THE National Rifle Association (NRA) has long trotted out the argument that it is not guns that kill people but the people who have guns. It is time, in the light of the latest mass shooting in the United States, to call the NRA’s bluff. If it is people, not the guns that kill other people, then it is high time the guns were taken away from them.

The circumstances of the massacre of 26 people at a small town church in Texas are still unclear. A young white male, dressed in black and wearing a bullet-proof vest walked into the church and opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon.

It appears he was driven from the church when a member of the congregation returned fire with his pistol. The gunmen fled in a vehicle followed by the man who had defended the church and a passing motorist. The killer’s truck later crashed and overturned. The gunmen was found dead inside, reportedly from gunshot injuries, either self-inflicted or sustained in the shootout with the person in the church.

The NRA are of course going to hold up the fact that one of the people in the church was carrying a weapon and was able to fight back. It will say that had it not been for this individual, the death toll could have been higher, maybe everyone inside the building could have been gunned down by the killer, whose motive is still not known. In their insane defense of the indefensible, what the NRA will choose to ignore is that there would have been no deaths at all had the perpetrator been unable to obtain a high-powered semi-automatic weapon. Instead, this powerful lobby will pretend that it is a “win” that the lives of the rest of those in the church were saved because one person had his own gun and could fight back.

The right to bear arms was enshrined in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution 226 years ago. It was actually based on the English common law principle of the right of self-defense. But the world has moved on since 1791. In the UK, only hunting guns and target-shooting weapons can be held legally. Owners are subjected to a strict code of licensing, which includes psychological assessments along with regular inspections of the gun safes in which all weapons must be kept locked up. No ordinary UK citizen can own a handgun.

The weapons of 1791 which their constitution allowed Americans to possess were single-shot muzzle-loaders. The high-powered semi-automatic weapons that have murdered hundreds of peaceful US citizens in recent years are capable of firing off an entire clip in split seconds. These guns are so deadly they can literally blow apart a victim. It is impossible to accept any reason for anything so deadly being available for ordinary citizens to buy across the counter from gun shops, whose owners are, in some states, required to conduct only the most rudimentary checks.

The NRA will praise the Texan who fought off the attacker with his handgun. OK. Then let the constitution be amended to permit the holding of such weapons but impose an immediate ban on semi-automatic rifles, which have no other use except carnage.