To answer your question: It depends. Some states are easy to purchase guns in, some are not. My own state, Michigan, has essentially no requirements to purchase

To answer your question: It depends. Some states are easy to purchase guns in, some are not. My own state, Michigan, has essentially no requirements to purchase a rifle. You can go to a dealer and purchase one on the spot. You are subjected to a federal background check, which is completed in a few minutes. Purchasing a handgun has a couple more hoops to jump through, but it delays things only a few days. I appreciate the point you make about your own country - that those with guns are either criminals or the well-connected. And please don't buy into the idea that the "guns lobby" is the reason for America's liberal gun-ownership laws. The estimates are that there are over 300,000,000 guns in private hands in the USA. Gun owners are very very serious about their rights to own firearms. The NRA is just an expression of that zeal.