bobsaigon3 wrote: But then my view is that fear drives fear, and the gun culture that is part and parcel of life in the USA breeds a level of fear that seems to necessitate the ultimate force.
Is not that the key point in a nutshell?
Outsiders can find American gun culture scarily incomprehensible.
And the resistance to change equally so.
I admit that the 2nd Amendment has gained too much power over the last 50 years because of gun lobby etc. Bottom line many people not from the USA don't really understand the vastness of the USA. Within that vastness are many states where shooting and hunting has been part of the culture for many years . The NRA has enriched itself by pretending that anything that restricts guns flies in the face of the 2nd Amendment and is dangerous.
The thing that is hard to understand that when NRA members are asked if more restrictions o guns have to happen, they answer in the positive. But the people who make Millions in the hierarchy are not willing to bend.
There will come a point that guns are more restricted , just like Drunk Driving Laws were changed and Tobacco companies were forced to look for other countries to sell their cancer sticks..