The right to bear arms....
Err, I'm not calling you stupid but I think you need to read more carefully, I've just read the same BBC page and this is what it actually says:
"According to a July 2012 study by the magazine Mother Jones of 62 mass murders carried out in the US since 1982, three quarters of the 139 firearms used by the killers were held legally. " (my emphasis)
That's three quarters LEGALLY held, so take them away and you save 75% of the victims (yes that's a simplistic way of looking at it but...)
It's been done before, trouble is US laws have a time limit on them, automatic weapons were banned in the past after a previous massacre, the law ran for about ten years until it expired in 2004 and George W Bush didn't bothered to renew it, so automatic weapons went straight back on sale.
Lynyrd Skynyrd Gods and Guns track sums America up.
I'm sorry but it wouldn't necessarily mean that at all. You have to understand that in a lot of places in the States all you have to do is show some ID and you can buy any weapon you want. Another quote from that BBC page: "40% of gun sales are not affected by [background check] legislation because they take place between private individuals - including at gun show stands or through the internet." and those are still LEGAL sales. You can buy firearms ON THE INTERNET!
The perpetrator of the last mass shooting bought THREE THOUSAND ROUNDS of ammunition on the internet and nobody flagged it up, not even the FBI!
It pains me to provide a Wikipedia link, but this table makes useful reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_...
Gun licensing and control has done little to reduce the frighteningly high Jamaican shooting rate (again mostly with illegally owned firearms), while Switzerland is further down the list, despite mandatory gun ownership (of sorts).
Cultural factors seem at least as important as a legal right to bear arms; not that I'm suggesting prohibition is a bad idea.
Agreed. IMO. There is always more complexity in these issues than can at first meet the eye.
It would also be useful to view statistics on the rate of firearms-related deaths in different economic groups.
While the kind of mass shooting discussed here has increased in prevalence, my perception is that high rates of gun crime are common in deprived communities, or countries with high rates of poverty. Just to complicate the debate further, economic factors are also hugely important.
Again, none of this makes me an NRA sympathiser.
Err, I'm not calling you stupid but I think you need to read more carefully, I've just read the same BBC page and this is what it actually says:
"According to a July 2012 study by the magazine Mother Jones of 62 mass murders carried out in the US since 1982, three quarters of the 139 firearms used by the killers were held legally. " (my emphasis)
That's three quarters LEGALLY held, so take them away and you save 75% of the victims (yes that's a simplistic way of looking at it but...)
It's been done before, trouble is US laws have a time limit on them, automatic weapons were banned in the past after a previous massacre, the law ran for about ten years until it expired in 2004 and George W Bush didn't bothered to renew it, so automatic weapons went straight back on sale.
[/quote
I appologise for misreading the article.(was eating dinner at the time)
i'm soo stupid(and yes you were refering to myself as stupid or you wouldn't have said it). 
Anyways i wasn't making a point with the mother jones findings,merley trying to add them to the debate.the link you have posted is not the same page i read(or misread),but the jist of what i read suggested semi auto guns were going to be banned.
my perception is that high rates of gun crime are common in deprived communities, or countries with high rates of poverty. Just to complicate the debate further, economic factors are also hugely important.
These are some of the many factors influencing the sort of statistics you linked to as well as the communities in which gun crime occurs. In that top 15 the US probably has the greatest community extremes of wealth and poverty but is overall the richest and with the strongest tradition of policing and therefore most capable of enforcing tight gun legislation. The older I get the less I can see any justification for any 'balancing' of rights, people can do without the entertainment of hunting or target shooting if it means saving the lives of 5 year old children. Emotive but true.
I'm sorry but it wouldn't necessarily mean that at all. You have to understand that in a lot of places in the States all you have to do is show some ID and you can buy any weapon you want. Another quote from that BBC page: "40% of gun sales are not affected by [background check] legislation because they take place between private individuals - including at gun show stands or through the internet." and those are still LEGAL sales. You can buy firearms ON THE INTERNET!
The perpetrator of the last mass shooting bought THREE THOUSAND ROUNDS of ammunition on the internet and nobody flagged it up, not even the FBI!
Hence why i believe there will be a tightening up of the gun law,but i dont believe there will be an outright ban.
Evan amazon.com sells guns.
No no, I really wasn't, not that time* I've mis-read things like that enough times to realise how easily it's done.
*The previous time, when I mentioned the comparison between cars and guns, THAT'S when I was implying you were stupid!
Quality!
Well, I'm glad we got that sorted. 
Evan amazon.com sells guns.
I thought they did, tho everything on the page you linked to appears to fire pellets / ballbearings / paintballs. Some unpleasant knives tho.
Evan amazon.com sells guns.
I thought they did, tho everything on the page you linked to appears to fire pellets / ballbearings / paintballs. Some unpleasant knives tho.
Did you scroll down? 
Well, I'm glad we got that sorted.
What sorted...?
That i'm stuppid...oh yeah,although i'm trying to get educated anuf to be classed as just daft!!
Still think a car is a deadly weapon tho 
It pains me to provide a Wikipedia link, but this table makes useful reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_...
Gun licensing and control has done little to reduce the frighteningly high Jamaican shooting rate (again mostly with illegally owned firearms), while Switzerland is further down the list, despite mandatory gun ownership (of sorts).
Cultural factors seem at least as important as a legal right to bear arms; not that I'm suggesting prohibition is a bad idea.
Agreed.
IMO. There is always more complexity in these issues than can at first meet the eye.
"Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again." André Gide