200 million Guns!

The tragedy of the Virginia Tech campus shootings (over 30 killed) highlights the nonsensical approach to gun laws in the USA. The right to bear arms is so deeply ingrained in the American consciousness that every time some lunatic goes on a shooting spree the result is always the same: "How tragic. Something must be done." Then nothing is done.

There are, apparently, about two hundred million privately-owned guns in the USA. Guns and ammunition are easy to come by, with a minimum of checks made on the purchaser's credentials.

The National Rifle Association seems to have a stranglehold on politicians; speak out against the gun culture and you lose votes. Charlton Heston (President of the NRA 1998-2003) told the 2000 NRA Convention that they could take his gun "from his cold dead hands". Idiot!

I am tempted to offer to eat my computer if any new meaningful gun control laws come out of the Virginia tragedy.