How many shooting deaths does it take before a nation does something about its gun policies?

If we are talking about the United States, our threshold seems to be limitless. Today, another upset individual has gone on a shooting spree.

This time, it was an Ohio State University custodial employee who received a bad evaluation. He came to work dressed in dark clothes and carrying two guns in a backpack. The man, whom police have identified as Nathaniel Brown, 51, shot two people, killing one, before fatally shooting himself.

This could have easily been another Virginia Tech situation where Brown went outside to start killing students. Thirty-two students and faculty were killed by one psychologically disturbed student. Or it could have been another Fort Hood shooting, where Nidal Malik Hasan, an upset army psychiatrist, shot and killed 12 people and wounded 30 others.

How about the recent shooting at the University of Alabama-Huntsville where professor Amy Bishop shot and killed three of her colleagues after being denied tenure.

The easy availability and the sheer quantity of guns in this country makes all of this violence and mayhem possible. It's not just two drug dealers shooting it out on urban streets anymore. Students, doctors, professors or anyone who is upset is grabbing a gun and settling the score.The shooting comes as Ohio is deciding whether or not to let people carry guns on campus. According to the New York Times:

Those who support the right to carry concealed weapons on campuses argue that having a gun protects the individual and the community and lessens the likelihood of a rampage like the one at Virginia Tech in 2007 in which 32 students and faculty members were killed. Opponents say that with binge drinking, drug use and the pressures that students face, campuses are the wrong place for guns.

Gun rights activists are also pushing for states to allow people to carry unconcealed weapons in the 38 plus states that currently do not allow it.

In my opinion, the arguments about a person's right to carry a gun does not outweigh my right not to be shot in the head at work over some perceived slight. And the leading cause of gun fatalities is suicide. How many people might still be here today if the easy method of committing suicide was not so readily available?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were more than 30,000 intentional gun deaths in 2003. Fifty-six percent were from suicides. Our gun death rate is more than eight times that of our western counterparts and the United States has the highest youth suicide rate among the Top-26 wealthiest nations.

Think about that as we wait for the next shooting to hit the national news.