A Little Perspective
The school shooting is a terrible tragedy.
But let's get a little perspective here people.
1- It wasn't the gun or his ease of access that killed those kids and teachers. Or those people in the theater. Or the students at Virginia Tech. It was the psycho behind it. Someone who was going to harm others regardless of the weapon used.
2. Guns do NOT get up and go off of their own accord. They must first be PICKED UP or otherwise ACTED UPON. A gun can not accidentally go off without some event to jar it, MOST NOTABLY, someone PICKING IT UP and/or KNOCKING IT OFF SOMETHING. Therefore, your solution to this is gun SAFETY.
3. The same day as this most recent shooting, a man in China attacked a school with a KNIFE, cutting 22 children (no reports I've been able to find have indicated injured/dead status on of the victims- only that they were slashed). This was Friday. The past few years have seen several KNIFE attacks at SCHOOLS, with one KILLING 20 CHILDREN.
China has some of, if not THE strictest gun control laws in the world. If this isn't proof that psychos will harm others regardless of the weapon, I don't know what is.
So.... where is our outcry and public rage for the deaths and attacks on these children? Where is our "Let's Ban Knives!" and "Knives Kill People!!" posters?
Oh. Right. Because these kids were only attacked/killed with a knife... That's fine. That's nowhere NEAR as horrific as a kid getting shot..... It was just a knife, so why should we care?
4. Let's be realistic. How many of these shooters were law-abiding citizens who went through whatever necessary process there is to own/carry a gun? *crickets* None that I can recall hearing about. Yet, how many are people who acquired the guns from somewhere or someone else, or have them illegally, or got them from the black market?? What, MOST, if not ALL of them??? (NOTE: This is what I can recall from all the news stories... I'm short on time but I'll do some research into this a little later and edit this then, so I can either back up what I feel to be the case, or modify this bit to more closely fit the facts)
Conclusion? It's not the gun laws, it's the people. (This is NOT about the Stand Your Ground law- that's a whole OTHER issue, so please don't go there.)
5. A "quote" that came out friday has it right:
"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why. It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody. CNN's article says that if the body count 'holds up,' this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next. You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."
I'm not saying this to start a debate or a fire. There are fanatics on both sides, as well as intelligent, rational people (when it comes to this issue) who can have a civil and informative debate about the merits of gun control laws, and whether guns or PEOPLE are the real problem, and compare and contrast guns to other weapons/tools and various other factors. I'm just saying this because I see so many of the fanatic variety, that I just can't sit by and say NOTHING logical, regardless of whether they will listen or believe me. All I want is to introduce a little perspective. If even ONE person sees this, and it makes them think, when they might otherwise not have, then I've done my job.
But let's get a little perspective here people.
1- It wasn't the gun or his ease of access that killed those kids and teachers. Or those people in the theater. Or the students at Virginia Tech. It was the psycho behind it. Someone who was going to harm others regardless of the weapon used.
2. Guns do NOT get up and go off of their own accord. They must first be PICKED UP or otherwise ACTED UPON. A gun can not accidentally go off without some event to jar it, MOST NOTABLY, someone PICKING IT UP and/or KNOCKING IT OFF SOMETHING. Therefore, your solution to this is gun SAFETY.
3. The same day as this most recent shooting, a man in China attacked a school with a KNIFE, cutting 22 children (no reports I've been able to find have indicated injured/dead status on of the victims- only that they were slashed). This was Friday. The past few years have seen several KNIFE attacks at SCHOOLS, with one KILLING 20 CHILDREN.
China has some of, if not THE strictest gun control laws in the world. If this isn't proof that psychos will harm others regardless of the weapon, I don't know what is.
So.... where is our outcry and public rage for the deaths and attacks on these children? Where is our "Let's Ban Knives!" and "Knives Kill People!!" posters?
Oh. Right. Because these kids were only attacked/killed with a knife... That's fine. That's nowhere NEAR as horrific as a kid getting shot..... It was just a knife, so why should we care?
4. Let's be realistic. How many of these shooters were law-abiding citizens who went through whatever necessary process there is to own/carry a gun? *crickets* None that I can recall hearing about. Yet, how many are people who acquired the guns from somewhere or someone else, or have them illegally, or got them from the black market?? What, MOST, if not ALL of them??? (NOTE: This is what I can recall from all the news stories... I'm short on time but I'll do some research into this a little later and edit this then, so I can either back up what I feel to be the case, or modify this bit to more closely fit the facts)
Conclusion? It's not the gun laws, it's the people. (This is NOT about the Stand Your Ground law- that's a whole OTHER issue, so please don't go there.)
5. A "quote" that came out friday has it right:
"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why. It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody. CNN's article says that if the body count 'holds up,' this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next. You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."
I'm not saying this to start a debate or a fire. There are fanatics on both sides, as well as intelligent, rational people (when it comes to this issue) who can have a civil and informative debate about the merits of gun control laws, and whether guns or PEOPLE are the real problem, and compare and contrast guns to other weapons/tools and various other factors. I'm just saying this because I see so many of the fanatic variety, that I just can't sit by and say NOTHING logical, regardless of whether they will listen or believe me. All I want is to introduce a little perspective. If even ONE person sees this, and it makes them think, when they might otherwise not have, then I've done my job.