"John D. Giorgis" wrote:
> I'm watching _Primetime_ on ABC right now. They conducted an experiment
> by placing hidden cameras and disabled handguns in a room where teenagers
> will discover them. The reaction of the kids is appallling. They get
> excited, they jump around, the examine the gun, the even try firing them!
> The results of the experiment were even unaffected by giving the kids "gun
> safety" education immediately before the experiment.
>
> Somehow, "guns don't kill people, people do" seems all the more apt.
>
Your first paragraph belies the latter statement and after watching this piece
myself, I couldn't disagree with that statement more. I don't think I've ever
seen anything more convincing that these weapons have the power to get inside
a persons head and change the way he's* thinking. One kid was (I think) the
son of a police officer, a Boy Scout who had completed merit badges in gun
safety and when interviewed weeks prior to the experiment he had sad that upon
finding a hand gun he would immediately turn it in to the police. He was
caught on tape loading the clip into the (disabled) weapon and shoving it into
his pocket. Afterwards he said he kind of blacked out when he found the gun
(though I'm thinking this was more cover than reality.) Another had just lost
his best friend to a hand gun incident, yet when he found the gun he almost
immediately pointed it at his friend in the room. Inexplicable behavior! And
the parents of some of these kids couldn't believe that their children were
behaving in this manner.
> Also disturbing is that the kids almost universally talk about how
> *tempted* they were to pick up the gun and "check it out." This
> temptation was very overwhelming for these kids.
>
> Somehow, I can't help but think that there are some serious cultural
> factors at work here.
>
I'm not sure about that either. We know that of "developed" countries, these
school shootings happen only in the U.S. - is our culture that much different
than the rest of the world? The most obvious difference is the availability
of the weapons.
*I missed some of the show, but I think that girls in the same situation all
turned the weapon over to an adult.
Doug
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
