>>I can only hope that next generations in the US will change their minds
>
>But has it really changed? There were mass shooting just last year in Alphen aan den Rijn:
>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16176658
>
>Tristan van der Vlis, later killed himself. He was a member of a local gun club and legally owned three guns - despite having previously been a resident at a psychiatric institution.

>What is most surprising to me (regarding the laws) is how he owned them legally.

You can drum up multiple of these kind of incidents, anywhere. This particular case, in hindsight, he should never have gotten a permit. So it was identified something went wrong here, and now there are more strict rules and a lot more emphasis on enforcing them. but at least there was some action taken to try to prevent this from happening again

You can never entirely prevent this from happening, as long as guns are available. But its the incidence that is the important factor here, which is much higher in the US than it is here in Europe. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

The fist European countries on the list, are well known for their lose regulation of guns.

I get the impression that gun loving Americans are looking for excuses, by referring to european incidents (like in Oslo), but really if you look at the statistics, it is no valid argument at all. Ideally we all want to ban this entirely, so every effort to significantly reduce the incidence of such events should be take for the sake of the safety for our children.

Walter,





Walter