http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041209/D86SB6EG0.html
Five dead and counting - Last night's brutal shooting of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott of the band Damageplan at a nightclub in Columbus was not the last straw; the last straw happened years ago. The killer murdered three other people, and seriously injured others. A cop arrived and was able to stop the killer before he shot again.
Like a bad dream, the National Rifle Association returns periodically to remind us that "guns don't kill; people do." After assassinations, after Columbine, after every senseless, insane killing, and as they inevitably will after last night's tragedy, the NRA will dissemble, rationalize, backpeddle and flat out lie. Unrepentant despite Columbine and the thousands of lesser known gun outrages in America, the NRA will actually try to tell us that shootings like this are why we need to have guns.
The second amendment probably outlived its usefulness sometime around the turn of the 20th century. Let's get rid of it.
John Lennon was assassinated exactly 24 years ago last night by another sick biscuit with a gun. How many more? /jack
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11 comments:
I'm pretty sure you have never listened to Damageplan, and, OK, I'll respect your right to think the Beatles produced trash. Yeah, you're not in the NRA.
You're saying that these guys could have done the same damage with a knife or baseball bat? Possibly. I'm not sure the guy could have killed five people with a knife. Isn't that being a little disingenuous? At least Abbott would have possibly had a fighting chance. He might have run. Or ducked.
"The gun is irrelevant." For a guy who has called me "stupid" elsewhere, you don't seem all that swift yourself. But you write OK for a mouth-breather.
I was very saddened by this news - having been a fan of Dime - but I tell ya - it never crossed my mind or a SECOND that guns were to be blamed - I'm not in the NRA but can see where if more people packed guns this kind of thing would be a lot less likely to happen. - An armed society is a polite society.
I'm sure you don't see it that way - it's interesting to read an opposing view though - you write well.
Have a great weekend.
There are people who claim the "music" (sorry, but I find most of the current noise not really music, but I also recognize that is an opinion, not one I would force on others) played by today's bands causes violence. Should, therefore, that so-called "music" be banned? There are smarter people who say "guns cause crime just as flies cause garbage." In truth, owning a gun is the same human right as owning, say, a DVD. A free human being has the right to OWN anything he has honestly acquired, whether it's a gun or a recording (even one most of us find distasteful) or a Bible or a plant. If one insists on laws controlling behavior, then the only rational and moral law is one against acts that initiate force or fraud; that is, one can properly advocate laws against killing or stealing or driving under the influence ... but NOT against ownership of ANYthing honestly acquired.
Hi Monkey - The previous commentator pointed out a baseball bat could have done as much damage. But to kill four people would have required much more energy, and time, than standing and pulling the trigger. So, in a way, I agree with you AND the NRA..."guns don't kill, people kill." But people kill with guns. Israel has a handgun murder rate one sixth of ours, even though they are heavily armed. Switzerland, where virtually everyone owns a gun has about one third the murders we do. Most murders are crimes of passion, and the people who carry them out are not deterred by the consequences (like the killer last night, or a terrorist in Israel). I'd just like to hamstring them a little. /jack
Jack:
True, true - it'd be some work to kill 4 people with a bat - but it could be done.
Interesting facts you point out about Israel & Switzerland - it's amazing how a country can be so well behaved with so many guns - I have no answer to that - it's a mystery I guess. I guess we Americans are just a little more crazy or something - but I'd not have it any other way - crazy or not, I love our country even if we waste each other ever now and again.
But I still feel SAFER knowing that so many of my fellow Americans are packing - because I still feel there's more GOOD people in the world than bad - and I want good people to have and carry guns freely - if nothing else so they can waste away idiots like the guy last night, or the clown that comes into McDonald's blowing away innocent people. I will always feel safer with guns all around me - even though that sounds warped probably to you and others I feel they're a GOOD tool in the right hands. (Like in the hands of the cop at that concert who probably saved a lot of lives)
Off to beddy-by-land. Good night.
Well, I guess we agree to disagree. For me it is about proportion. . .
People with bats or knives don't do a lot of collateral damage. Someone with a semi-automatic weapon and a pocketful of clips could kill dozens of people. Tjis guy killed at least four before he even reloaded.
I didn't look it up, but I know there are statistics about how many crimes are actually thwarted by people carrying guns. The last I heard, I believe was that far far more people are killed than saved by guns.
Guns make us safer Jack, the same way having nuclear missiles kept the Russians away and you'll probably never believe that. You talked about the low rates of killings in Switzerland and Israel, and you were right.
Hey, why was my post removed? Who are the blog administrators? All I had was a link to a university site called Hillsdale.edu.
BTW, the article was this: http://www.hillsdale.edu/newimprimis/2004/september/default.htm
BTW, thanks Jack for telling me my post was removed.
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