[Adam-J]

I am English and I was wondering why even after so many "shootings" in the United States have they done nothing at all to prevent it from happening again? The right to bear arms seems a bit unnecessary in today's society.

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Name : Adam-J, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, City : London, State : NA Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, 

[Bill]

The right to bear arms as afforded Americans in the Constitution has been perverted into the horror we see today. While I believe in the right to bear arms in some cases (hunters, sportsmen) there is no need for any semi or fully automatic pistols or rifles. Why does the average Joe need an assault rifle?!? However, as long as the National Rifle Association (NRA) is around, they will fight for 'our' (their?) right to bear weapons of mass destruction. Sadly, it may take many more massacres before anything of substance is done about it.

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Name : Bill, Gender : M, City : n/a, State : NA Country : United States, 

[Pete S.]

This is a tough question, Adam, I applaud you for asking. I'm not sure that anyone has an answer. My opinion is not so much the right to bear arms in America, but more the fact that our society has deteriorated to the extent that can't express ourselves freely anymore. To get attention or let people know that we are angry or hurt, we grab the easiest thing we can find to gain attention. Look at everything that happens when someone uses a gun - they get to have their picture on TV and they get their names read on the air and printed in the paper. For someone who doesn't feel very important, this makes them important. We can stem the tide of gun violence here and in other countries by teaching people to think about their actions and the consequences they bring. It's not the best solution, but it's a start.

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Name : Pete S., Gender : M, Age : 51, City : Orlando, State : FL Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, 

[Samuel]

I'm not a sociologist, Adam, but several things are obvious to me. For a nation that alleges to pride itself on freedom of expression, the U.S. has a strange ideology when it comes to self-examination. In our popular history, we almost completely ignore the role violence has played in the growth (social, financial, and geographical) of our nation. Much of the violence has occurred on our own soil, on a massive scale, such as the genocidal 'wars' against the native peoples, the Civil War, and the continuing brutality against non-WASP people (esp. slavery, Jim Crow, and the ever-present police/criminal justice farce). Still, we gloss over the nature and scope (and also the resulting social conditions) of the violence in school textbooks and in most other references (fictional or 'factual'). This denial of our violent human nature precludes any dealing with the problem; how can you treat any illness without acknowledging its presence? You must also factor in the peculiar and frightening U.S. love affair with firearms. The second amendment to our constitution is at least as valuable to many as the Christian Bible. I recently heard a coworker opine that the reason this country remains 'free' (as opposed to China or Cuba) is that citizens have the right to bear arms; his explanation was that a well-armed populace is the only thing keeping the duly elected government from disbanding in favor of a dictatorship. This sort of kaleidoscopic, cart-before-the-horse reasoning should help explain why the U.S. finds itself standing in the river and wondering why it is getting wet.

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Name : Samuel, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 31, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : Firefighter, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Dan27379]

Widespread gun violence is not a recent phenomena in America. It has been going on in the ghettos and barrios of America since the late 70s. In Los Angeles, for the longest time the annual murder rate was quite a bit higher than the number of days in the year, and half of that was gang related. Once there was a family of 5 who was murdered all at once in East L.A., and it was headline news for one night only. When it happens in the suburbs to a massive number of people, it makes the news like it does mostly because of the number of dead but also because they 'never thought it could happen here'. Some people blame guns themselves and want them banned, others blame culture, environment, or poverty and whatnot; I myself believe it is all of the above.

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Name : Dan27379, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Pentecostal Christian, Age : 21, City : L.A. area, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : student/dishwasher, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[sean]

adam, our right to 'keep and bear arms' was necessitated, primarily, by the heavy-handedness of your english ancestors. from my point of view, that right, which is supposed to be guaranteed by our written constitution, had little to do w/protecting one's home or property, or to protect hunting/sporting rights (the justifications you will hear most). instead, our founding fathers, who were nothing more than violent rebels, correctly recognized that an armed populace could, if necessary, rise up against a tyrannous government. likewise, the right helps insure that our army and our police, the groups most likely to abuse power, would not be the only groups armed. the idea that guns are there to bolster revolution foundation of our government and society bothers most americans -- they won't admit it -- but that's what it's all about. in england, it may seem less necessary because your police do not carry firearms. despite their protests to the contrary, our police here are armed to the teeth. i think the right is no less necessary in today's society than it was 200 + years ago, except that we have been able to keep the gov't in check through the democratic process. some would argue that one, too.

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Name : sean, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : ignorant, Race : anglo-scots-irish-welsh-native american, Religion : Christian, Age : 28, City : detroit, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : attorney, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Floyd]

Basicly, because for some reason during the mid/late 1990's everybody had to be extremely different, even if it made them look like a real weirdo. And because of this, by them making them self basicly look like circus freaks, people made fun of them. And instead of trying to solve the problem by changing the way they come across and changing the way they dress. The easy way out seemed like to eliminate the problem, when all it does is make more problems. The right to bear arms is a good idea, we just have to keep the guns out of the hands of the stupid people.

