Hey Colours. We're kinda talking about two very different topics, aren't we?
With regards to the NHS, I am glad to hear what you report, and it confirms what my impression had been. I don't like to "assume" stuff, when I have minimal personal exposure. I have never lived in the UK, and have in fact only visited once. I love BBC, but that's as bad as saying, "some of my best friends are black" as being proof you're not racist, lol. My ability to quote any Dr. Who episode is hardly evidence of expertise in current British socio-political standards
I hope the US figures out what the UK -- and most of the civilized would -- has known now for decades. Socialized health care is the best way to control costs, period. And it just makes sense.
It appears we are in complete agreement on that issue.
With regards to gun control, I think we disagree respectfully with each other.
I would be willing to "give" you that one: a nation's economic situation is a factor in its gun violence. But this does not negate what I said. My point is that more laws limiting guns does not necessarily lead to less gun violence. There are plenty of countries that prove that it is more complex. Some countries with relatively lax gun laws have less violence than the US, and countries with strict laws (regardless of how well those laws are enforced) have more.
In fact, your comment somewhat supports my point: the passing of laws is not what determines violence. It is the enforcement of those laws. I submit that the US already has enough laws on the books, and that we just have a problem enforcing those laws. Criminals should not have access to guns. There is no state in which a convicted criminal who has not yet served all his or her time may obtain a handgun. All states also have required background checks for the purchase of all guns. That means anyone who obtains a gun who is a criminal either has not yet been caught, or has obtained that gun illegally. If they haven't been caught yet, how will more laws help get them caught? If the mandatory background check doesn't flag anything, what would? If they are obtaining the weapons illegally, obviously, making guns "more" illegal is not going to stop them from getting guns.
So I'm still not sure how passing more laws restricting guns will help decrease the rate of gun violence. We don't need more laws, we need better enforcement of the laws that are already on the books.
This is another tough issue. I've found that Christians on both sides like to "pick and choose" the application of this Christian principal, about submission to the government. For example, when some hippie is protesting against, say, the war in Iraq, a republican will argue the whole "submit to the government" thing, and tell that protester she is not being a good Christian. But that same Republican will hold a sign protesting that same government under a different administration for some other policy just as vociferously, and claim that he's justified by God in his outrage.
Likewise, I grow tired of the liberals who go on and on about how Jesus was all about love and forgiveness, but as soon as you start talking about personal responsibility and accountability, they're like, "Don't you throw stones at me."
In other words, I see it on both sides.
I wouldn't say that guns are immoral. A gun is no less moral than a knife, or a spoon, or a chair. It is an object with no will or conscience of its own. Sure, an immoral person can kill with a gun. An immoral person can kill with a knife, spoon, chair, or with his bare hands.
There are plenty of moral uses for guns. Hunting food to feed a starving family. Protecting someone from being attacked by someone or something. (For example, if a mountain lion is about to pounce on a child, I would say shooting the lion would be more moral than letting it eat the child.)
Automobiles are "allowed" also. These, too, can be used immorally. In some ways, I'm harder pressed to think of a moral use for a privately owned vehicle, in this day and age of dwindling resources. How do we justify, before God, such a large carbon footprint, when most of us could accomplish everything we need to through public transportation and/or walking or biking. (I could make exceptions to people living in less urban areas, and clearly emergency vehicles and public vehicles such as buses and taxis should be allowed, but anyone who lives in a major city, if the public transportation is not good enough, that is a problem to be solved, not an excuse to continue living in sin.) Knowing that automobiles are the #1 cause of death of people under the age of 40, how do we justify the continued use of such killing machines? We pass laws to make them safer, but people keep breaking those laws and getting hurt. Is the answer just to make automobiles completely illegal, so that the option just isn't there any more?
I would like to see privately-owned and operated petrol-powered vehicles outlawed before guns are outlawed in this country. There's no pesky constitution to re-write for that one.