When will they ever learn?

[Rheghead]

Another school shootout in the US :(

http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30000-1287900,00.html

[huh]

Sad. The worst thing is that I've seen enough coverage of these now to expect to see a politician blaming this on the internet/video games/movies/music/literature/etc when it was just a kid with psychological problems.

[George Brims]

Fortunately this one didn't kill anyone. He's the only fatality, unlike that off-duty cop who killed six or seven the other day.

This will continue to happen as long as the gun culture - that thinks "Gun control is when you use both hands" is funny - persists. Don't hold your breath.

[TRUCKER]

It is just happening 2 often in america its seems to be easy 2 get a firearm over there then we hear about the aftermath.

[Welcomefamily]

But when will they do something about it, when there no one left?

[huh]

When a country has as many guns as the USA does banning them isn't easy. You could ban the sale of them no problem, but there are still thousands of firearms in circulation and they won't give them up without a fight because it's part of their constitution.

[j4bberw0ck]

Hmmm... and we have banned guns in this country, of course, and the fact remains that kids are getting shot with illegally held guns at a frequency never before seen. It's estimated there are more guns on the street in the UK than ever there were before they were banned. We've got 8 - 12 year olds allegedly holding guns and ammunition for older gang members because no one will think a young child would have a gun.

IMHO it's pompous nonsense to sit here getting holier-than-thou about the internal workings of another country when we have a problem that's very much the same here. Detail differences, yes. Differences of principle, no.

Plus if you really want to do things about the deaths of children (and adults for that matter) why not campaign for something that'll really have an effect? Ban cars, alcohol and tobacco. That should save about 80,000 a year in the UK alone......

In summary, let's get a sense of proportion going here.

TEN WORST COUNTRIES FOR MURDER (LATE-1990s)

DEATHS PER 100,000

(1) Columbia 84.4
(2) El Salvador50.2
(3) Puerto Rico 41.8
(4) Brazil 32.5
(5) Albania 28.2
(6) Venezuela 25.0
(7) Russian Federation 18.0
(8) Ecuador 15.9
(9) Mexico 15.3
(10) Panama 14.4

Look at that! No sign of the USA!

TEN SAFEST COUNTRIES FOR MURDER (LATE-1990s)

DEATHS PER MILLION

(1) Slovenia 0.7
(2) Austria 0.9
(3) Sweden 1.8
(4) Switzerland 2.3
(5) Israel 2.3
(6) Hong Kong 2.4
(7) Norway 2.5
(8) Ireland 2.8
(9) Finland 3.7
(10) Singapore 4.3

Interesting figures:

No sign of the UK - with its bans on absolutely damn well everything, you'd think we'd be pretty safe!
Sweden - one of the highest gun ownership rates in Europe
Switzerland - legal duty for every able bodied man eligible for military service to have a military grade weapon at home
Israel - higher gun ownership rates than the USA
Norway - almost as high a gun ownership rate as Sweden
Finland - high gun ownership rates
Hong Kong - high rates of gun ownership, legal and illegal, mainly after being handed back to China.

I do not argue that gun ownership would be a way of reducing crime or firearms deaths in the UK. But I do argue that the opposite approach hasn't worked.