Guns to Go? No, It Seems.

Scientific American recently published an interesting piece on guns, titled Gun Science, and written by Michael Shermer, the writer of the Skeptics column each month.  Published in May 2013, and available here -  http://www.michaelshermer.com/2013/05/gun-science/ .

The comments deliver a lot of flak to the writer, as he trys to justify better gun management /control / laws in the US.

As an outsider looking in, I do not pretend to fully comprehend the deep psyche that seems to condone gun ownership in the US.  That may be understandable.......but the timid steps being taken over heavy military type guns seemed eminently sensible to most outside the US.  Better management and control of "heavy düty guns" seemed a no brainer.

Shermer covers some details of evidence based policy management on firearms, injuries and deaths from guns as well as referencing a seminal book about how society turned over confrontational dispute settling by mostly violence [ think PNG or aboriginal society as an example in our neighbourhood] to the rule of law and judicial action [ Steven Pinker 2011, "The Better Angels of Our Nature"].  Most societies seem to have found another solution, but that might not apply to those seemingly ostracised from that society, sometimes an element in major gun or violent events.

The NRA and associated law makers from both major political parties seems to have society by the short and curlies in the US over gun control, and nothing seems to happen on the issue in the USA.