In this pandemic year, gun sales have already totaled more than 17 million (including many first-time gun buyers). A record 15.1 million weapons were sold between March and September alone. Even for the country whose citizens were already (by far) the most heavily armed on the planet, this is record-breaking territory. We are an armed nation. No surprise then that, in these stressful election and Covid-19 months, gun deaths rose significantly in red states as well as blue states, red cities along with blue ones.

My comment: What is being openly discussed in Europe is right. After a century of dominance the moral and democratic hegemony of the United Sates in the Western world is truly over, gone, caput.

For me, anyway, the above statistic is obscene. And this comes from someone who, for decades, has been a fervent admirer of the country and its values, who married an American and came here to live. Let us hope there are still some grownups around to calm the country.