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Doesn’t sound like they’re hard to get.

that again, the constitution literally says the default is you should be able to get them.

Depends on where you live. In Illinois it is very hard to get a legal gun (and much easier to get one illegally).

Florida was harder when we moved here, but you still have a waiting period of 5 days for background check unless you have the gun permit (which we do). Now you no longer need a gun permit to conceal carry, which I don't like. Everyone should have some training at least.

It's weird to me that you have to get a lot of training to drive a car, but zero training to drive a boat.

Or to have a kid or to get married.

Lots of weird shit.

Yes, we have societal problems that contribute to this, but they aren't video games, Hollywood, rap music, etc. Literally every other western country has those same things, but not the same gun violence problem. We do have (1) easier access to firearms than most countries, and (2) a lot more of them spread throughout the country. Is that the sole cause? No. Is that a significant contributing factor? Absolutely. Is there a realistic way to dial the amount of guns back? Probably not. But restrictions on sales, including types of weapons, accessories, and waiting periods/background checks applied to all sales, not just storefront sales could help. Most gun violence in the US is with handguns, but the kinds of mass shootings that make the news are often committed with AR-15s and similar weapons. There is no doubt that high capacity magazines, the kind of accuracy you only get with a long gun, and rapid firing capability increase the lethality of firearms in mass shooting events.

Are there other awful societal factors, like the copycat effect? Yup. We see this with suicides: once someone does it, others do it. SFIrish works in communications for a transit agency. When there is publicity of someone commiting suicide by transit, studies show a significant uptick of more transit-related suicides. Would those people have commited suicide anyway? Maybe. But guns and trains are both rather final compared to other possible methods.

There also appears to be a uniquely American attachment to violence, and in particular gun violence, that is cultural, and comes from somewhere other than video games, Hollywood, etc. Perhaps its a copycat effect, writ large. The way of the gun, and all that. Not sure the cause, not sure how to address, but as BAB points out, there is a lot of fear out there about random violence that is really quite rare. Most shootings occur between people who have relationships with each other. I chuckle a little at the handgun for you and the shotgun for the spouse. Not saying this will happen to any of you, but my aunt nearly killed my uncle when they "heard something" that he immediately went to investigate, handgun in hand. Then she heard him, after having grabbed the shotgun, and blazed away. Fortunately, she missed. There was no intruder.

The fear of the random act of violence leads to a lot of people owning firearms, and a lot of people owning firearms leads to more access to firearms, and more access to firearms leads to more firearm-related violence. These are connected, but breaking that chain is a difficult task.

And most shootings are not "mental health" issues, in the sense of someone with a clinical mental health problem. There is a different between that (a clinical issue), and someone who snaps. That's why it makes sense to restrict firearms access for people with demonstrated anger management issues (domestic abusers, for instance). 

Yes, we have societal problems that contribute to this, but they aren't video games, Hollywood, rap music, etc. Literally every other western country has those same things, but not the same gun violence problem. We do have (1) easier access to firearms than most countries, and (2) a lot more of them spread throughout the country. Is that the sole cause? No. Is that a significant contributing factor? Absolutely. Is there a realistic way to dial the amount of guns back? Probably not. But restrictions on sales, including types of weapons, accessories, and waiting periods/background checks applied to all sales, not just storefront sales could help. Most gun violence in the US is with handguns, but the kinds of mass shootings that make the news are often committed with AR-15s and similar weapons. There is no doubt that high capacity magazines, the kind of accuracy you only get with a long gun, and rapid firing capability increase the lethality of firearms in mass shooting events.

Are there other awful societal factors, like the copycat effect? Yup. We see this with suicides: once someone does it, others do it. SFIrish works in communications for a transit agency. When there is publicity of someone commiting suicide by transit, studies show a significant uptick of more transit-related suicides. Would those people have commited suicide anyway? Maybe. But guns and trains are both rather final compared to other possible methods.

