Why do Americans have guns and why there are not more strict rules about gun ownership?

The bad guys prefer unarmed victims!!.

When seconds matter calling 911 and asking the bad guy to wait is not a viable option.

Better to have a gun and not need it than to need it and not have it!!!

**Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens.**

@

“We are told NOT to judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few fanatics."

But.....

We are encouraged TO judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics”

The shootings here have more to do with suicidal people seeking fame when they kill themselves than gun ownership. We have had privately owned guns for over 200 years. School shootings have become the fad since CNN and other cable news networks make every shooter a celebrity.

Take this most recent one. A few days ago there were most likely less than 200 people in the world who knew his name or paid attention to his opinions. Today we have people on this site and others quoting his face book rantings. Millions of people know his first, middle and last name, his likeness and his political and social opinions. I am 45 years old, I have worked as a counselor and before that a soldier. I have met thousands of people and helped hundreds. I doubt if there are 10 people in the world who could remember my middle initial if they were offered a million dollars even though it was printed on business cards. Now I consider someone who kills innocent school children for fame to be sick and demented but I don't deny that people like that exist. So long as a shooting spree is instant fame they will continue to happen. Sick people who want to end their own lives now have the option of going out as celebrities and some find that attractive.

I'm saddened by overbearing, thug, tyrannical governments and gangs of armed terrorists like in Somalia killing innocents or those who don't agree to their religion.

I think the government should be allowed to have guns ONLY when the population of citizens sees fit to allow it. We've seen time and time again the government, it's military, and it's police forces violating rights, illegally confiscating guns and other property. Then they make laws that exempt themselves, give themselves special rights and other people's money.

First you need to consider the type of people who commit violent crimes with firearms, they're generally the mentally ill, or common street thugs. Do you think that laws, rules, and red tape is going to stop an individual who has made violence their way of life? Most people who do these types of things are generally barred from owning a firearm prior to committing these heinous crimes, and get the weapon illegally to begin with! While it IS tragic that the innocents pay for this, no amount of laws are going to prevent it considering offenders are already going outside of legal channels to obtain a firearm! The TRUE fact of the matter is that making more laws to make firearms more difficult to get isn't going to effect violent offenders since they don't go through channels that are subject to law and policy, it would simply make it more difficult for those who are responsible with firearms to get them. Let's say laws to get stricter, or even an outright ban, what happens? Well first hardened street thugs will STILL shoot people for no reason, and the mentally ill will go to those people to get weapons to shoot up schools. Second it would make living in certain areas of the U.S. impossible since firearms are used for survival (in Alaska rifles are used to protect against bears, in west Texas they're used against mountain lions, coyotes and other predatory animals). Third robbery would sky rocket since there would be no threat of the robber encountering a weapon in the house. The idea of stricter firearm laws is all well and good, and I can understand the thought process behind it, but when you break it down more logically it truly creates more issues than it would ever fix!

Because our constitution, the document our legal system is founded on, permits wide spread gun ownership with some local restrictions.

No one is thrilled when children are killed. How many did the nutball in the Netherlands kill a few years ago? 50?

Americans have guns because we are FREE. And we will remain free because of that.

History is littered with examples of governments turning on their own citizens, enslaving them, imprisoning them, or eliminating those it finds undesirable. After those citizens have been disarmed of course!

You are free now. And in fact you may always be free. But you have no means to assure that. At some point in the future, your government could turn on you, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

Gun ownership is the most basic of human rights. Those who wish to deny it are those who wish to enslave their fellow man.

Here's a simple answer: Because of all those guns, you have the freedom to spout your nonsense.

I had a really good joke, and then you mentioned innocent children and ruined my joke.

Americans worship power, and guns are power.