Thursday, October 12, 2006

Wack Jobs with Guns

Guns don't kill people, but wack jobs with guns do. The insane or simply sociopathic will always be with us. Until we find the way to eliminate those problems within our society--a very difficult task especially for one that sees economic stratification as a good thing-- we could work on the other variable in this social equation by making it smaller. We are the only society on this planet that tolerates such a lax attitude toward a lethal product. Perhaps making guns more difficult to own, easier to trace, and less lethal we could reduce the mayhem in our midst. I am not suggesting that restricting gun ownership by type and registration could have saved the girls in Colorado and Pennsylvania. The killer in Pennsylvania had no criminal or mental health record and had apparently nursed a grudge for years before putting his revenge plan into action. But such restrictions could certainly reduce the number of deaths each year from guns. To understand just how out of wack this trade off between personal freedom and public safety has become, no one in their right mind can argue that a hunter or target shooter needs a .50 caliber semi automatic rifle equipped with armor piercing bullets to engage in their chosen sport. It is a weapon of war designed to kill people and therefore inappropriate for civilian use. The same could be said for large caliber semi automatic pistols.
Do we really have to bulldoze schools into meadows so that we can exercise a freedom to raise and equip state militias? I don't think so.

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