I'll leave the issue of the "right to bear arms" (cough*in a well-regulated militia*cough) alone for now, though you have a point. Football does have rules: you can't just yank another player's mask, or pull them around by their testicles or whatever. Picture what would happen if high school football was regulated with regards to the amount of physical contact, making it less "violent". The sport is all about testosterone, men being men, and boys showing that they're turning into men. That's what the players seem to want , and it's what the audience wants. As I recall, it was a major argument against girls playing football: the boys would feel compelled to "pull their punches" so as not to hurt them (as well as some diversionary tactics involving the cost of extra locker rooms). Anyway, my point, and I do have one, is that so far at least, these 15 deaths per year are seemingly considered to be "acceptable losses", to ensure that the American institution of Manly Football continues uninterrupted and unadulterated.

As a Canadian, I'd like to point out that up here, we have parents who physically assault referees at their 8-year-old's hockey game. We can be just as bad.