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The gun is an unsettling icon of American culture

Was there ever a time in our history when guns weren’t part of our American culture? As television debuted some 60 years ago, we were enthralled with getting the bad guys in epic TV shows such as The Untouchables about the gangsters who thrived during the Prohibition era. We moved into westerns like Gunsmoke, Big Valley, High Chaparral, with their heroes, “independent Americans out on the open range.” Let’s face it, we’ve always been The Wild Wild West.

Depending on your age and television viewing habits you had to watch at least one gun-themed show.

Fast forward to recent years and CBS — the most-watched network — had CSI: The Original, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Criminal Minds, and the FBI-inspired Numb3rs. Each of these programs portray so many shootings, they had to have killed at least 50 people between these shows in a single week. Maybe the Ghost Whisperer allows CBS to bring the shooting victims back for more work in front of the cameras.

The Star Wars franchise was nothing more than a western in space with lasers, light sabers, the force and of course Yoda.

How many Wizards were created at Hogwarts School of Witchcrafts and Wizardry in the Harry Potter series? If a particularly bad element needed to be zapped — zing! poof! gone! — much neater than gunfire.

As video games become more realistic, you can now sit in front of a 50-inch screen and systematically mow down an entire village. Choose any advanced weaponry, the scene, gender and characteristics all in an interactive game, and all in high-definition.

And until recently American athletes participating at the Olympic Games wore cowboy hats to symbolize the culture of the United States of America.

You see, we’re all cowboys in a culture that hasn’t changed since the shootout at high noon in the middle of Main Street, Dodge City. That will never change.

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