What is it about the Americans and guns?

I know that there is a piece of paper, some 200 years old, that guarantees the right to bears arms, but really – it’s a very old piece of paper, and like all rules and laws, you’re allowed to change them from time to time.

I also know that it’s a hopeless argument. If private guns were banned outright today it would take centuries to get rid of them all. There are, I understand, more guns in the US than people. The gun lobby is so politically and financially powerful that change is unlikely anytime soon. But, people of the USofA, I’ve got to tell you that from where I’m sitting – 3000 miles away admittedly – your stance is completely impossible to fathom.

Every day there are mass killings in the States, and every one of them is perversely used to perpetuate the myth that allowing everyone to have a gun will somehow stop the bad guys from using theirs. There is simply no evidence for that. Give me one example where the horror of a mass shooting has been stopped because ordinary Joe Bloggs has pulled out his own gun and intervened. It just doesn’t happen.

Over here in the old world we of course have terrible gun situations from time to time, but they are luckily few and far between. Personally I would have absolutely no idea where to get a gun from if you asked me to go out and buy one today. And if I did try to buy one, I would expect a thorough background check to take place. After all, you really can’t let anyone have a gun can you? (Well apparently you can!).

I don’t think, apart from on my holidays, (Mexican and US policemen), and at forces events I’ve ever seen a gun up close – perhaps the odd UK policeman at an airport on occasion. I’ve certainly never held one. I can sort of understand the appeal of shooting. I’d like to have a go with one at a target – but the thought of knowing that everyone in my street owned one – and that, as is the case in the US, many of them might be machine guns, is just beyond belief. (Actually, thinking about it, I have used a shot gun twice and when I was a kid a friend had an air rifle that we used to shoot at our airfix kits – I once shot down a Dornier bomber I think – but apart from that…..). Can you imagine having a row with a neighbour on bin day and they popped inside and decided to settle it by brandishing their AK47!

I’ve travelled to the States many times, love the place, and I know that this issue doesn’t mean that every day is like an episode of Fargo, but come on, at least have a go at sorting it out. Robust background checks would at least be a start.