Let's blame video games, or movies. No, mass shootings will not substantially decrease with more armed guards. Likely they will have more shootings from the guards. But background checks will help.

involved in gun control than me out here on the DU who might like to know where the research is going. We have less of a gun love culture in Canada and we have way less in the way of shootings, though we have had some. I think gun "culture" is the difference. Guns are at the ready in the usa: mentally as a 'solution' and physically available. We in Canada watch the same movies as you and get the same video games. So that is not what I mean as culture. It is the way the NRA and the GOP have placed guns in the minds of suburban and urban americans. That taking things into your own hands and shooting is a much bigger fantasy in American men's culture. You have a much more emotional culture than Canada too. Things are solved with outward emotion in the USA. In Canada things are solved by empathy. IMHO

the differences between the gun culture of the USA and the more mature culture of Canada are spot on. These differences also apply to most other civilized countries and the USA's gun culture. The shame of the USA, however, is that while the number of actual "gun nuts" is relatively small, they outspend and outshout the sane voices of reason in the USA.

The NRA and it's apologists have been so successful in promoting the "coming to take your guns" lie, that millions of otherwise rational and sane Americans believe the lie, or are willing to give some credibility to it. It is this segment of voting Americans that Democrats must win over by exposing the reality of rampant gun violence, and promoting legislation that addresses it directly without infringing on the Second Amendment. This can be accomplished through strict regulation exclusive of outright banning.

That the USA is the most armed and dangerous country in the civilized world is a national disgrace. That we Democrats cower in the face of the NRA, ALEC, and terrorists like the Koch Brothers, is a political disgrace. Change is on the horizon, and we must embrace and encourage meaningful gun control legislation through public appeals for a reduction to gun violence and address the insidious culture that promotes it.

Last edited Thu Dec 19, 2013, 04:56 PM - Edit history (1)

the gun culture who solve everything with outward emotion rather than taking their opponents situation into account and deciding how to react. And the GOP does its best to keep said culture alive. The same way they try to keep racism alive in their base. A good portion of people in the USA are empathy strong and do not act this way.

Most Americans, including reasonable American gun owners, do not solve their problems with guns, but with reason. The small, but very vocal minority of rabid gun fanatics, however, are supported by vast amounts of money and political power from the NRA, ALEC, and the Koch Brothers. This cocktail of right-wing fanaticism stokes the American gun culture and prevents the passage of sensible laws to keep the easy access to guns off of our streets.

The solutions to gun violence are incredibly simple in other countries such as Canada, but unbelievably difficult in the USA due to the NRA and its hold over the corrupt politicians it has purchased. I am convinced, however, that the tide is turning and the public health menace of guns will be dealt with by rational and sane Americans.