Proud to be Aussie (Pray for Vegas)

Good point. However - Australia comes to the game as subjects of the crown - not free and sovereign people. No 2nd amendment. So - as a matter of tradition, the US has been into gun culture since the 16th century.

That said - this is a problem. I thought the wave of shootings leading up to the 1996 action to be 'odd'. Much like, the wave of axe and cleaver attacks on elementary schools in China. Should the Chinese have removed ALL sharp objects from their country?

Mae Brussell predicted the advent of these sorts of 'event's, years ago. Guns don't fire on their own. And we still don't even know "what" this was.

And there are some questions raised by these shootings. 10 rifles and more than 500 rounds of ammo? That's quite a lot to lug. This hotel doesn't have any security, does it? Seems odd how much he got past the desk to his room - ALL ON TAPE.

Like the scrawny kid from Newtown....HOW MUCH AMMO did he lug to that school? Do the math...short of a fork lift - that seems beyond reason - on weight alone.

At the end of the day Americans have a right to bear arms - of a sort REMARKABLY inferior to those carried by the police and military. When Obama was talking about AR15's being MILITARY weaponry - it struck me that our police are SUPPOSED to be civilian (and armed as such), not military....and yet since yet ANOTHER 'odd' event in N.Hollywood - all the cops in California have them in their cars and hands. Seems like an issue to address before the people disarm.

I don't use guns generally - unless someone brings me a present - so it's hard to disarm me. But for people of less physicality or training - a gun can be an essential tool for defense and survival.

They may have a right to bear arms, but that is what they are given by the United States government. It is up to the government to decide on people's rights.

And while a gun IS essential for defense, it is also a murder weapon, and semi-automatic and automatic rifles are specially designed for mass murder, which is a major threat to the civilian society. And it is already been proven that a number of civilians cannot be trusted with dangerous weaponry. The only way to prevent these happenings is a ban, as has been proven in Australia.

Besides, what else is a semi-automatic rifle useful for in civilian society, other than large-scale killing?

There is a lot here to object to. Generally, I get it. But I think this trend is statistically significant. In Oz the series of shootings graphs like a spike. What accounts for that?

Here - I see how these sorts of incidents are used to steal the newscycle. The bigger and bloodier - the more coverage it gets.

Perhaps we should ban TV.
After all... if our rights COME FROM THE US GOVERNMENT - then they can take them ALL back. Why not simply suppress the type of press that fuels copy-cat behavior - and see whether these things keep happening at the same rate?

As it stands, IL TRUMPE' can speak about disasters and senseless, unsolvable, unpreventable tragedies (unless he wants to piss off the NRA, by throwing Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer a bone) - without ever addressing the war on 5 or 7 fronts, or the Billions in Arms we just sent continue the genocide in Yemen.

I don't believe that YOUR string of shootings was natural or organic and spontaneous.

I KNOW that the HISTORY of GUN CONTROL in the US is SERIOUSLY problematic. Unless, that is, that you believe that the KENNEDYs, John Lennon AND REAGAN, were all shot by "lone gunmen" - acting alone and with no outside influence or manipulation.

Otherwise, you see a string of incidents using - eithers PROs and a Patsy with JFK, or "Clear Eyes" assassins of the Manchurian Candidate variety with or without assistance - orchestrated by the Intel Community. Incidents which are then used by elements within the Legislature to justify reductions in actual freedom to bear arms by the people; and timed concurrent with INCREASES in armament and militarization by the police.

And all based on a flawed premise - that X bought Y gun and shot Z figure with it, entirely upon their own volition and impulse. Oswald - no. Sirhan - no. The odd connections between Hinckley and the Bush fam are weird. The Connections between Hinckley and Chapman and WORLDVISION camps abroad....and the Catcher in the Rye and Taxi Driver. A bit like the Red Queen, and Raymond. So I don't blame this all upon guns or rifles. Please state categorically that this shooting WAS NOT the result of some kind of manipulation of the shooter. How could you? Insufficient evidence.

What about James Holmes? Weird how the son of a witness to the LIBOR scandal....

In Vegas the rifles were all legally modified to simulate full auto. Certainly no need for that to be legally. But realistically, a file will switch most guns over, if they are capable by design.