There also appears to be a uniquely American attachment to violence, and in particular gun violence, that is cultural, and comes from somewhere other than video games, Hollywood, etc. Perhaps its a copycat effect, writ large. The way of the gun, and all that. Not sure the cause, not sure how to address, but as BAB points out, there is a lot of fear out there about random violence that is really quite rare. Most shootings occur between people who have relationships with each other. I chuckle a little at the handgun for you and the shotgun for the spouse. Not saying this will happen to any of you, but my aunt nearly killed my uncle when they "heard something" that he immediately went to investigate, handgun in hand. Then she heard him, after having grabbed the shotgun, and blazed away. Fortunately, she missed. There was no intruder.

The fear of the random act of violence leads to a lot of people owning firearms, and a lot of people owning firearms leads to more access to firearms, and more access to firearms leads to more firearm-related violence. These are connected, but breaking that chain is a difficult task.

And most shootings are not "mental health" issues, in the sense of someone with a clinical mental health problem. There is a different between that (a clinical issue), and someone who snaps. That's why it makes sense to restrict firearms access for people with demonstrated anger management issues (domestic abusers, for instance).

We've practiced the drill many times (unarmed) with my "little" 44 and her shotgun, even in the dark. Commands are involved heavily in that drill.

My son (the Marine) encouraged us to do it, and then he taught us.

My "favorite" gun story was back in the day, I woke up around 5 AM one moring hearing this "BANG!", pause, "BANG!", more of a thump really.  It kept going.  I was alone in the house and had left my phone downstairs.  THUMP!!!!

I thought someone was trying to break in.  I had a 9 mm at hand, so I get it, wondering if somehow a kid had come home from college, or something.  THUMP!!!

I go down the stairs, carefully, silently, not locked and loaded but thinking about it, it was loaded but not chambered.  I swing around like in the movies looking for anything, trying to get to my phone which was in my office.  I see nothing .... THUMP!!!!!  Someone or something is at the back door, which are French doors.  I see nothing, lights off, just starting to be dawn so it was a bit dim.  THUMP!!!  

I get to my office and get my phone and ....  THUMP!!!  About the time I'm calling the popo, I see a dang BIRD thumping into my back window, he saw his reflection I guess.  STUPID BIRD!!!!  

I didn't shoot it, or anyone, or my foot at least, or the police.

So, my "idear" is this:

To possess a handgun, you must be licensed, a process which involves a BG check and some training, I'm thinking something like 25 hours.  I had 15 hours for my CCL.

You get a license with a photo and biometrics, you can then present it to buy a pistol, you can carry a pistol anywhere there are no manned metal detectors, in the country, open carry. concealed carry, you are part of the "militia" in effect.  The license is good for say ten years and is renewed by an authorized person who basically checks to see if your eye sight is OK and your brain is working OK.

Being caught with a pistol and no license means hard time.  Police can search on suspicion of someone's carrying, an quick external pat down after first asking for said license.  The training emphasizes legal requirements including locking the gun up when not in possession.

Very few homicides and almost no suicides are committed with long guns, so I'd focus on "short ones" suitably defined, no attachments to make one a "long gun".  Maybe at some point some restrictions on some kinds of long guns might be considered if they make any sense, but a lot of rifles that don't look like an AR-15 are just as deadly.

There also appears to be a uniquely American attachment to violence, and in particular gun violence, that is cultural, and comes from somewhere other than video games, Hollywood, etc. Perhaps its a copycat effect, writ large. The way of the gun, and all that.

While i don't agree with some of your statement, but I understand most of the perspective, I think this part is very disconnected. Do you think there's no gun violence in Mexico, South America, Africa, Middle East?

Secondly, yes, there are a lot of contributing factors beyond just video games and hollywood, but you also cannot discount those from contributing to "the way of the gun." They help breed that cultural mentality.

Lastly, go down the rabbit hole of the amount of "medical" things injected and prescribed into the American body vs the rest of the world, with additional research into the amount of chemicals in our food supply compared to the rest of the world. Again, people can say the easy fix is to put guy restrictions in place and I view that the same way I view putting a band-aid on the stomach of someone with internal bleeding. 

While i don't agree with some of your statement, but I understand most of the perspective, I think this part is very disconnected. Do you think there's no gun violence in Mexico, South America, Africa, Middle East?

Of course there is gun violence elsewhere (particularly Central and South America), but controlling just a little for poverty and stability, the US is off the charts compared to "peer" countries. It doesn't make me feel any better that Jamaica, El Salvador, and Columbia have a worse gun violence problem.