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Guns in America

Revealing stories from around the world: gun laws in the US, emigration from Portugal, forgetting genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and crossing Lake Malawi. With Pascale Harter.

In the United States, "the right to keep and bear arms" has meant it's relatively easy for Americans to buy and carry guns. There is actually a lot of support for tightening gun laws, but as Robert Hodierne reports, passing any form of legislation to that effect is nigh impossible because of the role money plays in lawmakers' election campaigns. And in the mountainous north of Portugal, making a living is so hard, that in many places only the old and infirm remain. Margaret Bradley visits a village where 90% of people have emigrated.

Fergal Keane reported from the Bosnian war in the 1990s, a time of mass murder, rapes and ethnic cleansing. He now returns to Visegrad, a Bosnian town now ruled by ethnic Serbs. There are no reminders of the wartime atrocities, because Visegrad now wants to be a tourist destination. At the Muslim Cemetery the local authority used an angle grinder to remove the word β€˜genocide’ from the memorial last year. And Beth McLeod crosses Lake Malawi in an old, Scottish-built boat, that is a veritable lifeline for those living on its shores.

Presenter: Pascale Harter.
Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Photo of display of guns at trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

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23 minutes

Last on

Sun 21 Feb 2016 23:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 20 Feb 2016 03:06GMT
  • Sun 21 Feb 2016 09:06GMT
  • Sun 21 Feb 2016 23:06GMT