Friday, July 4, 2025

September 22, 2016

Essential Lunchtime Viewing – Fascinating 30 Minute Journey Into America’s ‘Deadly Love Affair With Guns’ [Video]

America's gun obsession has been given plenty of airtime already, but this short doccie offers real insight into why they've become so part and parcel of their culture.

I’m not about to tell you exactly what to do with your precious lunchtime, but I will say this short doccie from the Guardian is one heck of a watch.

It’s called Gun Nation, and it’s a sobering reminder of how a country has come to value the right to bear arms above many others.

America’s gun stats are out there for all to see, but those stats are devoid of personality. In Gun Nation, the viewer comes face to face with those who are most certainly in favour of the Second Amendment.

Here’s the YouTube write-up before you get stuck in:

In the 18 years since Zed Nelson’s seminal photography book Gun Nation was published, 500,000 Americans have been killed by firearms in the US. Half a million people dead and many more injured, Nelson returns to the people he met, re-photographs them, and asks why America is a nation still with an insatiable appetite for firearms.

Gun Nation explores the paradox of why America’s most potent symbol of freedom is also one of its greatest killers.

It makes for pretty good viewing – enjoy your lunch, too.

[source:guardian]