America is an outlier among developed countries, both in the number of shooting deaths that happen here and the lack of effective firearms regulation. “Every day, on average, seven children and teens are killed by guns,” Younge writes. Younge is, of course, interested in the social and political causes of these deaths. America is what sociologists call a “low-trust” society, where shared cultural bonds can’t be relied upon to govern behaviour. The potential presence of guns in social situations is surely one driver of the national preference for brittle good manners.

Source: The Guardian October 14, 2016 06:56 UTC