To be honest, someone saying "I would make a better salary as a programmer in the US, but I won't go because of X" is topical to HN (Even if X is a false statement, heck, even if 'I won't go because' is a false statement, because in all cases it's being said, and that's relevant in a country that is simultaneously debating a programmer shortage, H1-B visas, and how these impact our industry.

I have plenty to say on the gun debate, but HN isn't the place to bring most of that it up. Where the gun culture (note, OP said 'culture', so it has nothing to do with the legality per se) DOES intersect the HN topics, however, seems like something that shouldn't be ignored just because it's a political issue. Ideally your political issues are important issues - outright avoiding discussion of them is not helpful, even if discussion requires more effort towards civility and open-mindedness on everyone's parts.

There’s a significant difference between a discussion on this event when we know the facts, and discussion while it’s ongoing and multiple versions of events are being offered by dozens of sources. The phrase, “Ongoing tragedy” was sort of the key to my post.