Gun Violence in USA

This is one of those topics that should be avoided along with religion and politics. But I don't see how avoiding the topic really solves anything.

It's estimated that there are 200 million guns in the USA and 30,000 gun-related deaths every year (about 10,000 of those are homicides). Guns are really well made so those 200 million guns are going to be around for a long, long time. So I don't see how gun control is going solve much. It's too late for that. I'm in favor of gun control, especially for handguns and automatic weapons. But I think the gun violence issue in the USA is beyond being solvable by gun control, even though the number of guns in the USA seems to be part of the problem (see guns and homicides in Canada vs USA and here). Those 200 million guns in the USA are not going away in any case.

President Bush said:

"If you use a gun illegally, you will do hard time,” the president said. “This nation must enforce the gun laws which exist on the books
“We’re going to reduce gun violence in America. And those who commit crimes with guns will find a determined adversary in my administration,” he said to an audience of approximately 75 police officers..

Yet states without the death penalty have lower homicide rates (here).

There are those that think more guns are the answer. If everyone were armed they could protect themselves. Personally I don't see where an armed belligerent drunk in a bar room or an irate domestic partner is in the best interest of anyone.

Michelle Malkin agrees tht more guns are needed and writes:

What if just one student in one of those classrooms had been in lawful possession of a concealed weapon for the purpose of self-defense?

Then you have your manly men like John Derbyshire wondering why the students didn't rush the gunman. Afterall, one of his guns was an inaccurate 22. What an idiot!

Others think it is an immigrant problem. I don't know how much evidence there is for this claim but I'm guessing there is more than just a bit of racism or bigotry involved in this claim.

Rush Limbaugh knows that the basis of gun violence is secularism:

Maybe there needs to be more religion and prayer at our universities, folks. Maybe there needs to be a sense on college campuses that there's something bigger than the individual. Maybe there's something larger than the professor. Maybe they're not too young to learn that there are many things in life larger than self, and maybe being able to take comfort in a relationship with that which is larger than self ( i.e., God) would have a calming effect on some of these people who go absolutely nuts and lose their sanity.(from here)

Do you wonder which state in the USA has the least restrictive gun laws? Alabama, Mississippi, Florida? No, as far as I can tell it's Vermont. No license, permit, or registration is needed to purchase or carry a handgun (here). Yet Vermont has one of the lowest homicide rates in the nation.

The important question is why is there so much gun violence in the USA? And, what can we do about it? It is claimed there is evidence that violent video games are part of the gun violence problem in the USA. But if this is the case, how come the differences in handgun violence in the years before computers (let's say 1976-1980) isn't much different from that seen in the last five years.

I wish I had some answers...I don't. I found the NEA Health Information Network had some useful information...if it is true. For instance:

Studies show that 1 percent of gun stores sell the weapons traced to 57 percent of gun crimes.

If that is true, it seems that something should be done about it.

But still, there seems to be something wrong with our culture in the USA that leads us to violence. Is it racism? Too many one parent families? Poverty or too many mentally ill walking the streets? Ultimately there seems to be a difference between the USA and other developed countries when it comes to violence....especially gun violence.