(I was going to add this to the string going on this topic. . . but it got a bit long for that . . . . mea culpa.)

MIC (in a response) forgot that the NRA position is that children can have guns also . . . no?  Remember some years ago when the City of Phoenix passed an ordinance, in an attempt to limit gang violence, that children (minors) could not carry a gun in public unless they had a notorized note from their Mommies?  As incredible as this sounds . . . there were NO restrictions on the books before that . . . so the NRA sent lawyers and challenged this in court . . . saying, amongst other things, also perhaps incredibly, that children of all ages had the right to carry guns in Phoenix and everywhere, because the founding fathers forgot (or neglected) to put any age restrictions in the second amendment.  Mull that a moment.

30,000 people are shot to death in this country every year; approx. 16,000 murdered and 14,000 suicide and accidental deaths . . . and the conservative (Tory) answer is to sell more guns with more firepower to more people . . . including members of violent street gangs . . . criminals . . . psychopaths, and perhaps, or sooner or later, even terrorists . . . at the gun shows and from ads in the paper . . .also from some gun dealers who deal out the back door, like Bullseye Shooter Supply in Washington, supplier of the sniper rifle used in the DC area shootings . . . has America the Beautiful become America the Violent?

One thing usually missing from these types of arguments is "money" . . . I have been in a house where a guy was selling a sawed off shotgun with a shoulder holster  . . . for cash . .  and have seen others selling guns out of a van at a flea market . . . these patriotic "gun collectors" do not want any trace of their business . . . they keep no records.. do no background checks. . . .and they do not pay taxes . . . discussing this issue without a mention of profits and money (for individuals and the manufacturers) is like discussing Iraq without mentioning Oil.

From the book Private Guns, Public Health, by David Hemenway:

"On an average day during the 1990's in the United States, firearms were used to kill more than ninety people and to wound about three hundred more.  Each day guns were also used in the commission of about three thousand crimes . . ."

It's an interesting read . . . recommended . . .

He makes some points about this level of killing as a national health issue . . . one we could do something about without completely forbidding guns . . . other countries do it . . . Canada, Australia perhaps . . . English-speaking countries where a lot of people have guns . . . but they don’t have near the level of crime we do . . .

I could go on for a long time . . . . but in trying to make some original points and not repeat others' ideas or arguments, like that pesky "subject" of the one-sentence 2nd amendment, a "well regulated militia. . . " why is that there?   I will try to get off the page by suggesting:

That everyone is in favor of gun control.  We only disagree on where to draw the line.  Don't think so?  Questions:

1.  Do first grade children have the right, or should they, to carry guns in their backpacks to school, you know, for self defense?  Junior high students?  High school kids who belong to gangs?  The kids who ride their skateboards in front of your house?

2.  When you go to a sports event, say football, and there are 60,000 people in the stands, do they all have the right to carry a concealed weapon, or an assault rifle to the game, you know, because of the second amendment?  Or in case a deer runs across the field, they can hunt it?

3.  Since the amendment does not say "guns," but "arms," what are "arms?"  Is a bazooka an "arm?"  Is a howitzer? A box of grenades?  A hundred pounds of dynamite?  A nuclear bomb?  If so, does your neighbor have the right to have a howitzer in his back yard, loaded and aimed at your house, you know, in case you attack him or the Russians come for him?  Picture the guy, with his beer in hand, just daring you to provoke him so he can blast your house to smithereens . . . his right, correct?  Not a danger to society?  Cool.

4.  Since the amendment does not mention criminals . . . does a criminal who has done his time then have the right to carry loaded guns?

If you answer questions like that honestly, you will see that you believe in some gun control...

If you truly believe that an armed society is a polite society, why is the West Bank or Baghdad so violent?  There are plenty of arms there, including the assault rifles now also for sale here . . oddly enough, our soldiers are taking weapons away from Iraqis, enforcing more gun control there than they had in Virginia . . . but if we are trying to make that a democracy like ours, shouldn't we allow guns for all?  Don't they also have a right to self-defense?

History?  Most folks think Wyatt Earp was a tough, effective marshal (or deputy).  But his first act was to prohibit the cowboys from carrying guns in town (I forget -- was it Dodge or Wichita maybe? Any history buffs out there?) . . . he had better gun control then than we do now . . .

