I agree enthusiastically with what you say about handguns, Mick. I was only making the implication that they should probably be regulated a bit more stringently than long guns.

"What leads to crime is a plethora of societal and economic factors. Acting out on those issues leads to crime."

Exactly. I agree 100%.

There are certain societal factors in the USA, mostly based on its past history, social development, and traditions, that seem to create a good deal more per capita gun crime than in many other countries (Canada included). We've been over that ground before in other threads.

But no place, obviously, is immune to this sort of thing happening. We just had an incident in Canada the other day with an alienated young guy that shot innocent bystanders, and then himself, apparently for no other reason than that he was very alienated against society.

I'm not a bit surprised there are a lot of people out there who feel that way. Not a bit. I AM surprised when their feelings drive them so far as to shoot at other people, though.