Yet another school shooting in the USA

Yep, completely dependent on NRA votes and support. It is appaling.

If a large % of teachers are armed- any gunman will always shoot the teachers first, just in case. Tragic.

Trump is the coward, because he won't stand up to the gun lobby.
He won't because he needs their votes, but I think he agrees with them anyway.

Arm the teachers - may the lord preserve us.

All power to yesterday's demonstrators - the way to go I think. They need to generate support and turn it into a national campaign.

Trump is trying to placate the students and at the same time not upset the gun lobbyists. He's a fool and it will really start kicking off. Shame on him.

I didn't think it could get any worse...but the prospect of Gunfight at the OK Coral being enacted for real in front of terrified students, words fail me.

Trump has suggested arming and training the teachers - that’ll end well

They have refused to even debate the issue in the Florida House of Representatives.

Perhaps the next generation will be the ones who will ensure change but I hope it's not a long wait.

I am very impressed with the young people from the school who are campaigning on the issue and horrified at the amount of abuse they are receiving. If only :::::

Maybe there is hope amongst the sorrow.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43105699

Thank goodness we haven't left the EU and ended up at the mercy of Trump.

Lucky 'The US is going to hell in a handcart'

and not 'just' on gun control.

The desperate thing is that they want to take us with them ...

I didn’t know that Oldwoman70. Gun control makes even more sense then doesn’t it?

SueDomin that is a very good analogy. The smoking lobby was very powerful, yet eventually, by the efforts of pressure groups like Ash, the law was changed.

The statistics relating to gun violence in the USA, compared to any other nation are shocking but sadly, I think that the Americans will pay no heed to factual evidence.

The Port Arthur massacre happened just after Dunblane, and John Howard seized the mood of the nation to bring in reforms, despite the powerful gun lobby.

Unless the power of the gun lobbyists in America is curbed, I cannot see changes taking place in that country.

Purpledaffodil. Australia also brought in strict gun controls after a mass shooting in 1996 - they haven't had a mass shooting since.

This popped up in my Facebook feed. The UK may not be perfect, but I think we got that legislation right.

Nothing more to add to most of the posts above. It’s a USA problem and they’ve failed to deal with it. It’s now getting the same as when we hear of a suicide bombing, as one example, in a far flung country - sadness at the loss of life, but there’s nothing we can do about it.

There are opposition groups in the US, here are just two. everytown.org And www.csgv.org/about-us/

The problem is the immense wealth and influence the NRA has. The gun manufactures back the NRA all the way, because it means money to them but there's no one who will sponsor those who advocate gun control. There's no money to be made by restricting guns.

I guess it's similar to the years it took for smoking to be outlawed in public places and the on-going battle to get food manufacturers to act responsibly. They all have vested interests and it very hard to fight against them. Even more so when they are armed.

The US is going to hell in a handcart: gun laws that no-one can challenge because of powerful lobbies; Trump in the White House; and an obesity problem that is out of control - I am always shocked by footage from the US full of folk who must struggle to walk about.

I have never been there and have no desire whatsoever to do so.

Varian, many thanks for your above posting detailing Donald Trump's measures to give further rights to US citizens to carry concealed arms. I am sure many on this forum will find that information totally shocking in the light of all the mass shootings witnessed in the past few years.

I also totally agree with the posting made by GillT57 where in that he states that we are witnessing the slow decline of the United States. I feel that America has seen great divisions become endemic within its society as it has become totally "in hock" to globalization.

In the above, many US citizens are looking back to the days of the "great American dream", and in that hoping those halcyon Days can again be recreated. Hence the election of Donald Trump accompanied by such measures as the reluctance to change legislation such as the right to bear arms, even though in the eyes of the rest of the world that legislation desperately needs addressing.

A divided declining nation will always look back to what once made it great I feel even though that may bring forward an obscene government with outdated polices and legislation.

However, there but for the grace of the powers that be may well go us.

My older DGD's, approaching their 18th and 21st birthdays totally understand why I haven't carried out a suggestion made a couple of years ago.
I had suggested that we might celebrate their special birthdays (and my 70th) with a short trip to New York.
Trump's election scuppered that idea as I can't face a trip to USA now.
Maybe one day!

The USA was the definitely top country in the 1950s. I can remember as a teenager we talked about "The States" as a type of Nirvana, a place of wonder, full of glamorous people driving about in huge Cadillacs. Actually going to the States was an unattainable aspiration for most of us.

I went to the USA for the first time in the 1980s. There are parts of that country I'd still like to see but I would never go there again until Trump has been replaced by a decent President.

I had not thought of it like that Gill but I think you are right. When we were young the movies taught us that the USA had won the war for us, all had TVs, big cars and refrigerators and it was the land of opportunity where anyone with determination could make it big. They developed into the Worlds Police Force, amazed us with their prowess in space, established the Internet, in short took over from the declining British Empire.

How things have changed. My DGC have no wish to go to the USA, not even to Disneyland. Legoland in Denmark is top of their must do list and they want to visit France and Spain so that they can use the little French and Spanish they have learned at school. They never play Cowboys and Indians or Spacemen and ask for Harry Potter themed parties. No hot dogs, fries or burgers for them - favourite food is Chinese or Indian.

If the USA is no longer the world's leader who is? The Chinese?

I get the impression DT (and no doubt lots of others) think the appropriate response to the latest tragedy is not to ban guns, but to have more of them so that the perpetrator can be shot before he shoots too many other people. Where on earth is that attitude going to take the US?

I think we are witnessing the slow decline of USA, rather like the Roman Empire of its day. It once was a country to be respected, even admired in some areas, not now. I once would have envied a friend or relative for having the opportunity to live and work there, now I would not. A country that has elected a liar, fantasist and philanderer as president is to be pitied, not admired. The sound of his insincere, pitiful apology for a speech after the latest massacre, his blaming of mental illness for the mass murder, his calls for prayers, made me sick.