How do you think we should resolve the issue of school shootings in the US?

@KatyO83 I'm glad we have the strict gun laws in the UK. Sadly in the USA it's their right to have guns and that is never going to change, which means more school shootings.

@ironborn Well there are arguments as to whether there really is that "right", but it all depends on the legal interpretation which currently is bever going to be overturned. What always amuses me is the argument that it's in the Constitution and can't be amended- when it's covered by the 2nd amendment!

@22Michelle I recall Obama speaking about it and him being hugely frustrated. As an outsider it's not my business, but for those young ones and their parents it's horrific.

@KatyO83 Guns are not completely banned in the UK but you need a particular reason - agricultural, sports or antiques - to be licenced to own one; the gun types are limited, shooting of animals is very tightly controlled, and you cannot just buy arms and ammunition in supermarkets.

However, there is something else, and that is UK society at large has no wish to arm itself. Most people have no reason to own a gun, do not want one, and are at very low risk of being shot by an armed criminal.

There is no widespread worship of guns and violence; no populare demand for easy gun ownership; and shootings or attacks using other weapons such as bows, rouse calls for stricter, not laxer, laws.

@ArishMell I was using shorthand

Simply put I can't walk into a store and buy a handgun like I could in most USA States.

@KatyO83 A friend said he found how easy that can be when once visiting America. He told me that having been invited to try a few of his hosts' guns (of some 20!) on their private range, he went to a local shop to buy some beer and replace the ammunition.

The beer? No. He could not prove his age because he'd left his passport at the host's home and the woman behind the till could not understand his date of birth slightly disguised in his driving-licence number.

The ammunition? No problem. Yet he was a foreigner in a small town that probably sees few American, let alone overseas, tourists!

@KatyO83
I don't think that would work, for two reasons.

Firstly the standard of education would probably be very low and certainly very patchy, even largely mere rote-learning by which the pupil might remember facts but with little or no comprehension.

Secondly, drastically increasing the children's separation and isolation could result in their developing very poor social abilities, and risking abberant behaviour or problems like dyslexia being un-noticed and deepening.

So it could do more harm than it is trying to prevent.


One of the biggest problems in this matter is that often the murderer either commits suicide or is shot dead at the scene, so any attempt to understand the motive is at best rather circumstantial. That makes it harder to know what drives a few people to commit such atrocities, hence makes it harder to spot potential ones before they act.

@KatyO83 second amendment, the right to bear arms allows us to defend ourselves from criminals, invaders, and in case the government becomes tyrannical.

@RICHARD1313 My reading is that it was to ensure the USA had a military force to defend the country. As for taking up arms against the Government the 14th amendment says no.

@22Michelle What they do show is that the Constitution can be amended - albeit with strong safeguards to ensure that is done properly and openly.

@ArishMell Try telling the NRA the 2nd amendment can be amended!