With over 270 million guns in America, can anyone win the firearms debate? VICE&amp;#8217;s Rocco Castoro examines Florida gun laws to find out.
The original version of this article appeared in the print edition of VICE&rsquo;s December Hopelessness Issue. It was sent to press two weeks before Friday&rsquo;s massacre in Newtown, Connecticut&mdash;one that ripped the heart straight out of America&rsquo;s chest. An unfortunately timely piece, it has been updated accordingly.

The almost unfathomable national tragedy that happened on December 14th in Newtown, Connecticut, was the latest and most horrific example in a string of mass shootings that have occurred in the United States over the past 30 years.&nbsp;Unfortunately it took the brutal murder of 20 very young students and six of their caretakers at Sandy Hook Elementary School for Americans to truly attempt to wrap their minds around current firearms laws and reflect on the culture that has created them.&nbsp;And this time there will almost certainly be a massive&nbsp;legislative shift&nbsp;on the national level. How&nbsp;pivotal&nbsp;it will be remains to be seen.
However, what the nation will find&mdash;if history is any indicator&mdash;is that legal solutions to this dilemma&nbsp;will prove unsuccessful.&nbsp;Even worse,&nbsp;further restrictions on firearms may exacerbate the situation.&nbsp;This is because the information and decision-making process that is needed to responsibly unify firearms laws is inherently flawed from within.
There is a very specific reason that people&mdash;heroes, monsters, and especially Americans&mdash;like guns. It&rsquo;s the same reason I like guns. I like shooting down a pockmarked range or sandy berm on a cloudy day. I like the feeling of curved metal behind my fingertip, knowing that the world can be forever changed with a simple pull.
