As usual, following a mass shooting tragedy, there are calls for more gun controls after 20 schoolkids and 6 adults were massacred by a rogue gunman armed with a military assault rifle in Newport, Connecticut. But the pro-gun lobby, represented by the National Rifle Association, is too powerful for that.
In a country where suspicion if not antagonism towards big government is historic and firmly entrenched, many feel that the government taking their guns away from them would leave them defenseless should an evil regime decide to persecute them such as Stalin did for 30 years to those living in the Soviet Union.
Then there are rural dwellers who need to shoot noxious pests, and people who like to go game hunting.
The problem is that it is too easy for those with criminal intent to arm themselves and commit crimes that are much worse than if they didn't have such firepower.
The NRA will rightly point out that its members consist of responsible gun owners and we think it performs a useful role in encouraging skills and safety among its members.
However, the question of how you stop psychos and criminals getting hold of and using these guns is one that the NRA hasn't bothered itself with and it's time that it did.
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