What I'm Reading: Guns and America

A few recommendations for thoughtful and intelligent information in the wake of another mass murder by a mentally ill individual with unlimited access to assault weapons.

I am biased in favor of gun control, particularly in the form of making assault weapons unavailable to civilians. It's hard to keep a truly open mind on this; I can't comprehend the mindset that assumes a genuine, personal need -- or, worse, a 'right' -- to own these types of weapons.

After all the rhetoric and the passionate pleadings and the data and the discussions, I have to ask the anti-gun control proponents one simple question: "Hey -- how's this been working out so far? Think we might try something else for awhile?"

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How research on the effects of guns in relationship to violence has been suppressed in America:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/12/gun_violence_research_nra_and_congress_blocked_gun_control_studies_at_cdc.htm

How the proponents of 2nd amendment rights to bear arms are whistling in the wind:

http://www.salon.com/2012/12/17/guns_have_never_saved_us/

How American gun culture is viewed in at least one European nation:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/commentary-newton-and-the-fatal-national-identity-of-america-a-873350.html

How America could potentially limit and control guns and their access without resorting to a values-based campaign:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_big_idea/2012/12/newtown_massacre_bloomberg_not_obama_knows_how_to_beat_the_nra.html

One example of a country that instituted serious gun control restrictions and the effects of that decision:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2012/12/16/gun_control_after_connecticut_shooting_could_australia_s_laws_provide_a.html