For those who also say it is a cultural issue, you are right.  Media, games, movies, etc. play a part.  And how we raise our children plays a bigger part . . .or religion or the lack of it perhaps.  But it makes no sense to arm your enemies. . . . and that is what we do . . . when we sell these weapons to anybody with the money . . . with no check, no restrictions . . . you are selling to the enemies of society . . .  also, I have been to many foreign countries. . .and the safer ones seem to have an attitude that they just don’t want to commit crimes. . . they are embarrassed if anyone robs you or cheats you let alone worse . . . or perhaps they are more religious than we are and think it is wrong or immoral . . . of course, then there are places like Colombia . . . which is more like us…. drug gangs and guns everywhere . . .

For those who would say, as a friend did to me last night, that there are so many guns in circulation now, that it is beyond hope . . . I say, look at places where they have gotten tougher (New York, England) and you see the murder rate reduced . . . states where more people own guns have higher murder rates than other states do  (Harvard School of Public Health study).  There was a city in Indiana that began to use technicalities to put fly-by-night “sell to anyone” gun dealers out of business, you know, the guys who sell out of their garages at night . . .and their rate went down too….

And, in comparison, would you not want us to take defective products off the market just because you can’t find them all?   Or not prosecute criminals because you can’t catch them all?  Or if a restaurant was making people sick should we not close it down?  If 30,000 people a year died from the bird flu would there be an outcry to do something?  Similarly . . . . we should try . . . if for no other reason to honor those statements about the general welfare of the people . . .

Many years ago I saw an editorial in a magazine . . . written by a guy on death row . .  he wrote about his start in crime . .  and how he was a punk who shop-lifted. . . then stole a car or two . . . but then someone gave him a pistol . . . and he realized how easy it was to rob people and make them afraid .  . a power thing . . . but eventually he pulled the trigger . . . and two lives were “lost” forever . . .

I don’t care if you keep a gun in your house . . . much . . . but I don’t see the outrage when somebody leaves a loaded gun around and a child dies. . . oops, it’s an accident . . . but leave a kid in a hot car and we want that parent in jail, dammit!!  How is one “child endangerment” or “child cruelty” and not the other?

The politics of this transcends party . . . there are Dems who take the money too . . . and are afraid of losing it . . . what some need to understand is that this is not an “either or” issue . . . it does not mean if you give a bit here you lose it all there . . . if you can’t see that, re-take my little quiz . . . honestly this time . . .

The Va Tech crime is the impetus for this and others’ writings as well, and will likely continue to be . . . but it wasn’t the first and won’t be the last . . . event, sadly . . . more Americans die daily than died there . . . from guns . . . it was just a mass murder event that gets our attention . . . but let’s be honest, it was college kids . . . mostly Anglo . . . not sporadic murders in poor neighborhoods across the country, which happens nightly . . . that gets our attention . . .

And no, I honestly don’t think Congress or even the state of Virginia will change any laws . . . about guns . . . but I like to write and feel an obligation to state my arguments for change . . . as well as send money to groups who fight for reason and safety for all . . . that’s the way it is in America, those who spend the most get listened to, don’t they?  And if the Tories want to support extremist groups who think children should carry guns, and they out spend the other side . . . they will likely continue to get their way . . . with our “Congress for Sale.”

Drug dealers in Mexico now buy weapons here and smuggle them south across the border . . . easier here and better stuff too . . . so they can shoot the police better I guess??  Insane.  Maybe the Mexican military will have to patrol their side of the border now to fight this?  How odd that could happen.  Or maybe the “mordida” will be higher, (if I recall the word for “bribe.”)

For those who think you need an assault rifle . . . do as Wes Clark, our decorated and brilliant general suggested . . . join the military  -- they will teach you how to use such weapons in defense (we hope) of your country.  And it does not matter much but I have been in the military . . . and was on a pistol team for a while and still a decent shot . . . if I have time to get my glasses on  . . . .

What else, now that I have got going . . . oh, just as some say that if you are a law-abiding citizen you have nothing to fear from the FBI wiretapping you or spying on you . .  the corollary is, then, that  IF YOU REALLY ARE A LAW-ABIDING GUN OWNER, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR FROM SENSIBLE GUN CONTROL !!

That should start a new string….

Write on

--KZ