Quote:
Originally Posted by crisis
Yes as usual EricOCK ends up getting us so far from the point of the topic we are now arguing in ever diminishing circles about largely irrelevant minutiae. I bought it up only to illustrate how, with such a level of gun proliferation, weapons can find themselves into the hands of people deluded so. The frantic cries of how fantastic it was that in this case a private citizen had a gun handy are clutching at straws in a tragic situation.
In this case the gun owner shot the antagonist who then turned a gun on himself. It proves nothing to argue either that he may have killed himself at that point or that that she may have precipitated those actions.
Further to argue how wonderful having your citizens armed for such an occurrence ignores the fact that such a level of weapons proliferation and such a wide acceptance of gun ownership is in part responsible for the fact that it may be needed in the first place.
And yes chanting incantations or uttering prayers may be part of being in such a situation but she did not say she said a prayer. Her choice of words (if indeed what was reported was factual) were unfortunate and painted her as a religious nut.
|
Yes the fact that we have so many guns does mean that criminals have easier access to them, but that is part of living in a free society. I have no illusion that I will ever be safe and I don't want to be assured safety because it always comes at the expense of freedom. I, along with many of my fellow Americans would rather have our rights and put up with the drawbacks of letting all manner of idiots have the same freedoms. There is at least one gun in half of American households. There are 200 million+ guns in the hands of citizens. No ban is going to change that. Our citizens are armed and most of those who are have no intention of being disarmed. We can debate bans and restrictions as much as we want, but none of that takes into account the United States' unique political culture (and yes gun ownership is part of our political culture) and the fact that the guns are already out there.
There were times in our history when every household had a gun. What we need to look at is what changed and why do so many people turn to murder? The tools used don't matter. A person can kill somebody (even on impulse) with any numbers of implements (many of which are just as distancing as a firearm). Those are tough question that force us to look at the way in which we raise our children, the normalization of violence in our culture, endless cycles of poverty, issues of race, issues of class, and education. The reason politicians have convinced us to debate gun control is because that allows them to take the easy way out. Whatever way the debate swings in terms of legislation that is passed it gives them a free ticket out of solving the issues that are truly at the heart of the problem.