The USA: In the Shadow of the Gun …

You know, I’ve got to admit, I’m thinking, here, that the USA seems — from way over on this side of the pond — to be a funny old place.

No, really …

Now, I don’t know about you, but I saw and followed the news about the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords with a certain amount of shock.

But not too much surprise.

After all, shootings are nothing new.

What shocked me was the simple fact that I’d not heard of one in the English-speaking world: even in the States, where guns are so much more prevalent.

Which is what sort of got me.

I don’t know about you, but something that always surprises me is that a civilised nation like the US has the right to bear arms enshrined in its Constitution. Which seems — almost immediately, when something like this happens — to trigger a media row about gun control.

Along with rows about who or what is to blame.

Don’t forget, I’m from a nation where gun ownership is basically illegal, except under very tightly controlled circumstances, even in a semi-rural part of the world, like Essex.

And where spree shootings, like the ones carried out by Raoul Moat and Derrick Bird, last year, are thankfully few.

But, in the midst of all the media hype about this … ?

I couldn’t help but think a few things.

The main thing … ?

I know that many in the US swear by that right to bear arms …

And yet …

I can’t help but wonder about a country that will legally sell an offensive and dangerous weapon to Jared Loughner, the shooter: a man that many are saying had serious mental issues.

And also ask a question.

After all, it’s only with the recent re-opening of the US House of Representatives, that representatives have read the US Constitution into the records.

Of course, they missed out the bit that said slaves were only equivalent to ⅗ths of a person.

I’d imagine most Afro-Americans would be happy about that.

So I’ve got to ask why — why, especially given the USA has one of the worst gun related homicide rates on the planet — did they also not miss out the Second Amendment.