An addendum must be added to the beginning of this node. It was written by Asamoth a former noder (as of 6-11-00) who has apparantly quit E2 in some sort of snit, wiped his nodes, leaving them empty. The write-ups following the original node, however, deserve to stand and/or quote from the original node. The Administration

That the culture "has grown because law abiding citizens have no means to defend themselves" (implying that this is the main reason) is an extreme oversimplification.

The culture grows because various aspects of the behaviour of the culture brings rewards, and aspects of the surrounding culture does not make the culture alien enough that it is blocked from attracting new members.

• The influx of money to selected members in the culture makes those people "cool" to the people that are not so alienated to the culture that it would not be possible that they would join it. This is a subtle effect, and a powerful one. It comes a lot from the way commercial interests tries to make "cool things" equal with "things that cost money", in order to make money. For the particular culture here described, this money comes from drugs (made possible by drugs being illegal) and robberies.
• The culture give (for some) a feeling of 'belonging' that are not as easily available elsewhere.
• For this particular culture: The overall containing culture (the US) does not make it as clear as many other cultures clear that violence is generally not an acceptable solution to a problem. Culture-sanctioned murder is done in many cases - both through the death penalty, and through (AFAIK - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) police officers killing criminals during pursuit not being heavily investigated nor punished in "obvious" cases.

  The containing culture (the US) also has some glorification of arms-bearing, resulting in more people bearing arms (as opposed to owning arms and knowing how to use them) throughout the containing culture and its subcultures (in this case, DC criminals).

Most of these traits have their effect through non-alienation from the negative sub-culture. I am reserving judgement on whether they are negative or not; I am just pointing out that they are significant influences.

Oh, and I am neither pro-gun-control nor pro-gun (at this time, anyway) - I reserve judgement, but if pressed, would propably fall down on the pro-gun side.

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Asamoth: Norway is AFAIK the second most heavily armed country in the world (per capita), and did not have any really strong increase in the amount of guns post-WWII.

The Million Mom March was a political gathering of people in favor of gun control. It took place on Mother's Day, May 14, 2000, in Washington DC.

The name "Million Mom March" builds upon the pattern established by the Nation of Islam in sponsoring the Million Man March and the Million Woman March. The organizations are not otherwise connected.

MillionMomMarch.com estimates that 750,000 people attended the event. Their demands, according to the site, are:

License Handgun Owners and Register All Handguns

We call on Congress to require all handgun owners to be licensed and that they be required to register their weapons with the proper authorities. It makes sense.

Sensible "Cooling Off" Periods and Background Checks

We believe that it is only common sense that sensible "cooling off" periods and extensive background checks be required of any individual who wants to purchase from any person or place weapons intended only for killing or injuring humans.

Safety Locks for All Handguns

Guns, unlike every other consumer product sold in America, don't have to meet minimum safety standards. Gun manufacturers should have to design guns with locks built in, and with other common-sense devices like loaded-chamber indicators and child-proofing.

Limit Purchases to one-handgun-per-month

We believe that it is only common sense to end straw purchase transactions where individual who may legally purchase a firearm is hired to purchase firearms for Gun traffickers. These guns are sold on the illegal market and eventually wind up on our nation's streets, killing our kids.

No-Nonsense Enforcement of Gun Laws

We call on all officers of the law to assume a no-nonsense approach in enforcing existing gun laws and to join us in our mutual crusade for stronger legislation.

Enlistment of Help from Corporate America

We call on all child-friendly, nonviolent stores, companies, and corporations to sponsor us in these pursuits by advertising our message that guns -- in the wrong hands - is simply unacceptable. We call on the like minded to work with community law enforcement agencies to offer swaps of meaningful goods and services for guns. And that the guns be destroyed by the proper authorities. In turn, we, the mothers, will patronize all child-friendly, nonviolent sponsors who join us in this mission.

Counter-demonstrations, as Asamoth noted, were also held.