The Christian hate merchants of the far right and a number of the knuckle dragging commentators that pander to them have been lamenting that the carnage in Aurora, Colorado and making bombastic statements that the killings are the result of America losing its Christian heritage and, god forbid, exhibiting increased tolerance towards gays (a small majority of Americans, in fact, support gay marriage and civil unions). These claims make for good sound bites, especially when targeted at the simple minded sheep - cretins candidly would be a better description - in the pews. But if a nation's level of religiosity and its willingness to keep religion from shaping the civil laws are indicators of moral degradation and attendant growing gun violence as claimed by the Christianists and their sycophants, then western Europe ought to be a veritable war zone with victims of gun fire littering the streets. After all, the level of religiosity and adherence to far right Christian dogma is far lower than in the USA. But such is not the case.
Indeed, we see vastly lower levels of violence and gun violence in particular in what the Christianists like to call "godless Europe." What's the explanation? It's called gun control and a much reduce number of guns in the hands of those who should not have them. How big is the difference? The European nation with the highest level of guns per 100 people (i.e., Switzerland) has roughly half (1/2) the number of guns that are on the streets in America. And in most European countries, the number of guns per 100 people is closer to one third (1/3) that in the USA. And the result is that gun violence is much more of a rarity in Europe. Yes, there was the horrific massacre in Norway, but even then some of the weaponry and ammunition was purchased in the USA and shipped to Norway in contravention of Norway's strict laws.
Thus, the real answer to the problem of gun violence isn't a "return to God," returning prayer to the public schools, or driving gays back into the closet. No, the real answer is serious, common sense gun control which takes automatic assault rifles and any number of military style weapons off the streets. Crooks and Liars has some telling quotes from Piers Morgan (who I don't typically follow) on the issue. Here are highlights:
When you have a young man like this able to legally get 6,000 rounds of ammunition off the Internet, to buy four weapons including an assault rifle, and for all of this to be perfectly legal in modern America, allowing him to carry out the biggest shooting in the history of the United States, that, I'm afraid, means it's too late for this debate, for those people that lost their lives.
So don't patronize me about when we should be talking about the gun control debate. You tell me a good reason why we should not strengthen the law now to stop another young man like him going into a store tomorrow, buying four more weapons, 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet, and killing and shooting another 70 people in America.
[W]e now know this young man legally purchased these weapons in the last two months, and purchased this staggering amount of ammunition -- he purchased a hundred-round drum magazine, allowing him to fire off 50 to 60 rounds in one minute in that movie theater, which is what has led to this mass slaughter and mass gun attack. Given what has happened today, do you think there is now legitimate cause to press politicians for tougher gun control in America?
It's way overdue. And let me reclarify what I said at the start of this program. I respect the Second Amendment. I respect the average Americans' right to defend themselves in their own homes with a firearm, if they need to. This is a totally different issue that we're talking about today. It's got nothing to do with that right whatsoever.
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