In my country we used machete... Now everybody is using firearms...

....
Correcting, to survive in my country you have to have firearms...

Don't worry about your English Ismael: I don't know many Spaniards that don't live in English-speaking countries that would do better than you just did.

I've spent the last 10 years of my life in the American Midwest, and around here guns are pretty common. Some people have them stored as home as personal protection. Others take shooting as a hobby. Many people hunt, given that the game population around here is much bigger than the one in most of Europe.

I for one think that, as far as the personal protection angle goes, it's just that the average American is much more afraid than your average Spaniard. I've seen way more crime and violence in Madrid and Oviedo than I ever see in the suburban US, yet it's those suburbanites that tend to claim that they feel so much safer with a gun than without. And that was before Eastern European mafias moved into Madrid.

They are very different countries, I'll tell you that.

Not normal or necessary unless you live in the wilderness with dangerous wild animals at large.

And since when has it been 'sport' (an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature) to blast an animal to death at a distance that's safe for you.

If they wanted 'sport' they would use a spear or knife and challenge the animal one on one.

More worrying however are the nations that celebrate by discharging firearms into the air as they dance, which to me says they are very immature cultures.

I'd hardly put gun ownership at 90%, it's probably in the 50%-80% range, at least after all the various restrictions and the like.
Gun ownership is a right and a responsibility, responsible gun owners who have kids usually DON'T make the gun an off limits item, because then the kid doesn't know how to use it, understand it, or respect the danger that it is capable of.
The best thing to do is start from an early age teaching your kid how to handle a gun and all the rules of safety surrounding them. Of course, one of the hallmarks of responsibility is that you STICK to those safety rules yourself and don't try to show off with your drinking buddies or to impress your kid.

Part of the reason why gun ownership is such an issue is because that basically is insurance that the government is actually working for the citizens rather than itself. After all, if the government decides to do something it shouldn't be doing, what are you going to do to stop it? Sue?
With the type of advancements in weaponry that exist today, basic home firearms really aren't going to do that much, so in many ways, possession of firearms is almost more of a symbol, but it's still an important symbol.

i think having firearms is more dangerous than no having then, if nobody have firearms, you don't have to protect yourself against them, of couse here there are people who have arms but at least, i know that most of people don't have guns, so i feel secure

In my house we got a Rifle I have never used that Rifle but I know how it work. I only now three people that got Firearms and all are Rifles gotten through heritage. So they are not very commen In Norway.

Not at all. And I think American laws are insane to let people carry them.

Yeah, and to keep the King of England off your back.

@ DonXHill

I didn't realise the pizza racket was so hotly contested. 

@ Greer 

I think you'll find Switzerland has the highest rate of per capita gun ownership, but they have much lower rates of gun crime because the country is so sparsely populated.

 Guh?  Some children learn to shoot when they are very young... but it's FAAAAAAAAAR from common place.

It's well less then 50% in any case.  I don't think there is anything wierd about owning a gun, but most people don't own them, and of the majority that do, those guns are hunting guns.

Some people like to take their kids hunting.  I don't see the big deal.  The problem is if you let your kid use a gun unsupervised.

Though even then, back in my day my dad would hunt squirrels and rabbits when he was younger and his mom would cook em up.  Though I wanna say he used a pellet gun or something considering the small size of said animals.

 It's 90 guns for every 100 people because a lot of people like to gun collect, or have a couple differnt rifles and a pistol etc.