Gun control faces uphill struggle in Congress

By Thomas Ferraro and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The massacre at Virginia Tech has ignited fresh talk in the Democratic-led U.S. Congress about tightening America's gun laws but it is doubtful enough lawmakers will tackle the politically charged issue.

With so many Americans in love with their guns and defensive of their right under the Constitution to keep and bear arms, politicians are reluctant to take on gun owners or the powerful gun lobby.

"It'd be foolish politically for Democrats to do it," said Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia. "There's little chance of anything meaningful."

Guns are an integral part of America's often-violent culture. Americans are among the world's most heavily armed people, and the country has among the highest murder rates.

There are an estimated 250 million privately owned guns in the United States, which has a population of about 300 million. About 30,000 people a year die from gun wounds, about evenly split between murders and suicides.

Polls show Americans favor tougher gun laws. But gun-rights groups have helped stop such action by rallying their members, many of them hunters, against it.

Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America said the shootings that left 33 people dead, including the assailant, at Virginia Tech on Monday showed gun bans are the problem, not the solution.

"Isn't it interesting that Utah and Oregon are the only two states that allow faculty to carry guns. And isn't it interesting that you haven't read about any school or university shootings in Utah and Oregon," Pratt said.