Great find!

Sponge Bob got shot!

I cant understand american pro-weapon people. I was in a sport shooting club (is that how you call it in english?) for a few years, I dont say that shooting weapons isn't fun and can be great sporting competition and exercise.
But as a european (or lets just say sane) person, the thought of guns allowed in the public or even a gun in my own home, scares the shit out of me.

Probably these weapon-nut-jobs are just a minority (are they? i dont know)... but still, your laws don't seem to change. Thats sad and will only ensure that there'll be more tragic events. And the media will focus on it once again and once again nothing will change.
I would write the first phew words of "America, the beautiful" here... but that would be too sarcastic.

I know how it looks. I'm kind of middle of the road, personally, since I grew up in a hunting family, but don't have or see the need to own a gun today.
I think the American Pro-weapon people see it this way: It's not so much "other people" or "criminals" they're paranoid about, as much as the government.
Since the Civil War, a large number of people see a history where the government can and has made, through military power, major social changes to their lives that they didn't want. I think the primary reason people demand to hold on to their guns is because they want *their* freedom. Not the freedom to own a gun, but a way to fight for their freedom should any oppressor try to tell them what to do with their lives.
When you think of it that way, it kind of makes sense, but it just so happens that the same people with those beliefs are generally insane as well.

@Quadrophonic

I'll just add that despite what the media hypes you to believe, far more people die from guns due to suicides than homicides in the U.S. (close to double).

Source: CDC 2009 Injuries Statistics (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr60/nvsr60_03.pdf)

Not that the Sandy Hook shooting wasn't awful--as a parent of a 2-year old and as an uncle with a first-grader nephew, what happened makes me literally sick to my stomach.

I think the problem is the knee-jerk reaction most NRA supporters have when legislation about guns is put on the table... they seem to think legislation about guns = ban all guns and fight tooth and nail to block any legislation from happening. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out this time though... public opinion in the wake of the school shooting seems to be turning, even among gun-rights supporters.

Too much Mannix, Cannon, and SWAT.

i know. needs more Barnaby Jones.

@artician Thanks, I never saw it that way.

If you think about it it's funny how the idea of freedom differs between europeans and U.S.americans. It's hard to describe, but I would say that here we're willing to give some of our "freedoms" up, for the sake of safety.

While Americans would rather live unsafe than giving up one of their freedoms.
You can also see the same difference when you think about European and US public health care legislation.

To summerize:
Europeans rather live in a golden cage, while Americans rather live in a cage of their own fear.

Let's talk about death. Ban fast food, ban alcohol, ban the bucket soda. America is unhealthy and living a consumer/me first life style. The problem isn't with the guns -- it is with the people. It's the "have's" and the "have not's". The divide has only grown. I'm so tired of the gun issue. How about talking about cars. There are far more traffic deaths than gun deaths in the US. Hell there are a lot more deaths from a few kids to bullets. I hate saying it, but we look a blind eye to it.

Go sue GM, Ford, McDonalds, <insert factory>

For far as Europe vs. US... How does a young country of US fair against the centuries of mishaps the collective group of europe have made?

At least we tried to learn from your fuck ups.

Oh please. I'm so tired of this comparison to cars. Can you not see the difference between a weapon designed to kill or injure with only niche use and a car? Hey, if cars are so fucking dangerous why not use them to defend yourselves :3

But hey, I agree with you on lifestyle. Its obviously not healthy, but people are choosing to do it to themselves, you aren't putting others at risk by being obese. By all means stop advertising fast food to children, improve physical eduction at schools and lets all start talking about mental health, but don't drop that argument as if it makes the gun control one go away.

No, firearms are not designed to "kill". They are designed to accelerate a projectile in a specified direction. Some projectiles are designed to expand when they hit flesh, other projectiles are designed to cut perfect holes in cardboard or paper. As a comparison example a knife is designed to part molecules and a hammer is designed to collide two masses together.

Their designated use is determined by a human's choice. They may be designated for use as a weapon or for putting holes in paper targets.

Just recently a lady decided to mow down someone who threw some chips at her car. You can use just about anything as a weapon even if it is designed for something else.

In regards to guns vs cars - he has a point. Cars do cause significantly more death each year. It's just not purposeful death, therefore it's a risk we take because it is impersonal - an "accident". I don't know the relative risk but I'd say you're more likely to die in a car accident than to be massacred. Should we accept one sort of premature death more readily than another? (I don't know)

sigh...

No, your right. The destructive uses of a gun can be overlooked when we consider their constructive use as, err, a high powered holepunch? Indeed was it not a happy accident when we discovered that this household tool was also extremely potent as a weapon!

Ok Mr S. Emantics, we give objects purpose through our use of them, but we also design objects for specific purposes. Occasionally it turns out the what we intend something to be used for actually works better as something else. This is not the case with firearms. They are designed to kill, killing is what they are good at. Knives can also kill, but they aren't quite as good as a gun, and i don't see too many people dicing veg on a cutting board with a mac10. So yes, we do accept certain premature deaths more readily than others because we all accept that knives and cars have significant uses beyond killing people. We legislate with this in mind, we don't let people carry long knives in the street, we don't allow people to turn their cars into spiked mad max death buggies, we don't let people pervert the purpose of these tools. So where are the ancillary benefits of firearms. What use is accelerating a projectile that may or may not be designed to penetrate flesh actually give us, because a lot of people have a hard time seeing it.

You know, after 9/11 nobody was talkin about banning planes. There is a reason for that.

What's with your inappropriate sarcasm? It didn't add to the discussion.

It may be semantics in your opinion but it's not like there is any confusion between the word "design" and "use". It's engineering. A firearm is designed to do something - and that something is not killing. We designed it to propel a projectile at high speed. We use it for multiple purposes - but mostly we use it for punching holes in paper or shooting clay pigeons. Yes, it is fantastic at killing animals/humans. We use it for that too. Yes, when it was first designed that was its primary purpose of use. But that does not mean it does not have secondary purposes. I'd guess that more rounds are fired at paper targets and for hunting animals than at people each year in the USA (and probably by several orders of magnitude).

Knives are fantastic at killing. A sword (which is a long knife) does a lot more vascular damage than a 7.62 mm NATO round (i.e. it is better at killing). Knives were superseded because they are not a ranged weapon.

You are suggesting that the tens of millions of sporting firearm users in the USA do not constitute a legitimate use of firearms. That is short sighted.

We accept the premature deaths of car crashs because it is a convenience we are not willing to live without. The collateral damage of people dying in vehicles is a cost we are happy to accept to continue using this convenience (we don't need cars to get around - they just make travelling easier). You'll find that the huge amount of legislation surrounding vehicles is to reduce deaths and the cost that crashes impose on the economy (which is billions).

The same for knives (humankind's most used murder weapon). We aren't giving it up as a kitchen tool just because someone used it for murder.

The same should of course apply to firearms.

America should have better legislation surrounding firearms (something I fully support). That's a no brainer. A full registration scheme for all firearms should be enacted. Firearm safes should be mandatory. Criminal and mental health background checks should be mandatory. For ownership of semi-automatic/automatic military style weapons you should need to be in a firearms club. This would both legitimise its ownership and use - so you can't just own one for the hell of it but it doesn't stop you from owning it in total (preserving the 2nd amendment). It would also force social contact - so other club members will recognise if a person should not be a club member and therefore a non-owner of these firearm types.

America could also implement a nationwide free mental health system. It basically has none. This is probably the most important thing it could do.

What are your suggestions for legislation?

(btw I'm not American - but I've closely followed this topic for years).