Why do American gangsters keep a rifle beside their bed??
Why do Americans love guns?? Killings?? Murders??
I think that Americans seem to like guns because of their history. In the first few hundred years of that country's existence, they found guns necessary to survive. More importantly, the American philosophy and one of the foundations of their culture is that of personal freedom and personal responsibility. The American philosophy has always been "less government", especially when compared to the European systems that they fled in the first place, and this has meant that individuals felt that they needed their own personal level of protection and their own personal means to go out and kill something to eat. This feeling has become embedded in the national psyche.
There are many examples of how the laws and behavior of the government of the USA have favored grass roots law and order rather than imposition of order from above. Especially as the west became populated. I recently read a book called Klondike written by Pierre Berton, a Canadian. I have never read of a more stark contrast between the American and the Canadian (read British) way of doing things than in the stories of two similar gold rush towns, one in the US in Alaska and another across the border in Canada. These towns were Skagway and Dawson. The Americans left it up to the townspeople of Skagway to look after themselves, whereas in Dawson it was the North West Mounted Police that controlled things and kept the peace. The Canadians got along without all the guns because their protection from the police was actually remarkably effective and so they felt safe. Not so in Skagway, where no policeman would save you if you weren't handy with a pistol.
In the 20th century the actual need for a personal weapon decreased, but the perception that one was necessary, or the desire to maintain the old ways did not. So the right to a personal weapon, and the perceived need for one, has become somewhat embedded in their culture.
If you believe what you see on TV, it seems like things are returning to the ways of the old west, as modern gangs increasingly use deadly force in their businesses. Take Mexico's situation as a glaring example of how far that can go. I believe that TV does not depict reality, but at the same time, the statistics from places like Los Angeles do seem to reinforce that gun use is alive and well, so to speak, among the amateur and professional criminal alike, especially when they come together in gangs. So things may be changing slowly for the worse, but it is hard for a casual observer like me to know the reality.
As for why gangsters use guns, well that is a no-brainer. Guns are very effective and easily concealed weapons. And a shotgun beside the bed helps them sleep at night.
I started out my post by saying the Americans "seem" to like guns ..... It is useful to point out that our view of Americans comes by way of TV, newspapers and the like. These do not depict reality.
Perhaps a larger puzzle is why do American TV shows invariably devolve to punch-ups and gunplay to make them attractive to the viewers. Whether it is science-fiction drama, comedy, love stories, westerns, spy mysteries, or just good-ol downhome melodrama about the family farm, it seems that script writers can't help put drop a few punch-ups or gun battles (or explosions, I do indeed like explosions) into every second scene. The impression this leaves on an outside observer is that of a very violent culture. I've been to the USA numerous times and have never witnessed such behavior.
It is the tolerance of the viewers that determines how much violence is on the shows. Perhaps then, the tolerance of Britons is quite different than Americans to violence in their culture. For example, in our household, we watch equal amounts of BBC productions and US shows. The contrast between a police drama from Britain ("Dalzeil and Pascoe", "Silent Witness" et al), and a police drama from the US ("CSI xxx", "Law and Order" ) is stark and disturbing.
Is this a symptom of a civilization in decline? Moral decay and tolerance of the basest forms of entertainment, like the gladiators vs the lions, is this what we see in morally corrupt and therefore doomed cultures? I dunno. And what does this have to do with criminals and gunplay? It is all about what the majority will tolerate. Perhaps Mr. Obama can raise the bar on such things in the USA. Give them some credit, these Americans have a history of taking back the night, so to speak. Or at least that is what I learned from Gary Cooper films. Ha ha.