I'll be sorry for getting mixed up in this, but here goes....

Which preacher of light from the land of Shakespeare will tell us wayward former Colonials exactly what practical steps we should take to eliminate gun violence in the USA?

Don't buy guns? There are so many out there that many of us feel the need for self-defense. Just in case.

Repeal the Second Amendment? As I've said elsewhere, this will not happen in our lifetime - or our children's - or ever. And if it did, how would local, state, and/or federal governments collect the now outlawed weapons without shooting it out with many of the tens of millions of owners? The situation would be a dream come true for every heavily armed, radical-right and anarchist hate group in the country. And then what?

Outlaw the civilian firearms industry? See above.

Look at it another way. With 300,000,000 Americans and allegedly a similar number of firearms in private (including criminal) hands, why is the annual gun-death rate so incredibly *low*? Even if it is sky-high compared to, say, our Canadian friends, it is still low. The average American is extraordinarily unlikely ever to be shot at by anybody.

The last time I checked, life expectancies in the US and UK were within about a year of each other. Does anyone believe that the UK has the edge because there's a constant hail of bullets over here?

I've never known anyone who had a gun pulled on him under any circumstances (and believe me, they would talk about it!), and I know, through the news only, of just one person who was shot within a mile of me - and that was in a big American city. (It happened in 1970.)

Even in the most violent inner cities, the lead is not constantly flying. Other kinds of crimes and general misery are the main problems, as they are in every slum everywhere.

Americans are hardly the kill-crazy nuts some like to think we are. So let's be a little less pitying, patronizing, snide, and self-righteous in our criticisms. OK?