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radioPaul Poulton considers the controversial issue
There are some people in the UK who never thought they would be agreeing with Piers Morgan, but they now find themselves in that position. The British CNN host has taken a stand for tighter U.S. gun laws after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. We don't know yet how many people are standing with Piers, although President Obama has seemed to indicate that now is the time for change.
We don't have guns in the UK; at least we ought not to. Generally speaking gun crime is not a feature of our society; in fact my local bank got robbed about four weeks ago and the robbers had a sledge hammer, but no guns. No-one got hurt apart from some psychological scarring.
It's as if we say to the criminals among us, 'Ok, if you are going to rob us, don't use guns' and the criminal fraternity seem to have generally said, 'Ok, we won't'. We are not allowed to walk about on the streets with knives either, unless we can prove it's a part of our job and we are on our way to work.
Of course it would be a big mistake to say what a great place Britain is compared to America, because each country has its own good points. I often go to America and have found that its people are welcoming and hospitable. Friendliness exudes from many of the US citizens I have met; while the British can appear cold and off hand until you get to know us and that can take a while.
This morning an American friend sent me an email saying Mayor Michael Bloomberg said 19 year olds aren't responsible enough to have a rifle or pistol. My mind went straight to Paul Hardcastle's famous hit song '19'. The title '19' comes from a documentary's claim that the average age of an American combat soldier in the Vietnam War was 19. I imagine that Mayor Bloomberg's thoughts won't be as influential as he may have hoped.
Piers recently had a highly publicised on-screen debate with Alex Jones, the man who started a petition to have him deported from the US, (a petition that up to now 106,000 people have signed and the White House promise to respond to a petition when it reaches 25,000 signatures. We wait to see what the official White House stance will be, but it's important to remember that free speech is an important part of democratic societies across the world and the White House has hinted that is the position they will take.) In the interview Alex seemed extremely motivated and did most of the talking. Piers made the point that America had over 11,000 gun murders last year whilst Britain had 35; of course there are more people in America, but the statistics still look startling.
It is for the American people to decide what they want to do. I have a good friend who is an American and a Christian. He recently said to me when we were talking about this subject that I could have his guns when I pry them from his cold dead hands. We can see the ardour involved in protecting the second amendment to the American constitution, which is 'the right to bear arms'.
I sometimes sing a song when I'm on tour in America called 'They Don't Like It', which is a song I wrote about guns. One member of the audience came to see me after a concert and gave me a friendly warning, 'Don't sing that song down south'.
I am not an expert on American politics, (understanding UK politics is hard enough), but if the second amendment is in fact an amendment, then couldn't it be amended again? I think the American constitution came into force in the 1700's and since then there have been several amendments, I guess because times change.
The West may have been won with the gun, but if something has been won then that means it's settled and the same laws that helped while the winning took place may not be the right laws after a thing is won.
America has a population of over 311 million people and there are 270
million guns in the civilian population. So whichever way the American
people decide to move forward it's not going to be easy, but long
journeys have to start somewhere. 
Paul is a singer/songwriter, author and speaker. He records and tours solo and with his band, the 
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As an American, I think gun violence has gotten COMPLETELY out of control. I'm not highly political, but this is a subject in which I will, in fact, state my opinion. The argument that "the 2nd Amendment says we have the right to bear arms" has been taken grossly out of context in my view. People fail to remember that when the US Constitution was written, it was a different time. They really needed guns. To protect themselves from wild animals, to hunt for food (survival is always a plus), to protect against Native American Indians (we stole from them and they wanted us gone), and to protect their land from other citizens that would want to take the land they laid claim to (better soil for farming, location, etc.). We don't have those fears any more. Yes we have the right to protect ourselves from tyrannical government, but does anyone really NEED a gun that fires a million times per second? I don't believe so. The only men and women that should be allowed to have those are the ones that are serving to protect their country and only when they're serving. It's a sad reality that the countries we're at war with have weapons that require us to fight back with ones just as messy. But my thoughts on America in war is off topic. I think that the problem is that Americans are greedy. We value the freedoms our constitution gives us when it’s convenient to do so and it's giving us rights and claim to something. We’re egotistical. We're American. Better than everyone else some would say. The world should be grateful for us. I disagree. We need to stop sticking our noses in other people's business and start being concerned with the mess that's in our own country. I realize that I'm one of very few Americans to think this way. Maybe it's because two of my best friends are British, but maybe it's because I think that God has more for us than to be violent. Whatever the reason, I can't stand guns.