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Name : Floyd, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Age : 24, City : Sterling Heights, State : MI Country : United States, Occupation : Sys Admin, Social class : Middle class, 

[jim30731]

Something is being done. Our Gov. passes laws every year which limit the ability of the average citizen to defend themselves against the lawless. We gotta document everything. The lawless don't. The trend is in favor of our local liberals.

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Name : jim30731, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Baptist, Age : 64, City : Columbia, State : SC Country : United States, Occupation : printer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Rob S.]

I am English to. Usa have sought of got themselves into a fix, by allowing gun possesion to anyone in the first place. If they outlaw it, then decent citizens could not protect themselves and their property as well, from hoodlums who still posses guns from when it was legal. Its kind of like, the man who invented the nuclear bomb should have never told the world. We may of never rearly had a problem with excess gun possesion, but we did have with the I.R.A. and their gurrila tactics

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Name : Rob S., Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 26, City : Poole, State : NA Country : United Kingdom, 

[Dan27289]

The shootings hyped by the media (Columbine, etc.) only scratch the surface. Here in L.A., in areas such as Watts, Pico-Union, Compton, and various other areas, it seems that someone gets shot at least once a week. My friends from these areas have always told me that they are accustomed to falling asleep at night to the sounds of gunshots, sirens, and ghetto birds (police helicopters). It's also like that in parts of Chicago and New York, as well as many other cities. This has been going on at this magnitude since I was a small kid. Back in the old days if you walked through a bad neighborhood, you could easily get beaten up, or stabbed if you were unlucky, but shootings were altogether rare. These days, you can get shot dead for looking at someone funny, wearing the wrong clothes, or walking down the wrong street at the wrong time. I don't think guns themselves intrinsicly cause this state of affairs. I think it is a variety of societal and moral issues that are the main antagonists. Guns still are of some use in American society: Some poorer rural residents still depend on wild game to help stock their freezers or trade for other goods, and a handgun has saved more than one woman's life from her psychotic ex-boyfriend. I believe that guns are a tool that is misused by the misguided products of a moral vacuum. Someday we may have to take away the tool, but the negativity will still be there.

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Name : Dan27289, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Christian, Age : 21, City : L.A. area, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Mike20409]

Tragically, we have had way too many instances of lunatics abusing our American right to bear arms and going on rampages. I wish I knew what the answer to this problem is, but it is not gun-control. While these deaths are tragic and unnecessary, you must look at the numder of people whose use (or mere possession)of weapons saved them or others from harm. Estimates range from 50,000 to well over 1,000,000 times a year that the use or display of a firearm discourages a criminal. If only 1% of the smaller number were killed, over 500 people a year are saved by guns. The last argument is this: our country was founded by people who recognized the need for the citizenry to be armed. We used that fact to rebel against a tyrannical foreign government, and founded the greatest nation on Earth (I feel I can say this because our citizens now include people from pretty much every other country on Earth, therefore we are a culmination of all peoples). Our founding fathers also recognized that a day may come when we would need to rebel against our own government, if it became tyrannical. Between that possibility and the crime argument mentioned above, I believe the need for an armed citizenry will exist indefinitely. Lastly, I have seen statistics in major papers (the NYT, the Wash Post, etc.) that indicate that countries with strict gun controls (or outright bans) have not seen the drop in violent crime they expected (including the UK), in fact it seems that a rise has occurred possibly due to the fact that victims have a lesser ability to defend themselves. I pray for a day that guns will be unnecessary, but until them I'll keep my powder dry.

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Name : Mike20409, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : PTSD, Migraines, GAD, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Mormon, Age : 36, City : Las Vegas, State : NV Country : United States, Occupation : Military, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Christina]

There are so many shootings in the U.S, because our crime rate is very high. People are depressed a lot more here in the U.S, as well. What there doing about it is we know, in most schools, have either metal dectors and police officers working at the school during the whole school day. Its pretty sad, but at least their doing something to try and prevent it.

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Name : Christina, City : Nashville, State : TN Country : United States, 

[Cal]

It always amazes me when people assume that passign a law to ban guns would significantly reduce violence. We already have laws against killing each other. As you noted, we ignore these laws with amazing frequency. I imagine we would ignore the laws banning firearms just as readily. Even if we were somehow successful in removing handguns from every home in America, we would just force the criminals to use whatever weapons remained available. I would rather take my chances with a .38 pistol than a 12 guage shotgun. We seem to forget that we were slaughtering each other in great numbers before the invention of gun powder and firearms. Baning firearms would simply make the killing less efficient and messier.

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Name : Cal, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 45, City : Lakewood, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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