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From Britain to Australia to Norway, the reactions to mass shootings usually include tighter gun control, even in countries that already had strict gun laws. To enforce new rules after the Port Arthur killings, the Australian government bought back more than 630,000 weapons. But in the U.S.--as is so often the case with Americans and their guns--things are a little more complicated. After the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., President Obama called for a ban on the assault weapons and high-capacity magazines often used in major shootings and created a working group led by Vice President Biden to propose ways to reduce gun violence.
But public-opinion polls and gun sales suggest that most Americans do not favor a wholesale rethinking of the Second Amendment. A USA Today/Gallup survey released on Dec. 27 found that while 58% of Americans say they want tighter gun laws, a majority still oppose an assault-weapon ban. And 74% of Americans say they oppose any law that would ban handguns, compared with 24% in favor--the largest gap in decades. In the aftermath of Newtown, gun-buyback programs have generated more interest than usual; the LAPD collected some 2,000 weapons, including two rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, in exchange for grocery cards. But federal background checks for firearms were already up 2% last year through November--fueled in part by increases after mass shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin--and arms vendors have reported even bigger spikes in demand since Newtown.
Death Toll: 30 Years of Mass Shootings Around the World
1980
1990
2000
2010
14
July 18, 1984
JAMES HUBERTY
San Ysidro, Calif.
21
Aug. 19, 1987
MICHAEL RYAN
Hungerford, England
16
Dec. 6, 1989
MARC LEPINE
Montreal
9
Oct. 16, 1991
GEORGE HENNARD
Killeen, Texas
23
March 13, 1996
THOMAS HAMILTON
Dunblane, Scotland
17
April 28, 1996
MARTIN BRYANT
Port Arthur, Australia
35
April 20, 1999
ERIC HARRIS and DYLAN KLEBOLD
Littleton, Colo.
13
April 26, 2002
ROBERT STEINHÄUSER
Erfurt, Germany
13
April 16, 2007
SEUNG-HUI CHO
Blacksburg, Va.
32
Nov. 7, 2007
PEKKA-ERIC AUVINEN
Tuusula, Finland
8
Sept. 23, 2008
MATTI SAARI
Kauhajoki, Finland
10
April 3, 2009
JIVERLY WONG
Binghamton, N.Y.
11
April 30, 2009
FARDA GADYROV
Baku, Azerbaijan
12
Nov. 5, 2009
MAJOR NIDAL HASAN