Illinois shootout

Yesterday another shootout on an American college took place, this time at Northern Illinois University (near Chicago). The gunman took 5 innocent lives before shooting himself, and still Americans are wondering why this shit happens so much more often in their country than it does in the rest of the Western world.

I think the solution to that is very very simple: insane gun control laws. As long as you can get a gun with your groceries at the local Wal-Mart, I don;t see any problem for some deranged psycho to have an afternoon of 'fun' at the expense of so many people. Gun lobbyist in the United States tend to put the emphasis on using rifles as a means to defend oneself, but really, if no civilians would actually be able to buy guns, then what do you need to defend yourself against?

In the Netherlands, where I live, it is illegal for a civilian to own a gun, and as a result shootouts are very, very rare. Usually when they occur, they have something to do with organised crime, instead of some kid who may or may not have been bullied in highschool and who feels to need to use a gun to get rid of the frustration. In the Netherlands we don't actually need to put metal detectors around school entrances in case someone might think it would be a nice way to spend the afternoon shooting everyone who is in enough bad luck to be around.

Let me get one thing clear, it's not like the Netherlands are a safe haven without any crime. We've got kids coming to school with knives, and occasionally someone indeed does die, but then again, I guess I'd rather have someone with a knive in a school than a gun. Someone with a knive is, I suppose, a lot easier to get down after one victim, whereas a shooter can kill or injure multipal innocent people before getting caught.

The United States really should evaluate and illiminate this insane gun control system. I know the only reason it's there, is because the weapon industry is lobbying like hell to maintain everything the way it is, and for some reason I don't understand Republicans are all in favor of it. but really, how much longer can they pretend it's for the better? How many more incidents need to take place before they really start seeing the light?