America exceptional? Not when it comes to guns
While Americans typically laud our national "exceptionalism" -- a sense that the trajectory of history has bestowed greatness upon the United States -- there are a few of our distinctive characteristics that don't deserve celebration.
On the subject of firearms, for example, the United States is exceptionally irrational. No other nation has set guns aside as an object of worship.
We have let a blood-soaked gun lobby dictate our laws and regulations on firearms; we have passed "stand your ground" laws that allow violent and angry men to murder unarmed people; we have given the mentally unstable the ability to buy military-style assault weapons with which they wreak havoc on crowds.
Last week, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill into law that would allow denizens of his state to carry firearms into government buildings, bars and, God help us, churches.
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/04/america_exceptional_not_when_i.html