Young adult's views on guns in the United States versus the United Kingdom

A few weeks ago, a friend on mine got burgled. In the story she told me, she was laying in bed when all of a sudden she heard her window smash and people downstairs; it was clear what was happening. She was in the house alone, so called the police (which you should do even if not alone, but many people wouldn't). The woman on the helpline told her, however crazy it may sound, to go downstairs and distract them until the police got there. As with most burglars in the UK, the two men were unarmed, and did nothing when she screamed. Eventually, a few minutes passed and the police came and arrested the men.

I got to thinking, if the same thing had happened in the US, there is a very possible chance there would be two more men who didn't deserve to die (maybe it's a cultural thing, but I don't think burglars deserve to die). Some Americans would've got their gun, gone downstairs, and shot the men. As well as the chance of becoming a murderer, there would also be a chance of the burglars—who had no intention to cause harm to the homeowner—becoming aggravated and attacking you, or turning your weapon on you. There were 59 gun deaths in the UK in 2012. The US annual gun death rate has hovered around 10,000 for years.

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I then begun thinking about guns in the US, how easy they are to get, and how people don’t think of them as immoral. I saw the Keeping up with the Kardashians episode where Kris managed to pass her gun exam with no experience, proving how easy it is. From real life stories and excerpts, as well as in the media and on movies and TV (I’m aware they’re not always true and are often over exaggerated!), it appears that Americans have no problem morally with using guns. They see them as fun, and have no problem using them for sports. I’m aware this happens in the UK too, but there is no denying it is much more popular in the US. In my opinion, this creates a society where people are used to using, or knowing people who use, guns legally. This makes them more likely to feel comfortable when using them illegally.

I decided to do some research in order to aid my curious mind and my thoughts on guns. My research is quite small-scale and specific, and not representative of the whole population, however it gives me the results I wanted. I wanted to find out the feelings of young adults age 16-24, in both the US and UK, on laws relating to guns in their countries. I interviewed 24 individuals from each country. I asked ONE simple question.


US: How would you feel if guns were harder to access, controlled, and not allowed to use against criminals, even if trespassing into your property? Would you feel more unsafe than you do now?
UK: How would you feel if guns were easier to access, and you were allowed to use guns to protect yourself, such as when someone trespasses into your property?
18 of the US participants aired views that they think it would be a positive thing, and they would feel more comfortable and safe than they currently do.
5 of the US participants aired uncaring views, that they didn’t feel affected either way. They said they wouldn’t feel like their safety was affected.
1 of the US participants felt comfortable with the fact that they could defend themselves, having previously been burgled before. They said they’d feel unsafe and at a disadvantage without self-defense laws.
17 of the UK participants thought guns were already hard to access in the UK and thought of this as a good thing, they also didn't feel at all unsafe without guns being part of their culture.
3 of the UK participants said they didn’t care if guns were made easier to access, or laws were made to allow them in certain situations, as they felt most crimes wouldn’t need the gun to actually be fired in order to scare the ‘criminal’ away.
4 of the UK participants thought UK were too strict in terms of firearms. They believed you should be allowed to protect yourself and property, and that a gun would be more appropriate than an alternate weapon.

I must admit I was shocked by the amount of British people who didn’t care or thought guns should be made legal in certain situations, however the fact that 18 of the US participants thought it would be good to not be allowed to use guns. It gives me hope that over time, the amount of guns (and gun related deaths) in America.