Restricting guns like other countries is not a remedy. It will only ensure that the criminals are the only ones left with the guns. The root of the problem is the people committing the crimes. And that is what needs to be addressed. I am very proud of the country I live in and the rights I enjoy. Enough said.

Why would an emotionally stable person want an assault rifle?

They're nifty mechanical things. Same reason I like cameras, even though I have not a whit of photographic talent. Or why people want Corvettes and Ferraris to do nothing except cruise the neighborhood at 30mph on Saturday afternoons. This is America. Freedoms are supposed to exist by default and be restricted only when necessary, not the reverse.

Please note I don't actually have an assault rifle, or a firearm of any kind, but I don't believe the right to own them should be restricted.

There's no reason an emotionally stable person can't have a stack of assault rifles and never hurt anyone.///


IF she could answer you, i wonder if adam's mother would agree with this now?

Last time I checked the right to drive a car is restricted. You are correct, though that if you have cash, you can own as many cars are you want, even though your driver license may be suspended.....nevertheless, the cars are registered in your name on a government document of some sort. Funny how the government wants us to register our cars. Is this restriction necessary, or is it just a massive money grab? (I can't say, because I am not an American, only an outside observer with respect to one category of tool that you guys restrict usage on ).

I don't have much patience for facile emotional appeals. Frankly, I expected better from you. The real question is, would Adam have done nothing without access to guns, or would we have heard about a different sort of tragedy? Further, why are we, as a society, not doing a better job of recognizing, treating, and preventing the sort of mental illness that causes people to do these sorts of things? Is the goal really to have people desiring to go on killing sprees, but make it less convenient to do so?

Yes, the right to drive is restricted, though frankly it's mostly a matter of paperwork; practically anyone able to breath can pass the test. Yes, the cars are registered with the state in your name. I'm completely fine with weapons being registered and owners needing to go through a safety and handling course before legally owning them. The comparison with cars is one I love to make - they kill far more people than guns owned by civilians, yet we hardly make any noise about it. More people die (let alone are seriously injured) from car crashes every day than were shot at Sandy Hook, but it's less shocking.

Ordered a tactical flashlight tonight due to this thread.

Of course if I did that after reading every thread on new bikes I'd be in a lot of trouble with my wife =)

The world around you is proof that your gun laws are a failure though.
Your gun homicide rate alone per 100,000 people (3.7), as of a few years ago, was the same as the combined firearm homicide total of all these relatively equivalent countries:
Australia (0.09); Britain (0.04); New Zealand (0.17); Germany (0.06); Ireland (0.36); France (0.22) Japan (0.02); Italy (0.36); Poland (0.02); Hong Kong (0.12); Finland (0.26); Switzerland (0.52); Belgium (0.29); Sweden (0.19); Denmark (0.22); and Israel (0.94). Bear in mind that Israel is in a fair state of war which will be causing that number... And lets not look at your firearm-related suicides and

Yes, there are a lot of nutters with guns out there in the USA. Is leaving wide open access for all to concealed weapons, assault rifles, high capacity pistol magazines, gun show weapons that can be bought and taken home the same day without any checks, etc etc going to stop that or keep you safe from them? You've already seen the outcome. When Australia saw a nearby country having problems with high gun ownership, corruption, gang warfare, political instability etc, we went in, became a functional police force and removed the guns from the gangs. Solomon Islands, Operation Anode for those of you who want to look it up. The killing stopped. Now people can hate each other all they like, its just a hell of a lot harder to kill anyone.

I can run anywhere in Australia at a moments notice, any time of day or night, without fear. Ok, the folk in bad neighbourhoods might throw a few jokes at me as I go past, but that is as bad as it gets.

Your country has many years of psychological retraining needed to deal with the obsession with firearms, violence, the paranoia etc. There's also years worth of policing and political redevelopment required to remove the weapons from the undesirable elements of society, so that there is less cause for that paranoia. Unfortunately, all that is unlikely to happen. But maybe if it does, in 10 or 20 years time, those of you who have proven you can play nicely with each other and the rest of the world can be allowed your shiny toys back again.