Senate passes gun bill in response to rampage

"There's no connection between having a gun and shooting someone with it, and not having a gun and not shooting someone. There have been studies made and there is no connection at all." - Bill Hicks

The U.S. Congress, prodded by the deadliest shooting rampage in modern American history, passed legislation on Wednesday to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. Without objection, the Senate and House of Representatives approved the measure, which would bolster background checks for gun buyers, and sent it to President George W. Bush to sign. The measure would be the first major new U.S. gun-control law since 1994. It was drafted after a gunman with a history of mental illness killed himself and 32 others in April at Virginia Tech university.

Well, that's progress I suppose. Great news for the 12,000 or so who are killed by people not deemed to be suffering from a mental illness. We won't even bother counting those injured, disabled and traumatised by guns, let alone the even higher number of suicides.