Guns and America. . . a view from here

I had already started working on a post that talked about all of the wonderful birds that we are seeing daily in in Melbourne. Then I saw the news last night. The Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) has a reputation for being pretty unbiased, though I have grumbled a couple of times that they were interviewing only pro-Trump Americans. As time has gone on, I've come to realize that that isn't true. They are Not quick to judgment publicly, though, and certainly seem to strive for a neutral tone. So. . . after the reporting on the school shooting in Florida, they did this piece. . .


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-15/the-facts-when-it-comes-to-guns-in-america/9452134

In case you can't take the 1 minute 49 seconds it takes to watch this, here's what Mr. Jones has to say.

• There are almost as many guns in America as people: 300,000 guns, 323,000 people: 2X as many guns per capita as 50 years ago .
• Americas represent 4% of the world population, yet own 48% of the privately held guns.
• Not all Americans own guns: 50% of the guns are in the hands of 3% of the people.
• The average gun-owning household has 8 guns.
• After Sandy Hook (2012), 24 states made it easier to get guns, and sales increased in all of those states.
• There have been 300 U.S. shootings since 2013.
• Mass shootings, horrible as they are, account for only 1/10 of 1% of gun deaths. The rest are person-on-person.
• In 2018 (that's only 2 months), 30 people have died in mass shootings in the U.S. 1,817 have died in other gun deaths in the U.S. 
• Finally, since 1970, more people have died by guns in America than in every war since the American Revolution.

As if I don't already have a hard time sleeping, this had me up last night.  We need to find some answers, folks. This makes me cry just thinking about it. What. What. What is wrong with us?

Perhaps you remember that the Australian's endured a mass shooting at a children's camp in 1996, called The Port Arthur (Tasmania) massacre. 35 deaths, 24 more injured. They did not eliminate guns, as some 2nd Amendment supporters claim. To read the specifics see

https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AwrSbmNjKIZaxbwAjasL5gt.;_ylu=X3oDMTByNWU4cGh1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?qid=20090418123055AAuM5Dy

The resulting laws have not completely eliminated gun violence, but they have curbed it dramatically.

I'll close by saying that I'm sorry to present such a disturbing piece, but I think we can all benefit from seeing ourselves from afar. And of course, by remembering that the Australians are our friends.