In the UK, The Guardian editorialized in the wake of the Newtown shootings: "A proper federal system of regulation, including background checks registration, and limits on the type and number of weapons an individual can own, would bring the U.S. belatedly into line with other civilized countries, as would a determined push back against state legislation allowing the carrying of concealed weapons in public."

Hours before the Sandy Hook massacre, Michigan lawmakers passed legislation allowing those with concealed pistol licenses to carry guns into schools, hospitals and churches among other places.

In the words of one commentator: "No society that holds itself up as an example to the world should, as the United States does, brazenly shrug off what are clearly deep national character flaws when it comes to our love of guns or our celebration of hate politics."

The writer was not a foreigner, but an American -- David Rothkopf -- writing in Foreign Policy. And he was writing not this weekend, but after Jared Loughner shot and killed six people, and injured more than a dozen, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in January 2011.