WHEN statistics show that in the US the number of household guns is roughly equal to the number of people who live in the country and that there are almost as many legal places to buy guns as there are gasoline stations, is it any wonder that the result is the Connecticut school shooting that has left 28 dead, including 20 children? Many details of the attack are still unfolding, but what is clear is Sandy Hook Elementary School has become the nation's latest infamous crime scene. Friday's shooting is the third major gun attack in the US this year. In July an attacker killed 12 people at a premiere of a Batman film in Aurora, Colorado. In August six people died at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. But American history is replete with attacks by the insane, especially on educational institutions. Columbine and Virginia Tech were the scenes of just two of the macabre, horrid assaults on students and pupils. Following the shooting, President Obama talked of unspecified “meaningful action" regardless of political consequences, but what does that mean? The Second Amendment to the US Constitution protects an individual's right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia. For most politicians, keenly aware of the power of the gun lobby, it's a toxic subject. If Obama wants tougher laws, he's likely to face a battle in Congress and the courts. And it's almost an unwinnable case. It's been said America is a nation of stubborn individualism and lethal gun violence. These two characteristics are entwined in its national psyche. The Wild West and the gunslinger are only half-myths. America is a gun culture safeguarded by often frenzied lobbying by the National Rifle Association which for the past 40 years has been solidly against virtually all gun legislation. The NRA's endorsing of Ronald Reagan for president signaled its wholehearted entry into politics. Ever since, it has been the key player in the conservative coalition that has dominated the Republican Party. The chilling situation is that the periodic massacres of the innocent are the price that Americans pay for their freedom and liberties. The result is an America that no sane person of any political persuasion would want. It is a country in which every so often crazed individuals gun down dozens of people in schools and theaters. Just as serious, there are no quick-fix solutions. Americans will not be disarmed nor are they going to pass out guns to elementary school teachers to use to defend their charges and themselves. The FBI conducted nearly 17 million background checks of prospective gun owners this year. But these checks are not foolproof. Psychos do fall through the cracks, going undetected until catastrophe happens. The irony is that just as there has been a gradual decline in the overall level of gun crime in the US, the number of public mass murders using automatic weapons has increased. So it appears school shootings and other public displays of crazed violence will continue to become sadly familiar in 21st century America. Considering the existence of such liberal gun laws, the number of incidents like Friday's is still extremely low. One, though, is one too many.
