Urbanization converted guns from food tools into crime and fear drivers

Evidence

During the agrarian period, hunting was a source of food. As society began to urbanize, hunting declined, but its heritage morphed into sport shooting. Modern urbanized society does not grow many hunters and gun sportsmen. Nor do heads of households go out to shoot a deer or a turkey for the family dinner. Growing urbanization, with ready access to lethal weaponry, begot gun crimes and fear of criminal victimization. These changes put into conflict two major constituencies residing in different regions in which guns are used for different purposes. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1013

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Richard Hofstadter’s ‘America as a Gun Culture’ thesis about how the frontier legacy diverged from urban reality. — connects to: Industrial urbanization structurally compelled heavy investment in violent-crime control — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3373