Gunfire and blood at Virginia Tech have again raised a hot debate on arms control in the United States. Congress is believed to be considering passing a bill limiting arms ownership by people with a recognized mental illness. The bill discussed suggests states be given funds to improve their capacity to do background checks on gun buyers, and to establish a federal information bank in which details of people with a known mental illness are stored. Under the shadow of the biggest campus slaughter, some believe it will be possible to pull the bill through.

Arms control is old issue in the US, one that is raised each time shots ring out, with Democrats and Republicans arguing fiercely over the issue. According to a survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one third of American households have guns, and in a nation of 300 million people, 200 million guns are individually owned, a number higher than the adult population. A report on a survey recently released by the Harvard School of Public Health found that in areas where there are more guns, there are more suicides: in the 15 US states where the gun ownership ratio is high, the suicide rate among people of different ages is twice that of the six states that have a lower ratio.

The Democratic Party has worked hard to introduce new arms control legislation. However, in recent years that stance has been unpopular, and they have paid the price in elections as well as lost morale. The party is clearly deeply aware of the difficulty of the issue, which is most likely why it did not appear on the party's agenda during the mid-term election, when the Democrats regained control of Congress.

Represented by the National Rifle Association, groups advocating the right to bear arms vehemently oppose any association between gun-related crime and the right to bear arms. They stress citizens' rights to bear arms, claiming "gun holders kill, not the guns themselves". The Association now has 3.6 million members, is very influential in both houses of parliament and is among the most powerful lobbying groups. On the issue of arms controls, even a writer for the Los Angeles Times has lamented that the US government hears only voices supporting individual gun ownership.

The origin of America's gun culture and its legislative basis is in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution: "��the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The Amendment was made during the War of Independence, when early settlers of the North American continent toppled British colonial rule. These pioneers formed armed militant groups and their right to bear arms was legalized. More than two centuries have now passed and the old rule should be changed. It would be great progress if the nation could first exercise strict controls on gun ownership by people with a recognized mental illness. At the very least, it might be some comfort to the families and friends of the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting.

By People Daily On line