Some of you may be familiar with Frederick Jackson Turner.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Jackson-Turner
You don’t hear much talk of the frontier these days—at least the historical frontier. We have lots of other frontiers, but those are not quite the same thing (though they may end up having more significant and effect in time).
While it isn’t a highly noticeable theme of conversation these days, it still permeates American media and entertainment—and it is still a major constituent of the American Narrative.
I have written repeatedly of the importance of narrative in the formation and maintenance of identity (here and elsewhere). In order to change a person or a people, you have to change the story. That is what a lot of today’s culture wars actually are—a contest to determine which story should be told. This is why so much attention is given to things like what history is taught, what words are used, what stereotypes are maintained or discarded,
The Left understands this on an intellectual level. The Right seems to understand it more at a gut level.
The latest hot topic is the Ulvade shooting—which leads directly to the issue of gun control. There have been (by some means of measure) 16 mass shootings since that one (which occurred 6 days ago). Wow.
Definition of mass shooting: https://crim.sas.upenn.edu/fact-check/what-mass-shooting-what-can-be-done
This is an issue where we have the same non-conversation repeated over and over again. There are literally memes about it.
This is because gun ownership and use is a component of identity for a substantive minority of people in this country… and discussions that trespass the boundaries of identity almost invariably become non-conversations. A great deal of sound and fury that (and my apologies to Shakespeare) actually DO signify something. Only we get lost in the sound and fury. It lost its entertainment value many many deaths ago.
What does the concept of the frontier and the role of the frontier in the American Narrative have to do with this?
Quite a lot, I believe.
The idea of the frontier and the values of the frontier (or at least the mythological versions of these things) pervade the American Narrative. This is reinforced by the Revolutionary narrative (in which the role of the militia and the armed people plays a significant role).
Spoiler alert: America did not win its independence because a bunch of people pulled muskets or rifles out of their closets and fought off the Redcoats—it had a LOT to do with French intervention and the formation of a trained Continental Army under Washington, with some important French victories outside of the US and at sea thrown in on top).
People needed to be armed because there WAS a frontier, populated by often hostile natives (who, if not hostile to start with often learned that they needed to be).
People needed to be armed because law enforcement was largely non-existent. The first police department was formed in 1844 in New York City.
People needed to be armed because there was a large slave population and you never knew if those people were going to get uppity and revolt.
By the story and memory of those things all became part of the larger American Narrative—and remain so, despite the fact that none of them are any longer the case.
It takes a long time to change a story, I wonder how many deaths were are going to have to chalk up to the existing one before it goes away—IF it goes away.
Another myth of the frontier was that it was an armed society. In fact, the main sign of civilization in any town once formed was passage of a law forbidding the carriage of a gun inside the town limits, and the hiring of a town marshal to shoot anyone who failed to comply. They were serious about gun control in the Old West.