A British comment on the Second Amendment:

Each time the news of an American shooting, especially a school shooting, reaches across the Atlantic, the British media emit a collective high-pitched hysterical scream. The guilty parties always seem to be America's gun culture and the Second Amendment, which allows Americans access to weapons, `the right to bear arms'. `It's barmy', the media sagely conclude.

Rationality is urgently needed to combat this clearly emotional outburst. First, cut out the fetishisation. Firearms, like any other tool, are not in and of themselves dangerous. Handled responsibly, they are no more dangerous than many other household items, and are far less dangerous than cars. Let's get guns in perspective. According to the Centers for Disease Control in the US, 11,624 homicides were committed using firearms in 2004. Compare this to deaths by unintentional poisoning (20,590), unintentional falls (18,807), or death by unintentional suffocation, drowning and fire (12,531). A Million Mom March against oysters or ladders? Not likely.

Second, let us put to bed the myth that the number of available guns bears a direct relationship with homicide rates. Yes, the United States does have higher gun ownership and a higher homicide rate than the UK, but strict gun controls operate in the Philippines and Mexico and both of those countries have higher homicide rates than America. Meanwhile, Israel and Switzerland have higher adult gun ownership rates than America, and far lower homicide rates. Nationally, Washington DC, which banned handguns, has a murder rate of 80 per 100,000. In Arlington, Virginia - just across the Potomac and with almost no controls on guns - the rate is 1.6 per 100,000. In Glasgow, the rate is 5.6 per 100,000.

Third, there is a direct relationship between gun rights and democracy. A democratic, egalitarian society allows its citizens to own guns. A fearful society takes guns away from those it most fears. In Britain, real controls over firearms came only with a scare about Bolshevism. The 1920 Firearms Act introduced a registration system and allowed local police forces to deny a licence to anyone who was `unfitted to be trusted with a firearm'. The 1968 Gun Control Act in the United States reflected fears about groups like the Black Panthers, who had formed militias and marched through the streets. First, they feared the working class, later they feared racial minorities, now there is a fear of just about everyone. These are the real reasons for gun controls. It is really about who is behind the gun, not the gun itself.

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Missouri: Would-be robber shot: "A would-be robber remained hospitalized in critical condition this afternoon after he was shot by one of his intended victims. The man was shot about 1:30 a.m. after he followed several people to their car in a Westport parking garage in the 4000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. As the people were getting into their car, the man, who had earlier asked them for money, pulled up his shirt and revealed a gun in his waistband, Kansas City police said. One of the car's occupants retrieved his own gun from inside the vehicle and fired. Police later determined that the wounded man was carrying a BB gun".


Michigan homeowner shoots intruder: "An intruder was shot and wounded by a resident wielding a handgun during a home invasion that took place about 5:30 p.m. Thursday at 401 W. Sixth St., the Monroe Police Department reported. The suspect is receiving medical care at Mercy Memorial Hospital. Lt. Charles Abel, public information officer for the city police, said the man received more than one gunshot wound and has undergone surgery as a result... A call came to Central Dispatch as a home invasion in progress. While police were on the way, according to reports, the man who lives in the house was confronted by the intruder. The resident fired multiple shots with a handgun, and the intruder fled. When police checked the neighborhood, they found the suspect wounded and lying in the roadway near W. Seventh and Smith Sts. The Monroe Fire Department ambulance service took him to the hospital. Lt. Abel said a duffel bag also was found near the suspect, with items that possibly were stolen elsewhere."