There has to be noted a movement thwarted by this administration and considering the composition of the Supreme Court could continue to be an issue. I alluded to it earlier and want to state it clearly here before moving on.
The 'idea' that every manufactured product, be it gun or not, is a good product to market for the sake of making money or having variety within our society is nonsense.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a society completely limiting among it's populous what is an acceptable gun and what is not. That was the spirit of the Assault Weapon Ban and it can't be ignored. Americans can demand legislation to prohibit certain weapons when they don't make sense for a society. I'll go as so far as to say, a society such as the USA could prohibit the manufacture of certain weapons known to be a problem in other societies as well when they are known to be manufacturered and/or shipped from the USA or it's territories/provinces.
That spirit if you will has been asserted in lawsuits with some success by survivors of such tragedies as Virginia Tech. Where weapons were readily available that serve no purpose to society. In other words, where a manufactured weapon such as an assault rifle is sold to people in the USA and it serves no purpose but to kill large numbers of people/animals, then the manufacturer by virtue of that activity to a market that intends to use it for that reason, is liable for it's actions and business decisions.
We need to do selectively ban weapons in this society both from manufacture and sale, but, with a hostile administration that simply cannot be accomplished.
by Anton Foek, Special to Corp
WatchOctober 25th, 2005
cartoon by Khalil Bendib
cartoon by Khalil Bendib
Every 15 minutes, someone in Brazil dies from a gunshot wound, according to the United Nations. Yet the world’s first ever referendum on banning civilian guns in this country failed to pass this past Sunday.
Instead the proposed ban went down to a resounding defeat with almost two thirds of the population voting no to the question: "Should the sale of all types of guns and ammunition be banned nationwide for everyone except the police and the military?"
Earlier this year, support for the ban had been running as high as 80 percent, but in recent weeks, the pro-gun lobby -- arms makers and various activist groups -- played on fears about the crime rate and the public swung dramatically against 
the proposal. The vote also represented the public’s lack of confidence in security forces -- mired in corruption and inefficiency -- to protect the populace. According to the BBC, middle class men were most likely to oppose the ban, while women and the poor favored it.
the proposal. The vote also represented the public’s lack of confidence in security forces -- mired in corruption and inefficiency -- to protect the populace. According to the BBC, middle class men were most likely to oppose the ban, while women and the poor favored it.For the millions of Brazilians who voted to end gun sales, the defeat was a blow to extensive efforts to curb an epidemic of murder that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the past 20 years. Many see this violence as a hidden civil war fueled by a proliferation of small arms -- an estimated 17.5 million guns -- with about 90 percent in civilian hands and half of them illegal. More than 36,000 died last year alone, twice the toll in the early 1990s.
