Boomer, well that's a pretty big separation of statistics CDC vs FBI. Of course the CDC is counting all deaths , the FBI is counting murders, so considering we are at war and soldiers die but aren't listed as murders, then you can see how the the "firearm death" rate is going to get skewed.

  Even if we call both numbers valid, there's about a 3000 death reduction for 2011. I think the numbers posted on the CDC tables were drawn from 2004 (I saw that on there) so either we have become about 25% "kinder and gentler" or the war connected firearm deaths have something to do with the numbers.

 I honestly think that since this discussion is about VIOLENT CRIME then the FBI statistics are the ones to use as they are strictly about murder and what type of weapon was used.

 I also have 2 personal thoughts about this discussion:

  1) I think the video game / movie connection cannot be overplayed. When we (Americans) were kids we played "cowboys and indians" or "cops and robbers" because that's what we saw on TV. The aurora shooting coward had his hair dyed red and claimed he was "the joker" from the "Batman" movies. We saw several "joker" copycat cowards get arrested immediately after his arrest. The coward in the Clackamas mall shooting was yelling "I AM THE SHOOTER" while firing upon the shoppers. I bet there's some connection to that statement in a video game.

 2) I don't like discussing this so much with non-Americans. That's not to put you down in any way, but this is OUR PROBLEM and we need to find OUR SOLUTION. Case in point - the same day the idiot coward killed all the kids in the Connecticut school, another idiot coward in China went on a rampage and slashed 22 or 23 kids at a school in China. But what did China's government do? they called for the American government to disarm us. So here's what I say to that - WHEN ANOTHER COUNTRY CALLS YOU TO LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS, THAT'S WHEN YOU NEED TO PICK THEM UP.  Case closed. JMO, Steve

Steve, I'm not an advocate of blanket gun control. We have plenty of gun owners over here.
But some kind of control to prevent the nutters from getting and using guns isn't a bad thing.
I think we have a higher level of knife crime here simply because of the comparative scarcity of guns.
If they ban knives completely, the nutters will just use sharpened screwdrivers or something else.
However, it's a lot harder to kill with a knife or a screwdriver. Easy peasy with a gun.
I used to take out rabbits with a .22 from 300feet away over 40 years ago.

The one big change since Sandy Hook is that many more people seem to be admitting that there is a problem.
Once ya admit there is a problem, then y'all are on the road to finding a solution.
It will be your solution to be sure, and if it doesn't work, then y'all will end up trying something else.
We did, several times over and it sure ain't perfect yet.
One thing is certain, and that is that burying yer head in the sand and hoping it will go away never works.

I agree that there is a problem, but the problem isn't the guns, it is the people behind the guns. Deal with the people, not the guns. JMO

Agreed, and the idea of owners being more responsible in securing is a good start.  i have a safe, but I will admit a have been lax with my CC firearm. My Christmas present to myself was a touchpad Gunvault. Yes, Sandy Hook got my attention too. Steve

I am not trying to say anything bad about my fellow 'Mercans, but how many other countries spent $23 million dollars on chainsaw murder movies last weekend?  How many impressionable kids sat through this junk?  How many people who see this can't tell the difference between movies and reality?  The fact is we are a violent country, a violent society and we love to watch violence.

[

Really?  Remember the old black & white movies like "Creature from the Black Lagoon"?  There's been horror movies since movies were first invented.  And Westerns- those had lots of shooting and fighting too.  I watched them all, not to mention Rambo, Terminator, and the likes.  No, blaming any act of insanity on movies, video games, whatever, is disengenuous and plain wrong.  I think there's a glaring problem staring us in the face right now.  If you look at the 2 boys who shot up Columbine, the guy in Aurora, this fella in Sandy Hook, you'll find they were (or had recently been) on some sort of anti-depressant drugs.  Parents use them to control their kids, teachers advocate them to control the kids in their classrooms.  I do believe there's a connection somewhere.

+1 

+2 

Like Boomer said (and others agreed).
Sandy Hook made many (including myself) agree that there is a problem and something needs to be done.
I don't know what that solution is.

My first thought is we don't need more laws, we need to see that the existing Gun Laws are strictly enforced.
Secondly; If a person uses a gun in a crime, "that person" should be punished severely, not "all" gun owners.

Having said that, i just realized that I don't know all the gun laws.
Heck, (as a long time gun owner) I may be breaking gun laws that I'm not even aware of??

Maybe a first step is; make sure that the present gun laws are known (and the punishment a person will receive for breaking them)..

Ride safe, Ted

+3 on the anti-depressant drugs.
This will save more lives then any additional gun laws.

From the greatest President.

"The gun has been called the great equalizer, meaning that a small person with a gun is equal to a large person, but it is a great equalizer in another way, too.
 It insures that the people are the equal of their government whenever that government forgets that it is servant and not master of the governed. When the
 British forgot that they got a revolution. And, as a result, we Americans got a Constitution; a Constitution that, as those who wrote it were determined, would
 keep men free. If we give up part of that Constitution we give up part of our freedom and increase the chance that we will lose it all."
--Ronald Reagan

If it wasn't for our 2nd amendment, the shooter wouldn't have been 'neutralized', and another tragedy would have been in the books..