Re: We do not have a gun culture problem, we have a culture problem.
This is something I've noticed doctors have been trying to point out, something pushed these guys over the edge and the mixture of being hopped up on drugs and not being treated right would do that to anyone nevermind people who have mental problems to begin with. Good luck ever getting anyone in America to admit that though, they conveniently ignore the fact that Canada and Switzerland have just about as many guns as the Americans do but you very rarely if at all hear about people going on a rampage with them.
In fact, minus the compulsory national service, I think that the Swiss way is the way to go, if you want to go and buy a gun or have a rifle, you've got to do some kind of proper training first, these 'accidents' I've seen people list as a blame against firearms are caused by people doing things I would never do with a firearm and I don't even own one or know how to take it apart properly!
In fact, minus the compulsory national service, I think that the Swiss way is the way to go, if you want to go and buy a gun or have a rifle, you've got to do some kind of proper training first, these 'accidents' I've seen people list as a blame against firearms are caused by people doing things I would never do with a firearm and I don't even own one or know how to take it apart properly!
Yes, and everyone should be forced to take spelling, speech, and debate lessons before exercising their 1st Amendment rights is allowed. /sarc
The populations of Canada and Switzerland are tiny and culturally homogenous compared to the vast, diverse USA.
While the Swiss are a free people (and kept that way by their respect for the right to armed self-defense) they are a very small country nestled high in the mountains. Canadians are not a free people, being property owned by The Crown and The City. Like other Euros, they are free-riders on the security services and ensuing stability provided by those nasty gun-loving American brutes. Neither place make for a valid comparison to the USA.
It's a damn shame our Aussie cousins were so easily cowed by one tragedy into giving up a Right enshrined in common law since before Magna Carta. Reclaiming that Right will not be free or easy. There will be a heavy price to pay...
For example, Glocks are very popular, but do not have an external safety. This means an ignorant person can easily pick one up and put his finger inside the trigger guard, with potentially disastrous consequences.
The issue that I see is that the Left in the US encourages fear about firearms, and encourages ignorance about them. This is doubly dangerous.
I do have a problem with the idea that as part of buying a gun, someone should be forced to go through some training course. We already have such courses for people who wish concealed carry. There are simply too many diverse uses and reasons for purchasing firearms to make training integral to the purchase.