Very nice- thanks for the link
As to your rhetoric, you do not name from where you draw your statistics.
I'm surprised that you ask the question. I didn't include a citation because I didn't believe that it matters where I drew my statistics. The veracity of the numeric digits isn't important - the point of my inclusion of statistics was to highlight the quantity of zeros in the numbers!!
I had understood from your words that you agree that there is a problem in America with gun related deaths - I share your belief. A debate about which source of statistical information is the more accurate doesn't advance our shared agreement about the problem- I respectfully suggest!
Guns do not kill. People using the tool kill. The issue is our need to fix people who think it is ok to shoot others; that murder is an acceptable solution to their problem - whatever it may be.
Agree 101% - guns are not sentient. Agree 101% - people using the tool kill! I'm aware of these statements being used by pro-gun lobbyists - but the truth is that both of these points are indisputable facts for anyone considering this issue - regardless of their leanings
Now, as I have said, each country has the right to determine their own gun culture rules. I don't know, and it may well be the case in America that it is possible to solve this problem by totally ignoring the sheer number of guns in your communities - and instead concentrate solely on the "people using the tool [to] kill". As a local, you are in a much better position than me to make this judgement.
I can see why you might suggest this approach given that America's 2nd amendment rights are sacrosanct. However and admittedly as an ill informed foreigner, it does seem to greatly complicate the search for a practical solution. But again - I don't know!
As to accidents that occur, those tragedies come because people are not being responsible for the care of the weapon and frankly the care of their family. Leaving a weapon around where curious young people have access is a lack of responsibility of the gun owner.
Again, you are better placed - but notwithstanding that your point is valid, is this a large part of the gun violence problem in America?
Are the repeated instances of mass killings up there - the result of guns that were carelessly left for the shooter(s) to access? Surely not- given that both you and
@vreihen seems to have confirmed that even children/teens have access to guns as a right (maybe I have misunderstood?)
From your words, you believe that removing guns will solve the killing problem. I submit that it will not. Those who want to find weapons to kill others will continue to do so. Perhaps the accidents will be reduced. The suicides will not abate - people wanting to kill themselves will just find another way.
Arrhhh...yes - I'm familiar with this line of argument! Again, I preface my reply with - I'm not sure about America in particular.
However, I invite that you take this logic journey with me: Let's assume that you are correct- let's assume that those "who want to find weapons to kill others will continue to do so" (I happen to agree with you, again). If this is true (as we both agree that it is) -doesn't it logically follow that the more weapons that are available in the local communities, the higher the probability that a gun will be found to commit these atrocities?
This said - the singular difference in America seems (to me) to be your unique 2nd Amendment right. It is for this reason that I'm not sure how to reconcile the logic above and the need to retain this distinctively American facility. Very tricky indeed- I hope that a solution is found quickly that delivers both objectives
The problem the US needs to address is why have we slipped into an attitude that taking a life is a solution to a problem... that is a mental health/social issue, not a gun issue.
I sound like a broken record - but again, I agree albeit I'm not sure that it's logical to maintain that the problem of gun violence doesn't concern the issue of guns (even in America)!!
When I was a kid, we had a rifle team at school. Kids carried their .22 rifle on the school bus. It was not an issue. What has changed? Did the gun change?
It's sentences like these that make America's gun culture so utterly fascinating (to me). My (respectful) reply is "Yes"! Both have changed - nothing surprising about this - and both will continue to change ad infinitum!!
However, what doesn't appear to have kept pace with the change is America's management of gun deaths!! Tragically, the price for this deficiency is being paid by the most precious of you (your children). I have no hesitation in suggesting that for both your Government and for American citizens -by any measure of human values, it's unforgivable to continue to allow this cost to be extracted !!
I simply cannot comprehend how any parent, Aunt/Uncle, moral human-being in America can tolerate such a vile situation to persist in its community. This is/should-be the stuff of fiction; a dystopian world in which human lives are of lesser value - but it's not; it's real and it has been allowed to flourish in your communities. Utterly unbelievable and truly reprehensible when I see successive POTUS's do a pontius-pilot, saying that it's the role of NRA to fix!!
I'm a simple man who likes to distill problems down to their bare essences. To me, this matter won't be solved until decision makers are forced to publicly proclaim what value they place on the lives of American children. Of course everyone will respond by saying "the highest value" - but that's way too easy!!
The point of the question is to ask how the value of children's lives measure against the myriad other advantages that citizens enjoy in 21st century. This is a much more difficult and more profound aspect of the question. It's easy (and in my mind, extremely naive) to think that a solution to gun violence will be found without any compromise to American's way of life. There's very low probability of this occurring and more likely, something will need to be extracted from citizen freedoms.
Now, I'm aware how precious citizen freedoms are to Americans because Aussies share these same beliefs! Hence my suggestion that Americans decide where the lives of those who are the victims of gun violence sit in the list of the other things that they value!! This will determine what compromises are worthy of consideration - and which are not!
I know with absolute certainty how my value-set stacks-up - but I have no idea how American's might make these determinations. And no - Americans throwing their hands in the air and saying "I don't know" (or even worse, remaining silent) isn't an acceptable answer to children not coming home from school - as I'm sure we will agree, again!!
Don
on TV every Saturday morning...and it *clearly* showed that a shotgun was inadequate for hunting wabbits..... 
