jenniferrpovey:nbcnews:This is Iceland — the a gun-loving country with no shooting murders since 200

jenniferrpovey:nbcnews:This is Iceland — the a gun-loving country with no shooting murders since 2007.Olaf Garðar Garðarsson is eager to get his hands on a rifle.But he can’t just walk into a store and buy one. In Iceland, anyone who wants to own a gun must go through a mandatory 4-hour lecture and be tested at a range.Candidates are examined by a doctor who checks that they are in good physical and mental health.They have a meeting with the chief of police, who asks why they want to own a gun and runs a background check.“For us, it would be really strange if you could get a license to buy a gun andyou had no idea how to handle it,” says Garðarsson, 28.Gun control advocates in the U.S. sometimes point to countries with strict gun laws and very few gun deaths.But guns are everywhere in Iceland — about 1 for every 3 people.Icelanders believe the rigorous gun laws on this small, remote volcanic rock can offer lessons to the United States.Read more.This.“Well regulated.”There’s plenty of people out there who can give lessons to people who want to buy a gun and make sure that they can shoot straight and stuff.The gun nuts would consider mandatory training an infringement on their rights, but they forget that for every right there is a corresponding responsibility.(And before anyone brings up voting, I’m in favor of mandatory civics lessons in school, starting with basic stuff about how government works in elementary school, and in favor of programs to improve civics education in adults, so as to reduce tribalistic “party line” voting. Oh, and it would be nice to see lessons on taking responsibility for what you say, too). -- source link