As America once more reels in shock at the needless murder of students at the Red Lake High School, on a Native American reservation in the northern state of Minnesota, the question of gun control will almost certainly be raised, and dismissed, once again.

To someone living in the United Kingdom, where hand guns are illegal and strict firearm controls are largely accepted without question, it is hard to understand why America is so in love with the weapon that destroys the lives of thousands of people every year. This is never more perplexing than right after yet another high school shooting, of which America seems to hold an ominous world record.

While gun crime is on the rise in the UK, firearms incidents are actually relatively small in number. Certainly they are statistically dwarfed when compared to similar incidents recorded in the United States where the ‘right to bear arms’ is woven into the fabric of the country’s constitution. The founding fathers wrote in the second amendment, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

It would be very easy to become embroiled in an argument of statistics, quoting numbers and percentages to prove a point that ultimately could then be disproved by simply using another set of equally exploitable figures. Ultimately though the argument fades and the status quo continues, until that is, the next high school shooting.

Strange as it might seem to some, I have managed to get this far in life without the need of a firearm to protect myself… [Click here to continue reading this article at ‘Meanwhile’]