Re: Textbook cognitive dissonance

"John Dean" <john-dean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
[...]
And, of course, V Tech deaths were a
one-off, something we hope and expect not to see again or, if we
do, not for years.

That may be true if you look only at the number of dead students and
teachers, but there will inevitably be copycat killings on college
campuses. And there's a story on CNN.com today about a murder-suicide
at NASA:

HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- A NASA engineer Friday shot and killed
another engineer and then turned the gun on himself at the Johnson
Space Center, police and NASA officials said.

The shootings occurred in a single office in Building 44 on the
sprawling campus.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/20/nasa.gunfire/index.html

All the attention focused on these killings and the publicity that
the shooter got will probably inspire others to do the same. It seems
to work like that in the USA and, perhaps, elsewhere. To a great
extent, of course, the worldwide Islamofascist jihad is fueled by the
media as much or more than by actual discontent.

This is one time when I agree with Charles Krauthammer's opinion:
viz. the less said about the V. Tech killings, the better. There's no
need for a national or international orgy of mourning or screaming
about gun control[1], especially when the USA's homicide rate is
substanially lower than those in places like Colombia, Latvia, South
Africa, and a host of other countries, and only about three times
that in England/Wales (it's much higher in Scotland, and Northern
Ireland doesn't really count). Okay, about 67% of America's homicides
are gun-related, but banning guns will not necessarily reduce the
homicide rate. Here in Taiwan, where guns are totally banned, the
homicide rate is 50% higher than in the USA, and in places like
Switzerland, where everybody has to have an automatice weapon by law,
the gun-related homicides are statistically insignificant, but people
still murder each other.

NOTE:[1] I do not believe that the Second Amendment gives Americans
an unrestricted right to bear arms. And even if that was a felt
necessity in 1789, the need for that kind of protection against
tyrannical governments is gone. There's no way that a bunch of well-
armed militiamen in Montana can stand up to the US military should
the powers that be decide to initiate a military coup and impose
martial law. That argument is pure bullpucky. And there's no way that
allowing everyone in the USA to carry guns into currently gun-free
zones like schools will stop people like Cho from executing a well-
planned mass murder. People who believe that are simply living in
cowboy movies. I'm all for eliminating all guns everywhere. They are
symbols of our contemporary caveman consciousness, which will
probably take many millions of years to evolve out of us, but we
won't be around to see it.

--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
"It has come to my attention that my opinions are not universally
shared." Scott Adams, The Dilbert Blog, 23 Jan 2007;
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/
teranews charges a one-time US$3.95 setup fee



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Note to Phil
    ... The murder rate in that year was 1.7/100,000. ... Mr "They have not impacted the overall homicide rate at all". ... Murder by firearm is at historic lows and is accompanied by a ... I think it's a GOOD THING that your masters took away your guns. ...
    (talk.politics.guns)
  • Re: Gun Crime In Australia
    ... the total usage of guns in crime - DOWN by ... >> A good example is the first link, the Fraser Institute report. ... >> total homicide rate, after having remained basically flat from 1995 to ...
    (talk.politics.guns)
  • Re: GTA: San Andreas gets AO rating!
    ... Now why were guns ... just like for gun violence and any violent crime. ... but people who kill and injure with cars are frequently ... When guns were banned in the UK, the homicide rate rose. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action)
  • Re: OT 2nd ammendment INDIVIDUAL right confirmed!
    ... guns in the US is not going to happen. ... just because gun ownership is not banned in the U.S does not ... rate and a very low homicide rate. ... rate *using guns* is higher than in countries where gun availability ...
    (rec.sport.golf)
  • Re: Condolences to VA Tech
    ... guns in the area, he would have killed far fewer people. ... Next all assult rifels and the like. ... This from the country that is trying to ban private ownership of ... homicide rate in the U.K., ...
    (talk.origins)
Loading