USA

[mark8364]

Most Americans are arrogant and stupid!!

[Poshgill]

A sweeping generalisation that is not necessarily correct.

[Robpthegills]

I think posh has made a very valid point with regards to assault rifles.

The assault rifle used by the 17 yr old offender in this case was owned with 4 other guns by his mother who is a teacher at the school. I fail to see how a teacher needs to have 5 firearms and an assault rifle.

Mark your comment can only be based on americans you have met or seen on TV and i can only assume you have not met many. I have met many loud, arrogant americans, but I have met many many many many more decent honest people who are no different to us.

[mark8364]

Sorry, my comment was completely based on a documentary I watched! It was called ''Presidents of the United States''

[Robpthegills]

Lol now that is funny

[gillsfan1066]

Posh , so am I to assume you do not consider Russia to be a civilized country? A country where 50% of the nations economy is connected to organised crime and the number 5 country in the charts of gun related deaths, population about a 1/3 of the USA?
Where did this lunatic get the guns to kill these poor children ? Probably from an unlocked gun cabinet, or a locked one with the key laying on the top in his mothers house. Why did his mother have them, probably to protect herself from her idiot son ? Feel like a mouse on a wheel ?
I agree 100% , assault weapons should be banned as of midnight tonight, and anyone found with one after 12 noon Christmas morning should be strung up and left to die.
A couple of years ago Congress woman Gabriella Gifford's was shot in the head and six other people died in Tuscon Arizona. A politician one of their own own, and what have the politicians done .yeah you guessed it NUTTING, not a dam thing.
Ok enough from me on this subject, get the bad guys with guns off the streets and I will turn my 17 and couple of hundred rounds in tomorrow morning.

[CadburyMan]

Seems to me that it is not just a US problem but it comes to the surface more in the US regularly than elsewhere.

1066 says he, and most of the other law abiding citizens, keep guns to protect themselves from the bad guys but in my mind this is only perpetuating the situation. From what we see in the media the US has been brought up on a gun culture and it is high time the authorities challenged this but I suspect it is far too late.

After each "incident" successive Presidents wheel themselves out and spout the same rhetoric but nothing changes probably because nobody really wants it to change until there is another outbreak but this time it is in their own backyard

[Garawa]

It matters not a jot whether the guns were legally held or not. The fact there are so many in the country makes them so readily available to those not meant to hold one, its that what must change. And I can't believe that I appear to have read that nothing should be done because the whole country will be rife with gangsters not being gunned down by members of the public! Sounds like we should legalise rape and heroin on that basis if murdering people helps to keep the violent criminals off the streets. I only know one person who holds a gun (shotgun) and I don't see any of the towns I visit rampant with thugs and never see a police officer to put them off either. Is that not a definition of "civilised"?

As for the numbers of course America will have more given its size. But we are not talking about a white on black drive-by or an intruder here are we? We are talking about some psycho picking up a potentially legally held gun and shooting dead everyone he can see. This was one of several in US history that killed many many people and I can only think of one in our history which "only" took 18 lives. You would have to do a lot of asking about to attempt something similar here but in America you only need to go upstairs! That's the difference.

It seems it has gone too far. Banning guns would simply create a black market of immense proportions, the demand would be there and so would the supply so nothing would get resolved. As said before, mandatory sentences for carrying one would be the only way to curb the insanity and make the only legal guns ones that can only fire 2 rounds giving chance to apprehend whilst attempting to reload. After all why and who (especially a teacher) needs a weapon capable of killing an army in one go? And what is happening to the other guns whilst she is killing hundreds of people, doesn't sound like a right to protect myself and that right ultimately cost her her life.

[sotongill]

Bette Midler ( as well as now championing gun control ) , has come up with a compromise via Twitter ;

That the right to bear arms should be acknowledged within the context that it was written up - that you are allowed to have muskets . Nothing else , just muskets .

[gillsfan1066]

Ok thats it then, the voice of the nation Bette Midler has spoken. Who knew she was even still alive? Bit like saying Lulu is speaking out via twitter on the humanitarian situation in Syria. I assume this is the same Bette Midler who lives in a private estate in Beverly Hills and a triplex in NYC, the same Bette Midler who rides around in the back of a locked limo and has armed security minders at her shows.