I get into the gun debate with my US friends all the time. We know our petty debates will not change anything - so it is actually quite interesting to discuss it and it rarely gets heated. But if I mention my views on guns on forums etc I get blasted!

I totally agree that people with mental illness should not have access to guns. In a society like the US has, that is hard to police and it is hard for citizens to accept. The gun violence is so involved in the US's history that banning them at this stage will not help. I do not know what the solution is for the US. What I do know is that the majority of our illegal guns come from the US, and that gun violence is more accepted and less shocking the more it happens in our media and first world countries.

I have no fear of gun violence. The arguement that the bad guys still have them doesnt stand here. Some bad guys have them, some good guys have them, the violence with guns is much less as there are simply less guns around. There is other violence, sure, but our rate of gun violence is so low because there are strict regulations and the general public cannot get guns easily thank god. In general, violence is less and police trust is higher.