America is an exceptional country

In the UK, a country of over 60 million there were a total of 653 murders in 2011. In the US, a country of about 330 million there were 14173 murders. We would have had 3592 murders not 14173. Don't like the UK, try Germany 662 murders in a country of 80 million. We would have around 2650 murders with Germany's murder rate. There is literally not a single, solitary Western European country with anything like our murder rate. To find European countries with murder rates higher than ours you have to go to the old Soviet block. Albania, Lithuania, Russia for example. You can't find a first world country with anywhere near our murder rate. Not Australia, not Japan, not Spain, not Italy, not Greece, not a one. Our gun culture has a lot of questions to answer in this regard.

If banning guns doesn't stop people from being killed by guns, then why don't we have people mowed down by machine guns in our streets like they were in the 1920's? Machine guns are all but banned in this country. Here is what federal law requires of those who would own them.

Federal law strictly regulates machine guns (firearms that fire many rounds of ammunition, without manual reloading, with a single pull of the trigger).

Among other things, federal law:


1. requires all machine guns, except antique firearms, not in the U.S. government's possession to be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF);

2. bars private individuals from transferring or acquiring machine guns except those lawfully possessed and registered before May 19, 1986;

3. requires anyone transferring or manufacturing machine guns to get prior ATF approval and register the firearms;

4. with very limited exceptions, imposes a $200 excise tax whenever a machine gun is transferred;


5. bars interstate transport of machine guns without ATF approval; and

6. imposes harsh penalties for machine gun violations, including imprisonment of up to 10 years, a fine of up to $250,000, or both for possessing an unregistered machine gun.

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2009/rpt/2009-R-0020.htm

You have a better chance of getting stuck by lightning than getting shot by a machine gun. Fancy that.

What about bullying? Japan has bullying in its schools and workplaces that make our schools look like pacifist communes. School shootings, not so much.

What about racial diversity? The UK is as diverse as the US. Canada's big cities are as diverse as ours. The murder rates, not so much.

What about violent movies? Our movies, especially our violent ones, are major hits abroad.

There is one, and only one, major difference between the US and other first world nations. In the US, we can have pretty much any gun we want, as many as we want, with no back round check at all in wide swaths of our country. Weapons which were designed for military use can be bought, at local gun shows, with no back round check at all and it is perfectly legal in many, many states. We allow people to have literal armories and wonder why we have thousands and thousands of murders each year.

Why do we only treat the second amendment this way? I can't run a porno site that targets teens as consumers and use the 1st amendment to justify that. I can't worship Satan, commit human sacrifices, and use freedom of religion to justify that. I can't publish known lies about people and use freedom of speech as a justification. Yet, using the second amendment as justification, I can sell hundreds nay thousands of guns, to anyone I choose, never check ID's and never be held to account. And we have reaped what we have sown here.

One last thing. Kids can't carry back packs at my school. They have to go through metal detectors to attend athletic events at their school. What about their freedom? Or doesn't it matter?