Nineteen Chlldren

   There are more guns in America -- 400 million of them -- than there are people.

   There are four gun deaths per 100,000 population in America, compared to fewer than one in Canada or the UK. The more precise ratio is 3.96 per 100,000 in America, and 0.47 in Canada and 0.04 in Britain. In Japan, South Korea and China, the ratio is 0.02, according to those who track such ratios.

   Only 2 percent of all the guns in America are held by the military and police departments. The rest -- 98 percent -- are owned by civilians, and the average gun owner has five firearms.

   Already this year, there have been more than 200 mass shootings in America. The term "mass shooting" is defined as four or more people killed or wounded in a single incident.

   Already this year, there have been 27 school shootings in America.

   Later this week, the National Rifle Association (NRA) will hold its annual meeting in Texas, with Donald Trump as the featured speaker.

   What will they have to say about the murder of nineteen children and two adults at an elementary school in Texas this same week?

   One of the defenses gun advocates use is to say firearms are needed in case of an invasion by a foreign power.

   From where, Canada?

   Compare that defense to the amount of time it took the person to kill nineteen unarmed children and their teachers this week in an elementary school.

    Police response can be measured in minutes, especially when schools have armed security guards in the building every day. 

  Another defense put forth is to say the perpetrators are typically mentally ill, so the issue is therefore not about guns but about sickness.

  But mental disturbances are just as common in other nations, so the issue is not about sickness but remains the easy availability of guns. 

 And they cite the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution for their right to bear arms. They neglect the first phrase, which stipulates that a "well organized militia is essential to the security of a free state." 

 Were the shooters at schools and churches in America members of any militia, well organized or otherwise?

   Hunters insist they have a right to use firearms when hunting, but they say is unfair to use automatic weapons against deer. Apparently it's acceptable to use them against children.