Why is there such a lack of gun control in the US?

you think a nut killing 33 people is a tragedy? look at what socialist governments do when the people are not armed they kill folks by hundreds of thousands and millions i will take my chances with a few nuts who are armed when most of the rest of the american population is well armed (and trained) you think that nancy pelosi cares a whit about your life she spends (tax free paid by us) more in a week on extraneous crap than many of us make in a year and we get to pick up the tab

interesting isn't it?? US leads the world in gun crime... leads the world in car robberies.. both of which are crimes with victims.. hmmm so how is it that the US is 15'th of 20 in crime victims per capita?? Total crime victims 21.1% [15th of 20] Well behind most of the EU... we <The US> don't understand how countries that fought long and hard against tyranny can allow themselves to be disarmed; however it is YOUR country so we see no need to question if it is a good thing.. yalls experiment yall do it your way... my real confusion comes in why you feel he need to try to change us to be more like you??? thought we made it pretty clear when we left your countries we really didn't want to be much like yal.. and in fact would rather do it our own way.

Your numbers are SO far off. Australias violent crimes rose 51% in its first year of gun control. Englands violent crime rate soared 44% and those were gun crimes! Its not the guns!! Jeezus I am tired of people blaming the the phucking guns. If the azzhole pulling the trigger wasnt there, then the gun wouldnt go off now would it? I have my share of guns, and a couple are the ones you seem to dispise. My guns never leave the home except for target practice or hunting. My handgun only leaves the house when I am going for a walk. It stays strapped to my side in plain view for everyone to see. It makes some nervous and makes some feel more comfortable. But it has NEVER led anyone to try and mug or attack me. Then again, guns are out of control. I mean, I lay in bed at night and I hear them getting rowdy in my gun cabinet. Sometimes I feel as though they are gonna get out of there and come get me. As far as the Uzi and the M-4 goes, the Uzi is considered a pistol requiring the paperwork necessary in each state to get a handgun. And yes, you can get an semi-automatic M-4 at Wal-mart. The M-4 is legally defined as a long gun, nothing special. All you have to do is fil out the paperwork for the background check like for all other guns except blackpowder. The fully automatic version is a class 3 license item which you can own, just alot of unecessary red tape. http://www.opencarry.org/maps.html This is a good website for those who are curious about some of the gun laws in your state. Hey BigBad, the second amendment was formed to help the citizens defend against a tyrannical government, whether it be a foreign one or our own. It wasnt to just to defend against the possibility of a British invasion. The colonies were British therefore they could not invade their own, only try and take it back. By the time the Constitution was written, 1787, we had already defeated the British by 4 years. The comma in the second amendment is the source of contention in the deifintion of the Second Amendment. Whether people like it or not, the Supreme court made their decision as too what the second amendment means. It means WE as citizens have the right to bear arms. And they didnt say just pistols or rifles. They left it open for one reason. For the American people to arm themselves with the firearms necessary to defend the constitution and themselves.

you are more than welcome to not come here if you don't like our guns.......we are free...you are not....your lack of understanding life and freedom is very evident...also your lack of how it works here is evident.....do us a favor and stay in Europe

Because this isn't a dictatorship yet. Perhaps your statistics show that Europeans can't aim worth a damn. edit: FYI - in the USA you cannot purchase a firearm if you have a history of mental illness. And no one "walk into this supermarket and buy an uzi and an M4." So your premise is incorrect. Also, most violent crimes are not in the "redneck" areas, they are in Urban areas like Chicago, detroit, all of whom have a heavy democrat registration.

Because of the gun totin bible bangin, rednecks that have been in control. Hopefully now we can get some reasonable gun laws in place.

Lack of gun control?!? We have excessive gun control in the US. The problems you cite result from a tiny minority who lack SELF control.

