A lot of Americans are having these very same
discussions. Our Constitution has something called the Second
Amendment which scholars say is so poorly written that one can
read it to say just about anything.
The more sane elements say that it means that citizens
can procure the means to protect themselves and their homes.
The lunatics say this means you can own military
hardware and have as much of it as you can afford.
The interesting thing is that countries like Canada have
almost the same levels of gun ownership as the United States,
but they seem to be on to something we haven't figured out yet
or won't admit for political reasons. Guns are quite dangerous
in the wrong hands. Canada has background checks on those who
buy guns but these checks are serious and include more than a
quick check to see if you have had more than a traffic fine in
your life.
Canada has about 1-tenth of the homicides by fire arms
as does the United States.
Our latest monster from Hell probably would have passed
even the more strict Canadian fire arms background checks,
because this guy had a squeaky-clean history up to the last year
or so.
Authorities now know that in the last year, he dropped
out of the university where he had been studying neuro science,
bought 6-thousand rounds of ammunition, two Glock pistols, a shot
gun and a rifle and had 90 commercial deliveries of explosive
chemicals to his school address and to his apartment.
This is obviously not somebody who was afraid of
burglars and was trying to protect himself. One of the things he
had with him when he committed his assault was an ammunition clip
that contained 100 rounds. This means you could fire 100 shots
before needing to reload.
I know deer season is coming up in a few months and some
of those deer go down hard, but this is ridiculous.
People just should not be able to own this kind of fire
power. Most sane Americans are beyond appalled as here we go
again.
We have national data bases that track the purchase of
drug-making precursors. We also have a Federal department of
Alcohol, tobacco, fire arms and explosives as do most countries.
One would think we should be able to spot purchase patterns for
dangerous chemicals like we now track the makings of meth.
This latest nut job probably could have been stopped if
anybody had looked at the patterns he was demonstrating.
Everybody doesn't just go out and buy the components of
a one-man war in 6 months time.
What we seem to have lost is common sense. Probably well
over 90% of society is made of decent human beings who, to use
an American saying, would give you the shirt off their back if
you were in trouble, but then there's that ten per cent or less
who become this guy or scores of others we have seen in history.
You've seen similar people in the UK and we've got that
killer in Norway who gunned down 70 people last year.
We have got to find socially-acceptable ways to notice
when somebody is headed toward one of these events and stop them
before they carry it out.
Family and friends are actually a very good resource.
There have been several mass shooting/bombing/you name it events
in the United States that were shut down before anybody got hurt
because somebody heard or saw something and reported it. That's
not being a tattle tail. That's being responsible.
I would like to see a national campaign of ridicule
against the gun enthusiasts and their politician toadies
spotlighting how they have created a dangerous environment and
how they cling to their weapons like baby blankets. You could
have cartoons showing these people with an assault rifle in one
hand while sucking their thumbs on the other.
Martin
Gordon Smith writes:
> It's no use crying I'm afraid. If you people over there won't take the
> action you need to take in order to stop these horrific things from
> happening, you are your own worst enemies. Guns in private ownership
> where no legitimate purpose is served should be banned. It's no use
> bleating on about your constitutional rights, then crying when somebody
> abuses the guns and destroys multiple families forever.
>
> I sympathise with the bereaved, but not with your society. It's savagery
> I'm afraid and until you outlaw the weapons, it'll keep happening over
> and over and over again.
>
> I don't mean to sound in any way cruel and as I've said I feel for the
> families involved. But not for your society. So please don't say things
> like "It's a sad day in the USA" until you do something about it.
>
> Gordon
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