Czuch:

> It is because of criminals who use guns in illegal ways that you want to infringe
> our freedom to bear arms, in the same way you want to change our whole health
> care system, just because of a few bad apples.

Your are right in this. Guns in themselves do no harm until somebody pulls the trigger. Opposition to availability of guns is just like prohibition. "If there is no alcohol available, then people will stop drinking. If no guns are available, then people will stop killing each other."

Some countries like Japan have full bans of buying and selling firearms. Their statistics show a low incidence of murder, but not a low incidence of stabbing. Less people die of stabbing, but it does not mean that stabbing happens less often than shooting.

Some gun owners are responsible. I know a man who collects guns and he loves hunting. He keeps at least 50 hunting rifles safely locked away in the basement of his home. He would never harm anyone. He just loves fishing, hunting, etc.

Then we hear stories of children taking their parents gun to school and shooting other children. Irresponsible parents leave the gun lying around without thinking of the consequences.

Healthcare in the US is somewhat like that. Some insurers are responsible and care about their clients. Others are greedy and charge more for providing less services. Some insurers operate in some states where they provide better or worse services than in other states.

Should the government intervene? Legislate companies at a federal level to ensure everyone in every state gets adequate coverage from private companies? Should there be price checks to make it affordable to everyone? Or should the state pick up the slack and provide equal healthcare to the needy?

People in the US don't seem to agree. Here in Canada the government did away with the problem by providing universal healthcare. It works here, in spite of the mistakes and problems with waiting lists, etc. However, the American reality is different. Somewhere along the way the problems with the system have to be fixed in a balanced manner. I think that if all the special interests could be removed, the government might find a better way to deal with the problem.