Gun ownership in America is not a black and white issue. Most Americans have little sympathy for either the NRA and their "only an ARMED man is truly free" bullshit on one side, and the gun-control extremists and their "All guns are EVIL" crap on the other. We know better.

But progress needs to be made. Gunshow loopholes need to be closed. Gun crimes need to be vigorously prosecuted. Many types of weapons currently legal need to be banned. I don't buy the "Guns are necessary to fend off an oppressive government" argument, nor the "an armed citizenry is the greatest deterrent to crime" argument, but I know that many intelligent folks do believe these things. Progress in the control of guns here, and throughout the world, will be made when individuals sit down and hammer out difficult compromises with respect to each other's points of view in a rational manner. Statements such as "I am afraid of Americans and their guns" do not advance this cause. I believe in your earnestness, lizzie, but I do think your statement reveals an ignorance of the status quo re guns, and does not move it toward an improvement in the situation.

LEJ