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I don't think Americans quite appreciate how few guns one encounters when you are practically anywhere else in the world.

The only guns I see in my life are in possession of trained professionals. And even then it's a lot if I see one per three months.

I've never been in a situation in my life where I've regretted not having a gun. Rather the opposite, I've been struggling with depression at a point in my life where access to a gun might have provided an easy way out.

And generally I like guns. As in I've been interested in military history for my entire life. When I'm the us I've been to a shooting range and thought that was cool (but also terrifying).

Americans _are_desensitized to guns, but the Dr. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories was a military veteran who often carried his army revolver. Anybody with a passing familiarity with the character of Dr. Watson could think, "I guess he keeps his gun in his desk."

I'm a school bus driver and one of my coworkers is constantly talking about how worried he is that somebody is going to shoot up a school bus instead of a school (I'm not exactly worried about this myself, but a full bus would make a pretty easy target). His proposed solution is that drivers be armed -- he wants to carry his beloved AR-15 with him on the bus. I foolishly engaged him and questioned where he would even mount the fucking thing (it's an assault rifle for those who don't know, the civilian version of the M-16) so he could reach it quickly but the kids couldn't get their hands on it. I keep encouraging him to suggest this to the district superintendent so he gets his ass fired but I don't know if that would actually happen. Our schools already have ex-cops for security and we do fucking active shooter drills with elementary school kids.

When I was in Ireland last summer I accidentally took too much food and didn't want to piss off our hosts (I got nauseated out of where) so I took it back to the room and put it in the drawer in the bedside table and was so worried they would see it while cleaning and think I was stealing by taking too much at breakfast. My companion told me it was okay and that I could explain it away by saying I'm an American and having a bedside sandwich is our culture.

To be fair, part of my desensitization is from the (100% accurate documentary) Hot Fuzz. Maybe they were just establishing that Watson is a farmer... or a farmer's mum.

anybody have examples of the opposite? American hollywood movies/shows that nonchalantly presented something common in the USA, but was jarring when you watched it?

British show with a desk gun only reminds me of The IT Crowd

Yes, but it's also useful for new-ish writers.

You want to show that the story is in USA without telling it outright? Have someone pull out a gun and nobody bats an eye. You don't need to fill the scene with fat white men anymore - just the gun and no reaction to it.

Desk guns are for desk pops. When was the last time you did a desk pop?

I would have just assumed it was from his time in the army, since, you know... Watson was in the army. And also the fact he is a detective's assistant that got into scraps with bad guys frequently.

When I saw the desk gun, my only thought was that it was going to be featured eventually due to Chekhov's Gun.

All part of the weapons industry plan. The myth that you need guns to be free, that you need guns to revolt, that the world is full of criminals waiting to launch an attack on your home, that global supply chains and regulations that disseminate the food you buy are not to be trusted and you need to drive 4 hours out of your suburbia to go hunting for meat - all an advertising scheme to sell you metal fireworks toys. Not negating their real utility in niche applications but those applications remain just that - niche. Civilized nations don’t need to kowtow to this predatory industry.

I do a fair amount of solo bikepacking in the rural Midwest, and have gotten into enough weird altercations that I now ride and camp with a concealed pistol.

A few years ago, I would have called anyone doing this exact same thing a psychopath. I give myself endless amounts of shit for having a "bicycle gun" and would be fucking mortified if anyone I casually ride with found out, but I'm also intensely aware of how batshit crazy and divorced from reality the average redneck is.

One of the main reasons America isn't a developed nation, we think being without a gun is scarier than being without a doctor. Even though no mass shooting has ever been stopped by a "Good guy with a gun"