In December 2012, Ben Fogle, a UK celebrity, tweeted the following concerning gun-related deaths across the world last year:

Japan 48; UK 8; Switzerland 34; Canada 52; Sweden 21... USA 10,728

(Visit: http://fullfact.org/factchecks/handguns_kill_united_states_twitter_last_year-28677 )

And so it goes on: the taking of innocent lives in the USA to protect the interests (sporting, financial... whatever) of red neck gun lobbyists. Read what they say in the Huff Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/24/guns-children_n_2359661.html

Statistics on gun-related deaths in the US compared with those from other ‘developed’ countries vary, but one thing is consistent... that deaths in America exceed those in most other countries over a hundredfold. Surely, we all thought, Americans will now listen to their President after he delivered a very powerful speech asking his compatriots to join him in tightening up on firearm legislation in the wake of the murder of 20 elementary schoolchildren and six very brave schoolteachers in Newtown, Connecticut.  But no, the second amendment pretty much gives every US citizen the right to bear arms (in case they need to shoot a ‘bad guy’ with a gun). Fox news chose to ignore the Gun Debate, focusing instead on the fertiliser plant explosion in West, Texas (New York Times, April 19^th 2013). A terrible thing that explosion, and lives were lost, but it was a one off. More effective gun control is about saving lives... including young lives. Important... or not? And democrats voting against reform that could stop even a few children getting killed?

Could someone tell us outside the USA what is going on? Trouble is, I’m not totally outside. I’ve lived and worked in that country in the past and have two beautiful Texan granddaughters who attend a lovely school in Houston. The fear that they or any of their friends could get gunned down as happened not only in Newtown, but is a regular occurrence somewhere in the US, is a very real one for me. 

Last Sunday I attended mass with my Texan granddaughters in Houston... in a huge church that would dwarf many European cathedrals, and it was almost full. My mind drifted to the December Newtown killings and I wondered how many of the folk in the congregation had guns back home. None, I hope. After all, does the Bible not say ‘thou shalt not kill’? What other reason can there be to hold a firearm? And is there any reason for anyone, outside the field of battle, to have an automatic weapon apart from mass, indiscriminate killing.

Did someone mention Columbine High School? 1999. 12 students, one teacher murdered. Michael Moore tried to get his compatriots to wake up to the fact that lax US gun control was killing their schoolchildren:

http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/

Did anyone who has influence in America listen to him? And if effective action had been taken because of Columbine, might some of those murdered Newtown children still be alive?

Perhaps shame stopped Fox News from effective coverage of the voting in the Senate (a bastion of democracy?) that allows the killing of children to go on... and on and on... No, I think not. More to do with 'allegiance to power, the National Rifle Association, gun manufacturers and gun sellers' (New York Times letter to the editor, April 19th 2013).

Meanwhile in China, President Xi Jinping, did not ride around Beijing in a taxi to experience first hand the plight of his citizens (who have no gun-loving senators to stand up for their rights) in the pollution-laden capital of the world's most populous country. Red faces somewhere in Xinhua, the official governement news agency, for saying he did, then retracting the statement. But maybe now he will take that taxi ride... if only to save loss of his own face.

Oliver Eade

http://olivereade.blogspot.com/