The fear I refer to here is one that is created by American gun culture—a culture I admittedly did not grow up in and do not fully understand. I am a Chinese Australian Canadian who was raised in Beijing, Sydney, and Toronto. The closest I have been to an unholstered, loaded gun was when my family was pulled over for speeding in the Florida Keys and the officer approached us with his firearm raised. The first time I heard a gun discharge was during a rowing training camp in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

While I believe the precedent and tradition behind American gun culture is rich, one would have to be blind to neglect the dangers it brings American society. When I say danger, however, I do not refer to the palpable: homicide rates, suicide rates, mass killings. I refer to the systematic fear created amongst communities as well as amongst the policemen who put their lives on the line for the sake of service.

Civilians live in the fear that others have firearms and thus feel the need to defend themselves with guns. This psychological mentality of fear and self-defence propagates a culture of paranoia, ironically making both civilian life and policing even more dangerous.

A statistic often cited when criticizing the American police force is the frequency with which they draw their firearms. One can blame this statistic on poor police training or disturbing power dynamics. However, I contend that in the case of Peter Liang, as well as in many other cases, the cycle of fear caused by American gun culture is the root of the problem.

http://columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2016/03/01/our-trigger-happy-generation