Not as simple as that. One can buy guns in all states. The problem is that people chose to use them that way. And when people are telling others that they intend to go shoot something up, the people who hear it aren't doing anything, or they are not believed. Or nobody are willing to take action.

Not so easy to buy them in NYS.

Still possible. But so long as nothing is done about the culture that causes people to act this way, it is difficult to prevent it. Guns are available; that's not the main problem. The problem is people's choices. First step should be to restart research on gun violence. Knowledge is power!

The one thing all acts of gun violence have in common is the gun.

Yes. But the US isn't the only country where people can buy guns. It is the only one where mass shootings are common. The mania for buying too many guns and the mass shooting culture go together and go together, but still most gun owners don't run around killing people like that.

So, you can’t change the culture but do you know which side of the equation you can change? No?

You can't actually ban guns enough to stop people who are hell bent on mass shootings. That would take a crazy amount of social control and intrusion into people's privacy. Even if we stopped all gun sales now, it would make no difference. Why we have to work on the culture behind the mania.

Ask Australia.

Or the UK. It only took one and we banned guns.

Australia had a gun culture much more similar to the US than we did

Yes. Different culture. The mania we see here didn't exist. There may have been a few individuals, but not like here. Same with Europe; the mass shootings they have are tied to American gun-mania culture. It all comes from here, and it is a cultural thing.

You’re right. It’s best not to bother trying to reduce the number of children murdered every year in case you offend some gun nuts.