Response to fear.

Violence, as Black Panther Huey Newton once said, is "as American as apple pie."

More recently, The Guardian newspaper said that America is a society with a "lethal infatuation with guns and (an) acceptance of casualties that would do justice to a serious war."

Two things are said to have triggered the gun epidemic in the past three decades in the United States: fear and drugs. The fear followed race riots in the 1960s; after inner-city blacks went on a rampage, white, suburban Americans armed themselves against the mobs. Then came the drugs; again, an inner-city problem. Those involved in the drug trade, many of them children, get guns to defend themselves against others who want their money. Americans as a whole buy guns to protect themselves and their families in the belief that the police can't.

In January 1996, Texas changed its gun laws allowing citizens to carry a concealed sidearm and fire it in self-defence. Opponents said the new law would mean more weapons for criminals, either snatched from inexperienced owners or stolen in household burglaries. Supporters said is was the only way to be safe in today's violent society.

The goal of the new law was to make sure that only responsible citizens carry weapons. Applicants have to pass a variety of tests. They can be disqualified for various reasons, ranging from being in default on a student loan to a dishonourable military discharge.

But, the thought of hotheads carrying concealed handguns made even police jittery. The Dallas Police Department gave its officers extra training for stopping potentially armed motorists on traffic violations.

By 1996, 28 states allowed citizens to carry concealed weapons. In most of these states, residents must prove they have no criminal record or history of mental illness or alcohol abuse and have been trained in safe firearm use before they can get a gun.

But, most U.S. guns are illegally owned: police estimate there are two million guns in New York City, for example, and only about 3% have valid firearm permits. When a gun goes off in Manhattan, says one New York reporter, a crime is usually involved. Of the 2,000 homicides reported in the city in 1993, about 75% were committed with handguns.

In the 1960s, weapons used primarily for sport -- rifles and shotguns -- made up 80% of the 80 million guns in private hands in the U.S. About 12% of the population reported owning one or more handguns. By 1976, with the great crime wave under way, more than 21% of the population reported owning handguns -- an increase of 75%. By 1978, the total number of guns owned had increased to roughly 120 million.

In every year since, at least four million new guns have been manufactured or imported. That doubled in 1993, when 5.1 million guns were manufactured and another 2.9 million were imported. Of the eight million new guns in 1993, half -- 3.9 million -- were handguns. The current estimate is that more than 200 million guns are in private hands, nearly one for every man, woman, and child in the country. Every day, 100 people are killed by guns.

In the past decade, 200,000 Americans have been killed and millions wounded. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 47% of them were killed by friends and family members, leaving 106,000 dead at the hands of strangers. Ten years of war in Vietnam killed 58,000 Americans.

Not surprisingly, the American public wants some form of gun control and is overwhelmingly in favour of President Bill Clinton's assault weapons ban.

The Brady Bill, which calls for a five-day waiting period and background check of handgun purchasers, became law in 1993. This was the first gun control legislation approved by Congress in more than 20 years. The next year, the sale, manufacture, and possession of 19 types of semi-automatic assault weapons were banned under the umbrella of an anti-crime law supported by Democrats and moderate Republicans.

The tighter controls respond to concerns such as those expressed by Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defence Fund. At a 1995 conference, Ms. Edelman said: "We need to denormalize and deglamourize violence as a way we relate to each other." She says that guns have become central to the way Americans interact, protect themselves, and resolve conflicts.

But those in favour of gun control have a powerful opponent in The National Rifle Association (NRA). It pumps millions of dollars into the election campaigns of anti-gun control politicians. In answer to the Brady Bill and the assault weapons ban, the NRA backed its supporters to the tune of $3.2 million in congressional and gubernatorial races in 1994. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the NRA's political-action committee funnelled nearly $1.9 million directly into campaign coffers and poured another $1.5 million NRA money into commercials, direct mailings, and phone banks. As a result an estimated 32 incumbent House supporters of gun control lost their seats, including such Democrat heavyweights as House Speaker Thomas S. Foley. The NRA tripled its political expenditures since 1990 and showed a pronounced rightward tilt. In 1990, Democrats benefitted from 39% of the NRA pie, but by 1994 their share was down to 18%.

Many American gun owners and the public at large have reportedly turned against the NRA, with its move from sporting issues to the defence of gun ownership. But, the Association has attracted a more radical following that willingly gives money and time to help meet the organization's goal of keeping liberal gun laws. Annual revenues for 1994 were $148 million, up 16% over the prior year, and membership reached a record 3.5 million people. Still a small minority of the American people, but one that is vocal enough to hold the attention of politicians.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. According to a 1983 National Institute of Justice-funded study, about one percent of privately owned firearms are involved in criminal activity, suggesting that eliminating 99% of the nation's guns would not reduce crime. Others say that's absurd because it's impossible to predict which guns will be used in crimes. And, even if a drastic reduction in the number of guns didn't decrease crime, say gun-control supporters, it would decrease fatalities. Discuss.

2. In 1995, San Francisco police launched a program to get kids to swap guns for personal computers. "You bring me an operable handgun, and I will give you a working computer with a monitor and keyboard," they were told. Investigate and report on other programs in the U.S. aimed at reducing the number of privately owned handguns.

FACT FILE

Number of Americans killed in military combat between 1968 and 1995: 31,000

Number of Americans who died violently in the United States in the same time period: 1.3 million