Guns, especially handguns, are seductive

Many people living in this part of the world must think the United States is a far away land inhabited by wonderful but hard-to-understand people with mindsets that are a mirror image of theirs.

This notion has been further reinforced by the latest gun control debate, driven to maddening frenzy by the Aurora (Colorado) shooting in which a single gunman shot dead 12 people and wounded 58 in a packed theater. I guess that has all of us wondering what's there to debate. Most of us would expect that this carnage, and those before it, should be enough to tilt public opinion overwhelmingly toward stricter control on the ownership and sale of firearms.

Perplexing it might seem, but that obviously wasn't the case. The political force that has steadfastly resisted any proposed change construed as a constrain on people's constitutional right to bear arms has remained strong. Despite the frantic calls by people on the other side of the fence, including law enforcement agencies, educators and parents, no politician is known to have initiated the legislative process to tighten gun control on a national scale.