Mr ultra: excellent article; I enjoyed reading it. It's a superb example of the difficulty of comparing "apples to apples". When looking around the globe, it's easy to see that our country falls squarely within the middle.
I did notice one glaring omission. The article talks about murders, and there are countries whose murder rates are higher. However that's only part of the picture. If we are going to have a comprehensive discussion of gun deaths and gun violence, we need to talk about gun deaths and wounds, which includes accidental shootings, suicides, hunting accidents, etc. because those, too, are part of our gun culture. We need to talk about ALL of the shootings not just murders.
Let me give you an example of casual stupidity that exists. A friend and I do the rifle elk hunt every year. A couple of years ago we were coming back to our truck about 10 am after the dawn hunt. Standing next to our truck were a couple of fellas with high powered rifles on their shoulders and beers in hand. Judging from their eyes and speech, these weren't the first beers of the day. I have encountered this far too often in my life; a casual approach to guns that is truly moronic.
That's the piece we need to change. We need to change our culture from casual stupidity to one of sober responsibility and cool headed competence. We need to reassure our fellow citizens that when we carry firearms, ours are safe, reliable hands. We're doing a pretty crappy job of that so far.
As far as the rest of your posts, I don't dwell on labels or categories such as statist, liberal, elitist, conservative, etc. I consider them a complete bunch of BS and far too limiting. Every person is complex, every person has a broad range of ideas and opinions. To label them is to restrict them, to place them in a category they may not truly be in. I prefer to take them one at a time and judge them individually on their words and actions. Liberals, conservatives, and moderates all love their country and want it to prosper. They just all have different opinions on how to do it. The only right answer is the one that actually works.