Monthly Archive for April, 2007

Most days, it is not at all hard to feel proud to be an American. But on days such as this, it is very difficult. The use of guns is often the American technique of choice for all kinds of conflict resolution. Our famous Constitution, about which many of us are generally so proud, enshrines — along with the right to freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly — the right to own guns. That’s an apples and oranges list if there ever was one.In the nineties, the Los Angeles Times courageously endorsed an all-but-complete ban on privately owned guns, in an effort to greatly reduce their availability. By the time the series of editorials had concluded, the newspaper had received more angry letters and fiery faxes from the well-armed U.S. gun lobby than on any other issue during my privileged six-year tenure as the newspaper’s editorial page editor.But the paper, by the way, also received more supportive letters than on any other issue about which it editorialized during that era. The common sense of ordinary citizens told them that whatever Americans were and are good for, carrying around guns like costume jewelry was not on our Mature List of Notable Cultural Accomplishments.”Guns don’t kill people,” goes the gun lobby’s absurd mantra. Far fewer guns in America would logically result in far fewer deaths from people pulling the trigger. The probability of the Virginia Tech gun massacre happening would have been greatly reduced if guns weren’t so easily available to ordinary citizens.

A near-death experience does focus the mind. We need to get rid of our guns.

Read the whole essay by Tom Plate… (this was post contains some excerpts, follow the link for the original text in its entirety)

I must say that I agree…so many more people would be alive today if guns were not so widely available and if there were stricter gun laws. Just consider all of the school shootings that have occurred (Virginia Tech, the Amish school shooting in Pennsylvania, Columbine [RIP - 8 years ago today], and many more) because the shooter had easy access to guns and other firearms. How would society be like today if none of those shootings had occurred? Guns have caused so much trouble and thrown the country into a moral panic, so why do we continue to allow anyone and everyone to have free access to guns?

Sure, there are many crimes each year that are stopped because the victim pulled a gun on the attacker/robber/assailant/etc., but there are other ways to defend yourself. Pepper spray and some well-placed kicks would probably be enough to deter most ordinary criminals; why do you need to blow their brains out in order to get them off your back? I know that if I were being attacked, I would rather see my assailant convicted and imprisoned than have to live the rest of my life knowing that I shot and killed somebody; I couldn’t deal with the baggage.

The Constitution may guarantee citizens the right to bear arms, but you have to keep in mind that the Constitution was written in a completely different time period. Citizens still had to hunt for food and protect themselves from “savages”. And today? We buy our food and call the police if we feel endangered. The only plausible reason for anybody to need to use a gun/keep one in their house would be in some extreme self-defense situations. Why can’t hunters/marksman keep their guns stored on shooting ranges/hunting grounds? Would that be such a travesty? If that is the only place that you use your weapons, then there shouldn’t be a need to carry them around with you.

There have been so many gun-related deaths/injuries recently that something needs to be done, and if politicians are too blind to see that, than we have some real problems. Something needs to be done, whether it involves stricter gun control laws or completely giving up the right to bear arms. How many more lives need to be lost before we learn our lesson?