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Message |
    
Scott
flint knapper
Username: Scott
Post Number: 1919
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, April 22, 2007 - 5:03 pm: |     |
I feel bad for the families of the victims at the recent Virginia Tech massacre - to a point.
I simply don't understand the histrionics and public wailing though. Americans have chosen to have guns without gun laws - 11,000+ lives lost to guns every year (4000+ children) are the price they pay for Freedom to own guns, set down in the 2nd Amendment, which we know is a red herring - no one could argue that gun ownership as it exists today is a "well armed militia" or what the founding fathers had in mind. It is an excuse by the gun lobby. Americans seem to accept the gun lobby and ignore the death toll every year as simply the price of democracy. Indeed the Supreme Court has a lot to answer for here.
Since Columbine, gun laws have actually been weakened, terms and provisions left to lapse. I find it hard to shed a tear for the American people - they have made the democratic choice to accept the collateral damage that the "freedom" of the 2nd Amendment gives them. So, why the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the media? Shut up about it already, this is the result of your "right" to unrestrictedly buy and own guns.
Other countries have much stricter gun laws and far less death tolls. Not perfect, but far less death there. Japan comes to mind, half the population of the US (roughly). Deaths by guns in the US: about 14/100,000. In Japan: 0.05/100,000. These stats are from 90's but I doubt things have changed much.
Again, I feel sympathy to the families, but unless the American people are willing to disabuse themselves of the level of gun ownership, purchase and storage practices that they are now used to, this will continue to be the price they pay. Americans seem to be saying that 11,000 deaths is worth it.
Scott
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Ces gens, Jondalar, ils sourient. Ils me sourient. - Ayla |
Angakuk
flint knapper
Username: Angakuk
Post Number: 686
Registered: 6-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 23, 2007 - 2:43 am: | |
Scott:I simply don't understand the histrionics and public wailing though.
IIRC I read that 85 people died in Iraq on that same day. Who knows how many in Darfur or other parts of the world? Why the obsession with the those particular 32 victims in Virginia?
I will go ahead and answer my own question. We (citizens of the U.S.) are, by and large, self-indulgent, self-absorbed, cry-babies.
To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily; not to dare is to lose oneself.
- Soren Kierkegaard
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Scott
flint knapper
Username: Scott
Post Number: 1921
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Monday, April 23, 2007 - 3:02 am: | |
And they die like this every day? I don't mean to diminish the anguish felt by the families - I cannot imagine their grief - but are American or Canadian lives so much more important?
More importantly, the American people have made the conscious choice to accept guns almost without restriction in their daily lives - ostensibly for "their protection" yet the stats don't bear out the fact that they are safer overall. Mexico is oft cited by the gun control lobby - citizens don't own guns - yet the drug gangs have them and kill thousands of Mexicans every year. The US is not Mexico. It has an extensive, relatively well-paid, and disciplined police force to keep the peace and protect the population - Mexico does not. So does Japan, so does Canada.
It is not illegal to own or possess a gun, even a handgun, in Canada. But its use, transport and storage is severely restricted. I can go target shooting anytime of the week. I cannot keep a gun in my car, purse, under my bed......
My "rights" to own a gun are not restricted. I own guns but there are none in my house. I could have them in my house if I wanted to, but I have chosen not to.
Scott
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Ces gens, Jondalar, ils sourient. Ils me sourient. - Ayla |
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