In the US we have this constitutional provision, to wit: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Unfortunately, as children are wont to do, many people interpret (misinterpret) it to suit their own selfish interests. They seem only capable of remembering the last half of the Amendment. They take the Amendment to mean, "I can own any kind of weapon and can carry it anywhere I want." Men mistake the size and power of the weapon they own for testosterone. Somehow, the power it gives them -- and you have to admit that a weapon does give its wielder a measure of power -- makes up for their inherent lack of masculinity. They say, "I need it to protect my home." Bull stuff. You don't need an automatic weapon, or one with a range of a mile and a half, or with a muzzle velocity of 1100 fps, to protect your home. If you're that insecure, move... or maybe get yourself committed. It's people like that that make others think they need bigger and more powerful weapons. For most, home protection is best accomplished with a shotgun. The discharge makes a lot of noise letting people you need help. The projectiles probably won't leave your house... where you want the protection. And you really don't have to be all that proficient. Now, if you live in the neighborhood of Kodiak bears, then maybe you might need a .44 Magnum, but there aren't too many of those neighborhoods. And those neighborhoods aren't so densely populated that a stray bullet might injure or kill a human neighbor. "I'm a hunter." If you hunt for "sport", and you need an automatic weapon, or one that has an effective range of a half a mile, where's the sport in that? Want sport, take a pocket knife and go hunting one of those Kodiak bears. Now there's sport. You're quicker, probably less ponderous. He's bigger and stronger. He won't run away and you can't. And both your lives are on the line. If you hunt for food... and hardly any do anymore... remember that before the advent of firearms, people did rather well with bow and arrow. Maybe you could take up fishing. "But I have a Constitutional right..." Again, the Constitution of the United States of America states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Now, if you're attached to a "well regulated Militia," yes, the Constitution does provide for you to own and carry a weapon. But it doesn't mean that any moron who has qualms about his masculinity, or any paranoid, or anybody else for that matter, has the right. One of the problems in the United States is that lawyers aren't very smart. Oh, they know the law and are pretty good at interpreting (misinterpreting) it to suit them, they really have not idea about the intent of the law... and they probably don't care. Back when the Constitution was written (in the late 1700s) the United States didn't have a standing Army. They needed to count on their citizens for voluntary support when military might was deemed necessary. Since they didn't have the ability to tax (that was written into the Constitution too), they couldn't afford to stockpile weapons for the people to use in defense of their nation. Hence, the second Amendment. That's what it's for. Now so many think it's license to use weapons to settle family dispute, to resolve arguments with neighbors, or to deal with issues at school or work, that we have a host of other laws on the books ostensibly to protect us from ourselves. No, you can't walk into the local WALMART and pick up a UZI or M4. Theoretically you can't walk into any store and just pick up a weapon and walk out. In most cases there's a 10-day "waiting period" in which a background check is made to determine whether or not you're insane or a criminal. But there are ways around that. You don't have to buy a weapon at a store. You can steal one. Or you can get purchase one illegally. Or you can purchase a "legal" weapon and make it illegal by making modifications to it. Or you can make one. Some kids use their parents' weapons. Some parents provide them. We have a lot of idiots in the US. And they're self-centered idiots who can't seem to get it through their thick skulls that the rules apply to them too... or maybe they're too dumb to care. We have gun control. Probably way more than we should need. But if you don't want to obey the law you don't care, so it really doesn't do much good. Were there a statute that if one owned a weapon, of any kind, even a pocket knife, and committed a crime, it was a capital offense, even that would do nothing. One would think that would be a deterrent. But we have those lawyers who are so good at interpreting (misinterpreting) the law, we have guys who have been on "death row" for decades and who will probably die of old age having been cared for by the society they endangered; and there's the probably hundreds of thousands who just haven't been caught, or who have escaped the law on a technicality... again, thanks to those lawyers. Anyway, that's my take on the situation. Granted, my exposure to the US is somewhat limited. I've only lived here all my life.... almost 70 years of it. I was in the "well regulated Militia" for a quarter of a century. So what do I know?

Our forefathers, the founders of our great country drafted the Constitution to gaurantee us our freedoms to live in a free nation with inalienable rights. One of those is the right to bear arms. Our country, " The United States", has been called upon by most Europian Nations to either send them money or military support. Check your history and see the way the UK used trickery to lure us into WW2, then ask what your country would be like if we had not came to your rescue.