I have watched with horror the tragedy of the murders at Virginia Tech. 32 shot dead in their classrooms and as many injured. Here in England, the coverage in all the media is no less than I suspect it is in the States. But few people can understand the American love affair with the gun.
I was stalked once by a student who came and sat on the stairs of my apartment building for hours. I wasn’t afraid that anybody was carrying a knife or gun. These days I think I might not be so sanguine.
I doubt this shooting will have any effect on gun legislation in the States, though. And I’m not convinced that outlawing the carrying of some guns is desirable even if it were possible. Yet I do wonder if it is really necessary to defend the rights of all US citizens to carry AKA rifles and other weapons designed specifically for war?
On the other hand, during the foot-and-mouth crisis over here when the military was called in by authorities in London to help slaughter millions of sheep, I knew that kind of thing could never happen in the States. Farmers would have met the military at the farm gates with their own weapons rather than let them in with the law-abiding anguish they did over here.
And I don’t like the idea of the military being the only people in a society that have legitimate access to guns. Governments simply can’t be trusted over the long-term to be given that kind of unassailed power.
This is an interesting topic. It does not, however, address the part of the population which does not have an interest in guns as weapons. Some of you might say: “Huh??” Guns are made to be weapons, what else is there?
How about the gun owner who likes to shoot but not to kill. Non-weaponry use would include target shooting, possibly in competition. The Olympic Games list shooting and no one would call the competitors killers any more that you would call a skater or skier a killer. Then there is the enjoyment of a well-designed and superbly crafted piece of machinery. I have a neighbor who hunts deer with a handgun. Hits them in the head. He let me play with his Smith & Wesson .38 once and it was delightful. (It was unloaded, he is a careful gun owner.) Guns don’t kill; careless owners do. While we are on the subject: I don’t think a homeowner needs a machine gun for self-defense or a high-schooler to carry one to class.
Comment by budavar — November 17, 2010 @ 2:48 pm |
I agree it’s an interesting topic, and I don’t think there is a simple answer that can solve all the problems. The private ownership of guns has been drastically curtailed here in Britain. That keeps guns out of the hands of careless owners or their children, of people who are over-reacting or psychopaths. Good. But the law has kept guns away from people with legitimate reasons to have one and has not kept guns out of the hands of criminals. So who has the guns? criminals, the police, and the military. And knife crime is now increasingly the weapon of choice.
Still, I too would agree that the private individual doesn’t usually need a machine gun and carrying them to class could quite safely be outlawed without jeopardizing our rights and safety too dramatically.
But I don’t think we’ll do it. Sarah Palin certainly wouldn’t be behind a bill like that, would she?
Well, we haven’t solved the problem. But your thoughts invariably carry the discussion forward. Thank you.
TOI
Comment by theotheri — November 19, 2010 @ 4:27 pm |
As a foreigner you do not understand, and you will never understand Why Americans own firearms but should you ever provoke said curiousity you need but look at the oppression your ancestral kings played upon the Colonial psyche. We will never give them up, and id sooner be tortured, and thrown in prison then give them over.
Comment by j — December 11, 2011 @ 5:03 pm |
Actually, I am not a foreigner. I grew up on a farm in Ohio and spent most of my adult years in the States. I very much appreciate our American heritage and I am not against individuals owning firearms — the thought of the military and police being the only people with guns in any society does not fill me with confidence but rather with dread. We had guns on the farm and shooting ducks, deer, and rabbits – often for the table – never seemed and still do not seem activities that I would like to see made illegal.
What I do wonder about is whether it is necessary for ordinary citizens to have machine guns and other such weaponry so easily available on the city street. I also think there is a place for controlling who can get guns. I do not think the mentally unstable, those with records of criminal violence, adolescents should be able to get them with the unbridled ease that they can. I also think there should at least be a campaign to encourage (if not force) people to keep their guns locked away from their children or others who made do harm with them.
Having said that, I am not so simple as to think that keeping guns of the hands of those who may use them irresponsibly will solve all our problems of unwarranted violence. Knives can wound and kill with terrifying effectiveness, and they are even harder to control responsibly than guns. It would be difficult to outlaw kitchen knives or even to argue that they should be kept under lock and key.
So I for one am not mounting a campaign to throw you into prison for owning a gun. I do hope you are not one of those people who think using it is an appropriate way of settling your grievances, however.
What do you think?
Comment by theotheri — December 12, 2011 @ 11:31 am |