Editorial: US policies on firearms just baffling

Policies on guns in the US are unbelievable, says Andrew Austin.

Watching Fox News for 10 minutes is enough to make you mad.

For those of you who don't know, Fox News is a television network set up by Rupert Murdoch to appeal to the most conservative of Americans.

While the rest of the world believes that the way to protect the United States from terrorists or any other nutter is tighter gun control, they are saying: "Hey, why don't you get a concealed licence (a licence to carry a gun that no-one can see)?

I happened to switch on to Fox this week and could not believe what I was hearing. One of the hosts, Sean Hannity, suggested that because he was handy with a gun people would want him near if a terrorist attacked.

The message appears to be that the way to stop the killing is to arm more people. To make it worse, during the break the Gatlin Brothers sang a song called An American with a Remmington - a song that basically says if you believe someone is threatening your family, simply pull out your Remmington (gun) and blow them away. That is your right, surely?

That should be enough to make you thankful for living in New Zealand. Here we are debating whether we should arm our police. Sounds pretty comforting, if you think about it.

President Barack Obama certainly has not built on the goodwill at his election but you have to feel sorry for him when he tries to introduce gun control into a country that thinks having a gun at your dinner table is the way to go.

All well and good until your child accidentally picks up your gun.

Sometimes we forget how lucky we are not to live in the US.