These are the most recent stats from the UNODC:

Firearm Related Homicides

2010 ... USA ....................9960
2009 ... Australia ..............30

Australia has strong firearm regulation, including bans of handguns, semi-automatic rifles and pump-action shotguns.

Case closed.

Montreal (3.5 million ppl) has had a TOTAL of 35 homicides this year and they're in the middle of a Mafia gang war between the Rizuttos and Cotronis.

From those numbers you can clearly see that gun control doesn't do anything to curb violence.
I think Germany has similar numbers as Australia. They are also a murderous bunch.

I think the US numbers are actually far worse than just under 10,000 the past couple of years ~ ~ having said that, numbers can be deceiving ~ the US population is far greater than Australia's, or Germany's, or Canada's ~ granted, not enough greater to account for the astounding difference in national homicides ~ I hate to admit it much less say it but, as much as I support gun regulation/control, I don't believe it is humanly possible to get rid of all or even most guns ~ there is simply not enough manpower to do that ~ but we can definitely regulate semi-automatics and big clips ~ we can, we should, we must ~ we can also tighten registration and licensing ~ we can, we should, we must ~ and we can, we should, we must confront the closely associated problems of mental health and the societal culture of violence at the same time ~

Sooz

Nah! Those Germans are a murderous bunch!

2010 ... Germany ...........158

Of course, Germany does have a slightly larger population than Aus.

~80 million krauts >>> 158
~300 million murkins >>> 9000
Clearly gun control doesn't work.

I think the US numbers are actually far worse than just under 10,000 the past couple of year
Those are specifically the firearm related homicides Sooz. Total homicides are a different issue.

The US has about 15 times as many people as Australia. Doing the maths .... 30x15=450

So, even taking population differences into account, the US has about 22 times as many firearm related homicides as Australia.

I hate to admit it much less say it but, as much as I support gun regulation/control, I don't believe it is humanly possible to get rid of all or even most guns ~ there is simply not enough manpower to do that

Its not a question of "manpower" Sooz, its a question of political will. We had a massive buy-back of weapons when the law was changed in 1996 which was very effective. I think the real barriers to genuine reform in the US are political and cultural. They are both products of a society that sees John Wayne (a particularly loathsome person in my opinion) as a proper role model for young men.

but we can definitely regulate semi-automatics and big clips
I know its "beyond the pale" but you are missing the big one - handguns.

I wondered how many guns that were deemed illegal in Oz were turned in with the buy back. Interesting stats. I also wonder how many guns were out there to start with. I can't find that stat:

Unlike the voluntary buybacks in the United States, Australian gun buybacks of 1996 and 2003 were compulsory, compensated surrenders of newly-illegal firearms.

The 1996 Buyback took 600,000 newly illegal sporting firearms, including all semi-automatic rifles including .22 rimfires, semi-automatic shotguns and pump-action shotguns. Because the Australian Constitution prevents the taking of property without just compensation the Federal Government decided to put a 1% levy on income tax for one year to finance the compensation. The buyback was predicted to cost A$500 million and had wide community support

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_buy-back_scheme

So, the US has 300 million guns right now. I don't think a buy back would work, compulsory or otherwise. First of all, the citizens would bitch and moan about a tax, the tax would have to be much higher in the US and it would be virtually impossible to "police" the one's not turned in.

The "cold, dead hands" mentality would result in some shoot outs, imo. Americans are nuts about their guns, their right to those guns and would quickly organize into militia-type groups in order to fight the "evil government take over". IOW, they'd have the first part of the second amendment covered, finally (except for the well regulated part... )

The "cold, dead hands" mentality would result in some shoot outs, imo. Americans are nuts about their guns, their right to those guns and would quickly organize into militia-type groups in order to fight the "evil government take over".

After maybe a couple of shoot-em-ups they'd become docile rather quickly, methinks.
IMO, most of them are blowhards who'd melt in a second if they actually had to face a few pros.

A few pros and a half dozen drones?

According to the gummint it's ok to kill US citizens without due process.

Shades of Wako.

The current administration has already done it.