This is so sad, f**king Americans and their guns.

I knew this was Newark before I even opened the link. A friend of mine went to school near Newark. His first year there, he was chased (in one of the better parts of town) for his rollerblades. Good thing he was good on them.

I am an American and I do not own any type of gun.
I am also not a democrat.
Weird how when you generalize you get things wrong...

Sorry, that was a bad generalization and I know not all Americans are like this. I do think your guys gun laws are a little bit f**ked though.

That is fair. Any opinion is welcome in my book, just not stereotypes and generalizations :)

Wow, it was really his time to go.

And I don't own a gun either, and I am an American.

I am an American and I want to own a gun. Then again I've taken the gun safety courses and know how to handle one. I'm also not interested in owning a machine gun or a rocket launcher.

I'm an American, and I don't own a gun. But if I did you can bet your sweet ass I'd be firing it straight up in the air, in doors, out doors; it don't matter. I'd be the most rootin'est tootin'est gun firin'est bastard you ever done saw.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!!!

*blam*

*blam*

*blam*

*blam*

(sigh. one day those will be real gun shots)

I'm an american.. and all I have is a little .22 pistol now.. I still need to go and get my CCW though. I want to buy an automatic shotgun and an AK-47, but just to have.. they would most likely never be used.. unless I go to a gun range.. or I become like every other detroiter on new years eve or during the next riot.

I'm also a democrat

"Ow! My head f**k!! God Damn you DEP! You just shot me in the head you a*****e. Look I don't know why I'm not dead alright just come here and help me clean up this blood"

(sigh. one day that will be a real bullet wound)

I originally downvoted your first comment, but immediately realized that we can all get emotional at times. Especially when it is as senseless a death as described in the story. Apologies for my emotional response. :)

I was raised with firearms, but educated as to their proper handling and use. The main lesson was, this is not a toy. Perhaps if along with background checks, a course in safety and "common" sense was required.

I bet it was acquired illegally.

You can legislate all the guns laws you want, the fact of the matter is that people who shouldn't have them will still get them.

Heavier legislation only makes it harder for people who give half a d*** about the law to get them.

Not quite. Law-abiding people who want to buy a gun can still go to a weapon's store and buy one. They can't however buy a car or open a bank account and get a gun for free.

Take a look at this article from the CDC.

Yeah, but criminals can go get an AK-47 with no background check at all, while I would have to go through a lengthy and costly process to buy one (don't ask me why I would ever need one, it doesn't matter).

Also, the CDC article stated at the bottom, rather emphatically:

"Although specific reasons for the differences in rates among countries are unknown, previous studies have reported on the associations between rates of violent childhood death and low funding for social programs (6), economic stress related to participation of women in the labor force (7,8), divorce, ethnic-linguistic heterogeneity, and social acceptability of violence"

So not only is it near impossible to figure out why countries are different, gun control isn't even in their list of suppositions. Maybe social acceptability of violence...