Par4QC don't understand the need for an automatic
It's a very, very (did I say very) painstaking process to obtain an automatic weapon, even in the U.S.
We do agree about one of your points, though, in the 1900's (I say that like it was a long time ago) firearms weren't treated with disdain by so many. Firearms safety was taught in school and embraced by all (ok, probably most). Heck, I remember a time in high school when a less than extraordinarily intelligent kid at school walked out to his pickup during lunch break, pulled out his hunting rifle, and shot a deer on the hill across the road. He broke about 3 or 4 rules/laws all at once there, but having a gun in his vehicle at school wasn't one of them. It was almost hunting season and I'm fairly sure he had plans to go practice after school in preparation for the upcoming season. No one even questioned why he had the gun at school. It was not a big deal as it shouldn't have been. What they did question was 1) why he went out to his truck before school was out (closed campus), 2) shot at a deer out of season, 3) across a road, 3)... and the list went on.