well thought through and argued piece.
The "American frontier" is a powerful symbol in the collective Amercian psyche.
Gun culture owes much to John Wayne and Randolph Scott and Rambo and the mythology of good triumphing over evil via Good facing down Evil on main street where good has the faster draw.

Rhrosty, your extraordinary, irrational comment above shows that you are quite a few cards short of a pack.

You say, "And yes, American Leaders would rather fight all their wars on the perceived enemy's territory, so as to limit the collateral damage to the enemy's population!"

Given that the U.S. has killed 20-30 millions people since WW2, they can't be trying too hard to limit collateral damage, can they?

But to accuse me who is consistently anti-war of bloodlust shows how deranged you really are.

Better get back on your medication, old fellow!

ArthurN: If you outlaw weapons, then only outlaws will possess weapons!
It is not the gun that kills but the finger pulling the trigger.
Over fifty thousand, criminals, cops, and unarmed civilians caught in the crossfire, have been killed in the war on drugs!
Where is the horror or outrage there? Or are some innocent deaths more acceptable than others?
Yet people just like you, seem to believe, all we need ever do is remove weapons held by law abiding citizens.
Well even if that were possible and or removed the very reasons for these murderous rampages; that's a big ask in a place like America, where there are literally millions of unregistered weapons residing in private hands.
And, a knife is equally or more dangerous in trained hands.
Just ask all those who were Jack the Rippers multiple victims! Look, one small point 22 handgun, held in competent hands, by just one of those many victims, could have brought to a complete halt, his murderous activities!
This is the very point, which seems to escape the anti-gun lobby or people like you?
Japan has extremely tough gun control laws, yet as many as two thirds of that population, may well own handguns?
And are hardly likely to hand them in or risk prosecution?
I mean, laws have to actually be enforceable to work.
That is why we abandoned alcohol prohibition; and or, abortion prohibition!
Trying to prevent people having what they want by law, only ever works in totalitarian countries, governed by harsh or cruel regimes; and where unarmed civilians can be, and are routinely gunned down, simply for trying to flee, or speak their mind/publish the truth!
Is that what you would have for us, or the now armed camp that is America?
Personal freedom also has a price!
Better we should remove the very reasons why people feel they need to protect themselves, with any form of lethal weapon!
When you've worked that one out, give us another post and or the benefit of a wisdom, which has yet to appear on the planet?
Rhrosty.

Monday of this week was the third anniversary of a cluster bomb attack by the Americans on the village of al-Majala in Southern Yemen. That attack killed 14 women and 21 children (more than the Sandy point massacre). Where was the outrage over this killing, that Rhosty would no doubt claim was precision targeted?

Where is the outrage for the almost daily killing of women and children by American drones, almost exclusively in Muslim countries?

While it in no way detracts from the horror in Connecticut it takes a particular pathological personality system to give blanket media coverage to one incident yet ignore the deaths inflicted by that self-same political system on (literally) countless others who are dehumanised as "bug splat" and similar epithets.

This week's Der Spiegel carried a story about Brandon Bryant, a drone operator, who has resigned because he can no longer stomach the killing of women and children for which he was responsible. No major news outlet in the US or Australia has carried this story.

By our silence are we complicit.

The majority of the victims of America's gun culture are non White, as are the majority of the perpetrators.
Stamford Conn,Black citizens 13.9%
Detroit MI, Black citizens 82%

Rates of violent crime per 1000 head of population
Connecticut:2.81
Michigan:4.90

Connecticut, Black victims of homicide:39.8%
Michigan, Black victims of homicide:69.2%

Violent interracial crime is rare, 96% of Black victims are killed by other blacks, victimisation of Whites by Blacks and Hispanics occurs far more frequently, in about 14% of cases but my point is this:

The "gun culture" in the U.S.A relates to Black and Hispanic males between the ages of 14 and 24, it's not a White, Asian or Native American issue, dealing with the rate of gun homicide is a racial issue, to address this "gun culture" will have a far greater impact on minority communities than it will on mainstream America.
So why should everyone in the U.S.A be treated the same if the problem lies in specific ethnic/racial groups and geographic regions such as L.A county,Detroit, Washington D.C, New Orleans and Chicago?

Informative article.

America's grotesque domestic firearm laws are entirely America's problem, I'm amazed that the homicide rate isn't many times higher. As long as they massacre each other and refuse to change why should the people of more enlightened societies care.

The real atrocity is the way the US treats the rest of the world as targets.

I agree with James O'Neill's comments - the United States' war on the Third World is largely unreported or treated with callous indifference in America and the West in general. Unless of course, the victims actually retaliate.