I would suggest the comparison include more than just gun ownership is or is not. I am not sure how one would measure some of the other factors, but I believe America is significantly more permissive about far too many issues than other countries. As a result of our permissiveness there is a much larger in your face, act like a movie tough guy/gal, drug affected culture than most other countries aided by a 24/7 media and entertainment business that thrives on violence....mostly gun based. Plus some others.

Guns have been readily avaialable in this country since it's beginnings. Many of us grew up never ever hearing about the kinds of shooting taking place today....because they did not exist. Another interesting analysis would be the frequency per year going back 100 years. I suggest without seeing the analysis the closer one gets to the present the more shootings.

I am not sure what it should or could be labeled, but I do not believe it is the availability of guns.....it is a combination of gun availability in a society that condones continuous exposure to unlimited violence, drugs and alcohol at earlier and earlier ages

Strange that the prez mentioned the Oregon shooting but not the 50 shootings in Chicago over the past few weeks...

The guns won't be taken away.Just the ammo.

While many other killings were not specifically mentioned, he did talk about all gun deaths, not just mass killings.

How do you change the gun culture though here in the USA? Our country has a very unique historical connection to guns different than almost any other place.

I got rid of most of my guns etc when we moved from CA to FL in 1995 but I had grown up around shotguns and rifles in Reno, Nevada in the 1970s. There were a lot of hunters etc. in the families' whose kids I hung around with. I got shot in the pinky by one of these kids Tom H., when we were both around 15 with a pump BB gun. The kid was aiming it at my eye and I convinced him to try shooting between my fingers. He missed. There are going to be sociopaths among even the people who are carefully trained on how to use guns. Not sure what happened with the kid Tom H., who put the BB into my pinky. He seemed to be going down a dark road back then. He did go into some kind of mental health facility back around 1973-1974 because of what he did to me. But, I cannot recall what happened to him after that.

How do we stop some of these kids in 2015 in taking dark roads? All the media attention on these shootings seems to embolden people who want to do more damage the next time.

From my post # 16:

"...Guns have been readily avaialable in this country since it's beginnings. Many of us grew up never ever hearing about the kinds of shooting taking place today....because they did not exist. Another interesting analysis would be the frequency per year going back 100 years. I suggest without seeing the analysis the closer one gets to the present the more shootings.

I am not sure what it should or could be labeled, but I do not believe it is the availability of guns.....it is a combination of gun availability in a society that condones continuous exposure to unlimited violence, drugs and alcohol at earlier and earlier ages...."

Your question is a good one. But until the violence exploitation and tolerance environment we allow changes there will be no impact.

ok, the second amendment does allow for gun ownership. This gunman had:


Police say they have recovered four firearms including three handguns and one AR-type assault rifle from Umpqua Community College where a mass shooting took place on Thursday.

I will never understand the need for people to own AR-type assault rifles. The constitution does not specify that. and remember, back when the constitution was written it took a long time to fire and reload.

guns for protection are one thing, assault rifles are another. However, I don't expect any changes. If the killing of little elementary school children didn't change anything, this won't either.

A college/university campus having only one security guard--unarmed--is pure insanity.

Add the illegality of trained, licensed concealed carriers on campus, and it's beyond insanity.

But then, Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC is sure to have armed security forces plus Secret Servicemen, for good reason.

'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'

--Orwell

Background checks are not needed, the US Government already knows who shouldn't own a gun but they refuse to do anything about it. These people have criminal backgrounds, mental backgrounds and violent backgrounds. A good place to start, don't you think? The government wouldn't have to hire thousands more government employees to do the checks either.

Maybe those people also don't smoke as many cigarettes (584,811 deaths in a year from cancer), maybe they also eat healthy (611,105 deaths in a year from heart attacks), they also might not do drugs (40,393 deaths in a year)...Why are people willing to ignore something that takes so many lives, and focus on creating laws that take away the rights of so many, for something that takes fewer lives (Obama states 30 a day = 10, 950 a year)?

Driving drunk accounts for 10,076 deaths in a year, nobody is talking about making liquor illegal...

I will provide the links for the data I presented (unlike some who just spout off their opinions as fact):

FastStats - Leading Causes of Death

Impaired Driving: Get the Facts | Motor Vehicle Safety | CDC Injury Center

In 2013, the US lost 30 people a day to gun violence. Obama shouldn't let us forget | Ana Marie Cox | Comment is free | The Guardian

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...TytQIQ&cad=rja

tell that to the parents
 

tell that to the parents of the Sandy Hook students, Aurora, Virginia Tech, now Oregon......I'm sure it will be a comfort to them

smoking laws have been enacted to curb where smoking is allowed.

drunk driving laws have been toughened A LOT over the years. when the need arose, laws were changed.

it was allowed
 

oddly enough Oregon does allow people with guns on campus:

Students who have proper paperwork are allowed to carry guns on campus. Oregon is one of seven states where lawmakers have said people with concealed weapons permits must be allowed to bring concealed weapons onto campus.

The "AR" rifles are not assault rifles. They are semi-automatic (you have to pull the trigger once per shot) as are many other rifles, handguns, and shotguns. They may look like an M-16, which is a fully automatic rifle, but they are not functionally equivalent anymore than any other semi-automatic gun.

Welcome to the club. Some see CCing as bravado, Rambo complex, and cowardice.

I hope you see the difference in a RIGHT to bear arms and a privilege to drive and smoke in public places.