20 dead in Orlando gay club shooting

[Thumpalumpacus]

I've mentioned here before how my own country (New Zealand) is awash in privately owned firearms, but has a miniscule incidence of gun violence.  I don't think the problem in the US is so much guns as it is gun culture - the notion that nearly anyone who wants a gun should not be obstructed from getting one, and that this is somehow a 'right'.  NZ views gun ownership as a privilege, one that can be taken away for various infractions of the rules.

Boru

I don't even think it's that sort of culture. I think it's a subculture that has been steeped in Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood, which views a sidearm as a solution -- which it is only very rarely.

I'm not sure how your media reports this issue to you, but here on the ground in Texas, I can say this: I know many gun-owners. The overwhelming majority have no intention to use their weapon against anything other than paper. The overwhelming majority are not "they can pry my gun from my cold dead hands" types.

I know that even here in America the media distorts the picture on the ground. I can't speak to the accuracy of the reportage you watch, but if it's as accurate as ours is, it's still far off base.