which had little to do with socialism (or any other 'ism' but mostly with $$$$$$$$

Oh god not another "Elephant and the Polish problem"
Let me explain; Once upon a time, there was a teacher at a diplomatic school with kids from all over the world in her class. So she asks the children to write a story about an elephant. They all do this except for the Polish kid who writes a story called "the elephant and the Polish Problem".
So out of all the timelines there, you pick the guns ban mmm. Not the drop in oil prices in 2008 or any other cause. Now if you were evangelical, it might be a socialist atheist govt. A democrat (small d) the banning of any opposition. But no it must have been the killing-stick ban.
Fuck knows how any of us lesser nations manage to struggle through with any form of democracy at all without the benefit of at least one school shooting a month. How on earth can freedom be maintained in the UK, Japan, EU or anywhere except the US of A if there isn't someone's head blown in half on a daily basis? Pity the poor oppressed population of France, living under the yolk of authority without any redress. Jeez, it is a wonder we don't have the state telling women what to do with their bodies or schools and universities what they cannot teach, Thank Christ that Amerikkka has guns to stop any of such nonsense from happening there!

@273kelvin I don't know about how things are in your country, but I find it no coincidence that in my country those gradually losing their right to marry whomever they wish to (LGBT rights) and reproductive rights (the right for women to get an abortion procedure) are precisely the ones who have voluntarily given up their right to self-defense, and the cowardly politicians who are undermining said rights know that and realize such people are absolutely no threat to their power. Also, no two countries could be compared to when it comes to government corruption, as some countries have a serious problem with that while others do not.

Sorry my pick above there triggered you to go into a tirade, but I raised a valid point. Lastly, don't believe everything you hear in the American news, mass shooting incidents are not as common as you are led to believe they are. I live in one of largest cities in the state of Pennsylvania, and yet neither I or my fellow city dwellers have a constant fear of getting caught up in a mass shooting. Supposed news stories about mass shooting incidents are largely clickbait, meant to attract as many views as possible and to help spread fear and paranoia, all in an effort to promote what amounts to a political agenda.

@SpikeTalon "It no coincidence that in my country those gradually losing their right to marry whomever they wish to (LGBT rights) and reproductive rights (the right for women to get an abortion procedure) are precisely the ones who have voluntarily given up their right to self-defence," Wow you really have no bullshit detection at all do you? Texas and Florida have the most liberal gun laws and the most repressive LTBQ/abortion laws. It is a pattern you can follow all through the individual states. You are like one of those religious politicians who claim that "More god = less crime" but refuse to notice that the jails are full of God-botherers and highly religious countries often have correspondingly high crime rates.
If America was the freest country in the world you might have a point but it's only about 15th.*
As for mass shootings, one is far too many and you have a lot more than one. Let me put it this way; At the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland, road traffic accidents were still the biggest cause of death. As I type, gun violence is the biggest cause of child mortality in the US. So you would be safer going to Northern Ireland in the 1970s than your kids are going to school today!

• [worldpopulationreview.com]

@273kelvin What are you talking about, did you actually read what I wrote? I'm well aware of the fact that states like Texas and Florida have some of the most liberal gun laws... and a good portion of the LGBT and pro choice folks in those states are also the ones who by and large have voluntarily given up their gun rights and are the ones who support more redundant gun control laws, and not surprisingly they are also the ones who are having their rights come under attack. I'm also well aware of the fact that roughly 85% of the prison population are those who identify as religious, and I've never denied such, so why did you bring that up?

Again, I know the US isn't the freest nation in the world, yet repeatedly I've observed in my country that those who exercise their 2A rights are the least likely group of people to face oppression and be stripped of their individual rights.

I don't disagree on the one mass shooting too many part there, but it's worth pointing out that most other if not all of the major developed countries have witnessed at least one mass shooting incident in recent times depsite having some serious gun control laws on the books, which begs the question what good are said laws if such incidents occur anyways? Shootings account for only slightly more fatalities than automobile accidents, and that trend started as little as three years ago, which is hardly any length of time given the ado over that. About 4,500 youths are killed by guns per year in the US, compared to the roughly 4,200 killed in automobile accidents, so it's not like that many more are killed by guns, and are you aware that there's about 350 million people living here in the US? Oh wow, under 5,000 youths killed by guns, that's such an out of control number there right, in a country that has a couple hundred million residents and counting. You're grasping at straws, school mass shooting incidents in the US are statistically rare.-
[city-journal.org]

