[jyl]

Of course, the UK and similar countries with a long tradition of strict gun control seem to have vastly less gun crime that the gun-totin' USA . . .

I guess there must be some reason for this odd and surprising fact, that is somehow not captured in the 44,000 words of slogans, sorry I meant wisdom, from keepandbeararms.com.

Well, I'm not for banning guns, I own some pistols and long guns myself. Gun ownership is too deeply ingrained in American society, there are too many of them in this country to effectively ban at this point, and just selfishly I like a nice gun.

However, I have no problem with requiring strict gun safety training, licensing, and background checks; with controlling the sale of guns so that unlicensed people can't obtain them legally; with criminalizing the possession of illegally obtained e.g. unlicensed guns; and with restricting gun ownership by persons with a history of mental illness, violent behavior, domestic abuse/conflict, criminal acts, or other dangerous behaviour. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me that it should be easier to get a gun than a driver's license.