and britexpat...i find this totally amusing that the REASON our constitution includes the right to bear arms is that the British military were invading and murdering our citizens and Americans had no way to protect themselves. NOW you go and make such a big hoopla about it. Think for a minute on the sheer size /magnitude of the US and its population and compare it to Britian. Of course we are going to have more violent crime because our population is so much larger than yours!! And yes, i am simplifying it a LOT.

Personally I have 15 guns at home, including rifles and shotguns...but they are mainly not for self defense..they are for hunting. So why not get your knickers out of a knot about someone else's country and don't visit if you don't like the way our country is run? Its rather simple.

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the main difference between a dog and man.
-Mark Twain-