The tragedy of the Virginia Tech campus shootings (over 30 killed) highlights the nonsensical approach to gun laws in the USA. The right to bear arms is so deeply ingrained in the American consciousness that every time some lunatic goes on a shooting spree the result is always the same: "How tragic. Something must be done." Then nothing is done.
There are, apparently, about two hundred million privately-owned guns in the USA. Guns and ammunition are easy to come by, with a minimum of checks made on the purchaser's credentials.
The National Rifle Association seems to have a stranglehold on politicians; speak out against the gun culture and you lose votes. Charlton Heston (President of the NRA 1998-2003) told the 2000 NRA Convention that they could take his gun "from his cold dead hands". Idiot!
I am tempted to offer to eat my computer if any new meaningful gun control laws come out of the Virginia tragedy.
2 comments:
Here's the kooky part...there are just as many guns in Canada; our neighbors to the north, but homicide by firearms are almost unheard of.
I have mulled this over and the only thing that I can come up with is the egotistical "right at any cost" culture that sprung up in this country beginning with the mowing over of native Americans at it's very inception. Granted I love living here and the freedoms that we are given are exceptional. However, the founders of this country celebrated diversity, that concept is apparent in the words of the U.S. Constitution. Yet it seems that there is a lot of polarization of race, gender and socio-economic structure in this country along with some lax laws regarding automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Given that it's a pretty volatile mix.
Ah, but you also didn't hear Bush's reaction. Priceless. He said (quote from memory) "This is not about guns. This is about someone breaking the law."
Oh, that's right, it's that "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Shoot, my bad. I always thought the quote was "Guns don't kill people - people with guns kill people."
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