Norway and France have some of the higher rates of gun ownership, but some of the lowest rates of gun violence. Then you get Luxembourg, Belgium, and Italy, who have gun homicide rates that are more than double that of Finland, while having 2/3 fewer guns per capita.

I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m trying to look at the data available and see if there is a clear pattern to the rates, and I don’t see one. Maybe if someone made a chart with a best fit line, it’d be more obvious… but just spending 20 minutes looking at the data doesn’t lead me to draw any conclusions like that.

I’m all for regulation. I’ve stated several times that I think we should have all kinds of registration and background checks and mental health screenings, but pure “number of guns easily available” may not be the main problem, and assuming that it is the main problem may make it difficult for us to locate the real cause.

Undone.

edit- if you replace rather than edit, you should say so. My answer still stands.

Combine it with an anonymous buy-back program of merit and a difference would be had. Buy-back programs work.

That’s a bet you know you’ll lose, and BTW, if they are all the same it isn’t fear mongering.

Hire 2-3 retired soldiers (who are very possibly unemployed right now anyway) as security in every school.

Schools? You mean those places that can barely pay a living wage for the teachers?

Undone.

No need to thank you.

Furthermore, just because a gun looks scary doesn’t mean it’s more (or less) dangerous than any other gun.  The assault weapon ban that pretty much everybody will be clamoring for again did not make anybody safer.  Most of the features it banned were purely cosmetic, or at least did not increase leathality.  It’s security theater, and we shouldn’t encourage that sort of bullshit.

I have a knife in my pocket, folding though, just a tool. But in my home if I had a fixed blade weapon and you had a rifle you’d be dead. If you had a handgun but were within 3-4 feet of me the outcome is the same. 

In close quarters the best defense is being willing tear someone apart.

It doesn’t hold water? Countries with easier access to weapons have less gun violence?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list

Can you please point out where I said anything about “banning” guns? 

Why do you suggest that there’s no alternative between ridiculously easy access to assault weapons and banning guns outright?

I am not a gun owner now, but I have been, and do shoot with friends. I don’t think you should be able to buy assault weapons at the mall on a whim though like Laugner did. Do you see the difference?

Also, a lot of people don’t take precautions, like having a trigger lock or using a gun safe.