Is America Obsessed with Guns?

Monday marks the tenth anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in the American state of Colorado which left 12 students and a teacher dead. It was a pivotal moment for the movement to crack down on US gun culture. A decade later, gun-related violence in the US continues unabated.

On Saturday, Newshour will take a close look at the gun culture in the US and will ask why it continues to be such a bitterly divisive issue for Americans. It is time to listen to the gun-control lobby? If you own a gun, what does it mean to you?

Susan Boyle: YouTube sensation

Boy, there are no shortage of issues raised by this. Latest count put the number of views around the 25m mark. (We did embed it from YouTube but it seems the lawyers have got involved.) This article lashes our response to Susan Boyle as sexist, pompous and guilt-ridden. Do you agree?

Why are there so few openly gay sports stars?

We’re going to try and touch on three subject today: this one, and the interrogation and Pirate Bay stories.

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham won gold in Beijing and this week he’s said that his sexuality has cost him sponsorship.

John Amaechi played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, LA Lakers and Utah Jazz (not a bad list is it?), but it was only after he stopped playing that he revealed that he is gay. He’ll tell us why he waited. Here’s an interview he gave when he came out after his retirement.

Is this about the attitude of fans or the attitude of some players? Or do you think if more gay players were willing to come out then this would stop being an issue?

Do we have the right to share everything on the internet?

Peter Sunde from the file-sharing website Pirate Bay was on the show in July and he’s on the phone to Tom from WHYS now as I write. He’s not sure if he can speak to you later as he’s just been sentenced to prison for a year. He said call and try at the start of the show and we will. But what about the issues this throws up?

Is Pres Obama right to publish but not prosecute?

We know what the CIA were told they could and couldn’t do. And that President Obama won’t be seeking legal action against any of those who carried out the interrogations or who ordered them. Was that the right decision?

Talking Points: 17 April

President Obama banned terror interrogation methods like sleep deprivation and simulated drowning in his first week in office. Now he’s released more details of the ‘torture’ techniques used during the Bush administration. But he says CIA agents who used them, won’t be prosecuted. Should the US punish those responsible? Professor David Cole thinks so. But are certain types of interrogation necessary?