I see the trolls are coming out of the woodwork.
On the point of safety and gun ownership my country does thing a bit differently than the U.S. (no surprise there
) I understand that firearms have a special place in American history and how your country was built back in the day. For better or worse guns are ingrained in your culture. America is somewhat unique in that respect.
However, many other countries also have a rich gun culture, mine included. Norway is the country that has the second most armed households per capita in the world; second only to Switzerland (due to their unique national guard system). The U.S. does have more guns in civilian ownership per capita though. Over here the number of guns a person can own is regulated by law.
Everyone can own a firearm here, as long as the person doesn't have a criminal record, and as long as the person's need for a weapon is real. By that I mean that the person is an active hunter or member of a gun club. If you just want something to hang on your wall or play with you can get a deactivated or blank-firing gun. The number of guns you can own is regulated by how active you are in your gun activities, especially for handguns. There are official requirements to how many competition events you have to participate in every year to keep your gun license.
There are of course obligatory safety courses and exams you must pass to get a license for any gun. To get a license for a shotgun or hunting rifle you need, in addition to safety courses, to pass a hunters course with exam. This course/exam must be repeated every year before hunting season. This exam is not easy and includes shooting at range against moving targets from a standing position.
If you ever meet a licensed big game hunter from Norway, he or she is a very able rifleman, and above all a very safe shooter. We have very few accidents involving firearms here, to the point that it's national news if someone gets hurt.
Typical hunters exam (target view):
http://videos.videopress.com/ccgzpoGb/mvi_0065_hd.mp4Typical hunters exam (shooter view):
http://videos.videopress.com/HorvuCMO/mvi_0063_hd.mp4That guy would not have passed on that try.
There are parts of our gun laws that I find unnecessarily restrictive, but I do agree that we need to screen out those that just can't use firearms safely. After all we don't allow people who can't pass a drivers exam to operate motor vehicles.
I know this is heretical to many Americans because of the special place firearms have in your culture, so I hope you'll forgive my blasphemy.