Do guns make Americans safer? [View All]

Just watched "Bowling for Columbine" again tonight and was particularly struck by Moore's interviews with Canadians (some of whom had lived for awhile in the U.S.). One woman was talking about how Americans are so different from Canadians - how Americans are "reactive" - e.g. "hey, get off my lawn or I'll shoot you" - how they try to solve everything with violence - instead of seeing a problem somewhere in the world and trying negotiate a solution, as Canadians would do, Americans just run in there and start killing everyone.

But the clincher was the guy on the bus who said: "If having guns made people safer, America would be the safest place on earth. But it's just the opposite."

I wholeheartedly agree with that last quote.

I know there are a lot of DU'ers who pride themselves on gun ownership and who imagine they're safer as a result, although I've yet to see a story from one of them which relates how using a gun actually saved someone's life or limb. So I've got my flame-retardant suit on for this crowd.

There are far more homicides in the U.S. than in any country on the planet, and far more gun ownership as well. The correlations are there for all to see yet incredibly so many Americans still believe they're safer owning guns.

Maybe they should be forced to watch "Bowling for Columbine" three times a day for ten years. Maybe that would cure them of their delusions.