded.

The final segment, Hidden Impact, takes a look at the growing number of law-abiding citizens who choose to carry a concealed weapon in public spaces. Does this trend make us safer, or does it simply pave the way for more senseless violence?

Insightful and provocative, Guns in America provides a thoughtful analysis of one of the country's most contentious issues.

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Jon Jonzz
Jon Jonzz
3 years ago

Guns are not the problem. It's the people who use them. And , in most cases, mass shooters are Democrats. Gun Control means not letting most Democrats possess guns.

Lobo
Lobo
5 years ago

What nobody is mentioning anywhere here, either in the film or in the Comments section, is that we now know that certain people operating on the dark side of the intelligence community, combined with some government officials, various agency operatives, certain corporate officers, and still other organizations (some secret), aka the "Deep State", have long had the motivation and the technology to control certain people through drugs & other means, and make them commit acts of violence. That research ("MK Ultra") was brought out decades ago in Senate hearings. Look it up. There is, and has been for a long time, an active program to cause events which the CIA-controlled media ("Operation Mockingbird") can hype into mass hysteria, calling for registration, restriction, and eventually confiscation of all firearms. Then we are ALL sheep to be shorn.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

What I would like to know is what is the purpose of having a constitution when at the drop of a hat you can be shot to death by some guy holed up in a hotel room just because he can? This kind of shite happens on a regular basis in the US, it is almost banal these days to see news about another shooting spree. It will never end, the US is way too corrupt for any responsible decision making around gun control. I would venture that it will only get worse, exacerbated by growing social inequalities and as the effects of climate change grow more pronounced.

racerhead
racerhead
6 years ago

The doc (and the media/public) keeps getting/using the definition of an 'assault rifle' incorrectly....that's my beef.

The U.S. Army defines assault rifles as "short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges."[16] In a strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle:

It must be capable of selective fire.
It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle, such as the 7.92×33mm Kurz, the 7.62x39mm and the 5.56x45mm NATO.
Its ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine.[5]
It must have an effective range of at least 300 metres (330 yards).
Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are technically not assault rifles, despite frequently being called such.

For example:

Select-fire M2 Carbines are not assault rifles; their effective range is only 200 yards.
Select-fire rifles such as the FN FAL battle rifle are not assault rifles; they fire full-powered rifle cartridges.
Semi-automatic-only rifles like variants of the Colt AR-15 are not assault rifles; they do not have select-fire capabilities.
Semi-auto rifles with fixed magazines like the SKS are not assault rifles; they do not have detachable box magazines and are not capable of automatic fire.

Poncho
Poncho
6 years ago

Nice try, you fail at attention to detail or maybe the doc was produced with intentional incompetence. Many basic mistakes. Too many to waste my time with. Bottom line is
rifles are used to kill less than 1% of those kill with guns therefore this focus on “assault rifles” is based upon emotion and not reason. Way more people are killed each year when they hit deer with their vehicles. Sounds like we should be using the AR-15’s to kill the deer if we want to save lives....

Grace Marks
Grace Marks
6 years ago

Guns will never protect you against the people who actually control your life: multinational corporations and those getting rich off social media. Your constitutional, state-phobic arguments make no sense. Stop rationalizing a culture that allows people to slaughter one another.

Titus
Titus
6 years ago

Personal safety is but a side note. The most important reason for citizens to be allowed arms is that if needed they stand a chance against their tyrannical government. Anyone who had anything to do with the founding of America knew this. It is those sheeple, like Frank John, that is too simple to understand this. Dustup already went into why and how crank John shouldn't be commenting on anything EVER, so I won't go into that ;)

- The Logic and Common Sense Guild

DustUp
DustUp
6 years ago

What a hypocrite Frank John is. "I have guns but if other people have them it is terrible." Sounds just like the hollywood and political hypocrites in the usa who have body guards with guns.

The real research shows that more guns equals less violent crime. The idiot who tries to rob a bar that many police frequent is the demonstrator of the concept. Same same without the police and a gun toting public. The down side? People would be more respectful and less snotty. Too much for the arrogant liberals to bear that change.

The mentally unstable or over emotional are the ones who fear another person who has a gun because they fear what they might do if they had one.

If you fear guns, fear what the wacko power hungry govt with too many guns who bought 6 bullets for each of the populous, can and will do when you don't have one. If you are still under the delusion that the govt is the good guys, you need to watch some more informative documentaries about the nature and history of all govts who have gotten too big, including CANADA's govt and what arrogant things they have done but didn't advertise on their news. Hammer down on the citizenry when it suits them. Just like uncle sam in the usa.

Jess
Jess
6 years ago

What the hell man. 99% of women who claim they were raped were in fact raped. It doesn't matter what you look like or what you wore etc. etc. It is the perpetrator's fault i.e. rapist's fault. Looks have nothing to do with it. God dammit man do some of your own research about real facts, get informed, and get your head out of your ass.

Blaice
Blaice
6 years ago

Nothing sexier than a fat, amorphous blob of a gun-nut. Why is it always the ugly girls that claim they were raped? Not trying to be an asshole, but seriously. The really hot girls NEVER say they were raped and that is completely different than what one would expect. Correct?

Lawl
Lawl
6 years ago

@larry morris Apparently you spent too much time in the army and not enough in education, but you probably know that better THAN I.

PAUL Wheeler
PAUL Wheeler
7 years ago

Frank John get mental help

PAUL Wheeler
PAUL Wheeler
7 years ago

No suprise here. Radicals at AL Jazeera have teamed up with liberals to take away our guns. Shame

larry morris
larry morris
7 years ago

i'm into guns, spent 10 yrs in the army and if one buys a gun then does a crime they go to jail, quit trying to play the better then i

Frank John
Frank John
7 years ago

Why are there no comments from all the gun fanatics in the United States? Oh, I know. They are too stupid for words.
I'm a Canadian. When I was younger, I used to hunt deer. When I was still younger I spent 5 years in the Navy so I learned how to handle weapons of all types (well, not the ones they have on the streets in the States nowadays). I still have a few rifles from .22's to hunting rifles and shotguns -- but they are locked up for safe keeping (there are no kids around).
I watched all 6 episodes of this series and am totally astonished at the gun culture in the US, although I was aware of the proliferation of guns there. Don't try to tell me that the violent video games that kids play doesn't lead to the further mental deterioration of those kids who play them. I feel sorry for the American people whor have elected the idiot they have as president and hope to hell that we are able to stop the illegal gun importation at the Canadian border.