@SpikeTalon "I'm well aware of the fact that states like Texas and Florida have some of the most liberal gun laws... and a good portion of the LGBT and pro choice folks in those states are also the ones who by and large have voluntarily given up their gun rights and are the ones who support more redundant gun control laws, and not surprisingly they are also the ones who are having their rights come under attack." WTF!! Have got this correct, you are blaming the LBTQ pro-choice community itself for the repressive laws because they are not pro-gun enough? Talk about victim shaming. Perhaps they should have gone to church more too? Oh and remind me never to use similes on you, as you cannot understand the word "like".
"I don't disagree on the one mass shooting too many part there, but it's worth pointing out that most other if not all of the major developed countries have witnessed at least one mass shooting incident in recent times depsite having some serious gun control laws on the books, which begs the question what good are said laws if such incidents occur anyways?" Yeah too right, I mean the FAA has all those regs and laws to stop plane crashes and still they happen so...* What a fucking hypocrite, firstly you agree that one is too many and then go on to try and show how 4,500 is no biggie. Well, 4,500 is 4,500 more than the UK, Australia, NZ, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal all put together and it is higher than the annual casualty rate of the US forces in the Vietnam War.
Like so many Americans you have fallen into the big con-job mindset of "guns keep me free". Meanwhile, you are no freer than anyone else and more freedoms are being taken from you but because they let you have your bang-bangs, that's okay. Just ask yourself this. Would France get away with the same anti-abortion laws that Texas has passed?
Guns don't stop governments, people stop governments.

*That bit uses sarcasm, not to be confused with satire or irony. It is taking the piss to comic effect. See I compared your premise that gun laws do not stop all mass shootings with the idea that FAA regs do not stop all plane crashes and put them in juxtaposition in order to show the lucidity of the original premise. I apologise for getting the big crayons out but seeing as similes are lost on you I thought I better had.
Ps. The above is called "patronizing"

@273kelvin I'm not blaming anyone per se there, but do find that peculiar that those who have willingly given up certain rights are also losing other rights they do care about, while those who do exercise their 2A rights oddly enough are not finding themselves in such a position.

One such incident is too many, but my point was that people like you are making a bigger deal out of that than what it really is, was all. You act like it's some sort of genocide going on, and that's not reality. I'm not the one either who's over-inflating statistics in order to prop-up his agenda. In the Vietnam War, it is estimated that over 58,000 US soldiers were killed in that war, while barely 2,000 had died in US mass shootings since 1982. Stop exaggerating claims for crying out loud.-
[statista.com]

Stop comparing France with the USA too, as the former does not have the problem with crooked theocratic politicians as my country has. People who are armed have the potential to stop governments. The protest groups in my country like BLM and pro choice activist groups to date have been relatively ineffective in bringing about any actual change where government and police corruption is concerned, and said activist groups are also anti-2A rights, and the Government knows that which is why they aren't concerned as an unarmed population does nothing to threaten or upset the balance of Government power.

FAA regulations are shite too, as people find ways around regulations if they want to. Most laws in my country are redundant and do very little to keep society intact, but they sure have and do make plenty of new criminals filling up the prisons though, most of which be victimless crimes. No juxtaposition there. Your admission of patronizing, which I'm not shocked of by the way, is quite revealing, and genuinely intelligent debaters who are open-minded seldom if ever at all resort to such juvenile tactics, and that says alot about your motivations. If one feels compelled to go that route, that might be because they cannot rationally argue their point, so they have to resort to personal attacks or sarcasm.

@SpikeTalon "I'm not blaming anyone per se there, but do find that peculiar that those who have willingly given up certain rights are also losing other rights they do care about, while those who do exercise their 2A rights oddly enough are not finding themselves in such a position." BULLSHIT! If it was true then NY would have fewer LTBQ+ and abortion rights than Florida ditto Illinois vs Texas which we both know is bs.
Sorry to compare France to the US. I did not realise that France had no corrupt politicians and an unarmed police force. Although it does give pause that America could have gotten to such a state of corruption given it being a bastion of 2A for nearly 2 1/2 centuries. Where was the armed populace to protest the selling off of the American dream? One might even think that this whole "2A keeps us free" is more of an advertising slogan borrowed from Timothy McVeigh by gun makers than any quantifiable political idea. Especially when there is the 14th amendment of the Constitution (yes it has more than 2) is dedicated to outlawing armed insurrection.
My Vietnam figures were based on the number of child fatalities that you provided. True they were overall figures and not just mass shootings but hey ho what are a few thousand dead kids between friends?
I look forward to the bright shiny future America unencumbered by such pesky things as FAA regulations. Where you can be free to choose between "Fat-chance Airlines" and "Rent-a-wreck Charter"

*Sarcasm Warning!