I spent considerable time in going through the national gun laws of 31 countries. This includes
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, East Timur, the EU, Honduras, the Far East, South Asia, Middle East
and Russia and the U.S. and U.K. From the reading I found that background checks are far more stringent
in all countries than we find in the U.S. I also did not find any country except us staging gun shows.
Again this is not to make any criticism of gun right advocates. I am writing this after once again
seeing the news of the usual rampage, in this case in Isla Vista, California.
Further news reveals that the gunman had given many warnings of his intended revenge on practically every
one he would encounter. If this had been heeded in time the tragedy could have been avoided.
Secondly this again shows as so often shown before, that we could learn something from the rest of the
world about how to go about doing background checks. Can anyone tell me how someone walking along the
pavement outside the University of Santa Barbara could have escaped being shot even if he possessed a
fire arm? Anyone objecting to a much better system of background check is in my view not protecting such
a helpless victim. Here is a clear case that having a firearm does no good when one is caught
unexpectedly, unaware and out of the blue in a drive by shooting. In fact in almost all cases this has
been happening in every shooting rampage. I appeal to the NRA to give the nation the leadership for
promoting more effective background checks while defending our rights to own guns.
V. N. Krishnan
Bowling Green