America's gun psychosis

[chieftain]

This is what New Yorkers en masse really believe. And will do everything in their means to force us to submit to their perverted beliefs.

Go figure.

Fred

The New York Daily News:

America's gun psychosis

Editorial

Posted Wednesday, April 18th 2007, 4:00 AM
Editorial

The thing is, they're out there, just heartbeats away from going to pieces and pulling the trigger, again and again and again and again until there is bloodshed and death beyond imagining.

Here are Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, on their way to school one Colorado morning. Here is Colin Ferguson, boarding the evening LIRR after a bad day at his job. Here is Cho Sueng-hui, lost in psychotic fantasies and still able to buy ammo and a Glock 9-mm. pistol from a Virginia gun shop because that's how Virginia voters appear to believe the world should work.

And the toll keeps rising, 13 dead in Columbine, 32 dead in Blacksburg, and someday, inevitably, there will be more. Because in a country awash in 200 million guns, there have been 41 school shootings in the U.S. since 1996, taking 110 lives - almost double the total fatalities suffered in 80 other countries over the same period.

No, all those deaths might not have been avoided with even the strictest gun control laws. There's not much to be done about blind fate. But a major share of responsibility for the tally of human loss, as unearthed by the Economist magazine, rests with the gun lobby's fanatic insistence on the absolute right to bear arms, regardless of the consequences.

So rabid are the believers that more than a few argued yesterday that Cho Sueng-hui's rampage could have been cut short if only Virginia Tech did not bar students from carrying guns on campus. But that's the way Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday lived. That's the way Abe Reles and Legs Diamond lived. That not the way civilized human beings live.

The more sensible answer is not to arm ourselves daily against whatever Cho Sueng-huis might come mumbling and muttering along. The answer is to do whatever can be done to keep the Cho Sueng-huis from laying hands on guns more easily than on driver's licenses.

But so potent a political force are the fanatics that they have managed to bend to their will even Rudy Giuliani, who said yesterday, "People have the right to keep and bear arms, and the Constitution says this right will not be infringed." And they have such a firm grip on Washington that Congress won't even bring itself to ban private ownership of military-grade assault weapons, much less regulate side arms.

And more will die. Many more.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/04/18/2007-04-18_americas_gun_psychosis_print.html For the compulsive

 

[Harvster]

with the gun lobby's fanatic insistence on the absolute right to bear arms,

pretty old article, but, I thought there was some constitutional thingy about that. I guess I was wrong....my bad.

 

[Vermont]

I'm no fan of Rudy but isn't it disgraceful that someone catches crap for basically quoting the Constitution?

 

[MachIVshooter]

There's not much to be done about blind fate. But a major share of responsibility for the tally of human loss, as unearthed by the Economist magazine, rests with the gun lobby's fanatic insistence on the absolute right to bear arms, regardless of the consequences.

No doubt an authority on the issue

And the toll keeps rising, 13 dead in Columbine, 32 dead in Blacksburg, and someday, inevitably, there will be more. Because in a country awash in 200 million guns, there have been 41 school shootings in the U.S. since 1996, taking 110 lives - almost double the total fatalities suffered in 80 other countries over the same period.

And that 12 year total could have been exceeded in one single hour at New Life church if Jeannie Assam hadn't been armed and taken out the shooter. But We just can't expect some people to understand that.

At the risk of sounding insensitive to such tragedies, more teenagers age 16-19 died in my state alone over the last two years from auto accidents.

And about the other countries they've compared us to, how many had such a high percentage of their adolescent and post-adolescent youths attending public school? And how many of those countries have a population of 300 million?

Just more ridiculous tripe from the wrong side.

 

[Pat Cannon]

It's unfair to imply that all New Yorkers think that way—just too many of the ones in power. I dislike the over-generalization, just as I dislike statements beginning "gun owners all think..."

Still, you'd have to pay me a lot to live there.

 

[Blackbeard]

Given that all of these copycat shooters got the idea through the mass media, why does the New York Daily News editorial staff continue to insist on absolute freedom of the press, regardless of the consequences?

How many more people have to die before we enact some sensible media control laws?

 

[Standing Wolf]

The more sensible answer is not to arm ourselves daily against whatever Cho Sueng-huis might come mumbling and muttering along. The answer is to do whatever can be done to keep the Cho Sueng-huis from laying hands on guns more easily than on driver's licenses.

Real men don't hide under beds.

 

[D94R]

And that 12 year total could have been exceeded in one single hour at New Life church if Jeannie Assam hadn't been armed and taken out the shooter. But We just can't expect some people to understand that.

At the risk of sounding insensitive to such tragedies, more teenagers age 16-19 died in my state alone over the last two years from auto accidents.

Now now, there is no room to bring logic and sensibility into this. There would be nothing for them to argue about if so.

 

[DiN_BLiX]

But that's the way Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday lived. That's the way Abe Reles and Legs Diamond lived. That not the way civilized human beings live.

CIVILIZED? the Romans were "civilized", and they killed people just for fun! What kind of sick "civilization" says, "its okay that all those people died, they died on their knees wimpering and beggin for mercy, they way all good civilized folks do"... foolishness.

 

[pdowg881]

We should ban electronic media because the founders never planned for something as powerful and dangerous as electronic media when they came up with freedom of speech.

 

[bluestarlizzard]

same old, same old. they don't listin to the arguments against their views. they don't come up with new arguments. they stick with the same crap and refuse to understand that their tired old yelling points don't wash.
unfortunatly, they come off looking like saints in the public eye and we gunnies like like the moonbats. because the only way to argue is to yell back in the hopes they will hear you above the screams.

 

[Bones11b]

In defense of New Yorkers it's a big state. Don't think the NYC mentality matches that of the entire state. Beleive me when I say there is world class fishing and hunting in NY state and plenty of firearm enthusiast.

 

[Cosmoline]

But that's the way Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday lived.

The operative word being LIVED. They survived precisely because they were armed and able to defend themselves. I guess it's only "civilised" if you die.

 

[Eyesac]

I'm no fan of Rudy but isn't it disgraceful that someone catches crap for basically quoting the Constitution?

Seriously. :banghead:

 

[hnk45acp]

This is what New Yorkers en masse really believe. And will do everything in their means to force us to submit to their perverted beliefs.

Not this New Yorker

 

[hanno]

Wonder if those editors live in some of the more "interesting" parts of the city? You know, the places where someone will assault (if not outright kill) you for looking at them the wrong way. Somehow I doubt it.

If we could just get rid of all the guns, sit in a big circle singing Kumbaya, everything would be okay. Right.

 

[Vonderek]

It's funny they would mention Wyatt Earp in that context. He would have actually fit in quite well into the New York gun-banning mindset. He didn't allow guns within Tombstone city limits. That's why some of the Clantons were unarmed when they were gunned down outside the OK Corral.

 

[Crosscut]

+1 hnk45acp

 

[grimjaw]

The answer is to do whatever can be done to keep the Cho Sueng-huis from laying hands on guns more easily than on driver's licenses.

But it's not driver's LICENSES that kill, is it? It's AUTOMOBILES that can be used to kill, regardless of whether or not the driver is LICENSED. AUTOMOBILES can be purchased (for less than the price of some 'assault weapons') without a driver's license, they just can't be legally driven. AUTOMOBILES can be stolen and misused just as easily as firearms, too, only no one is trying to sue car manufacturers for criminal misuse of their products . . .

It seems the author of that article is a little rabid himself/herself, because emotional irrationality is readily apparent.

jm

 

[heypete]

The answer is to do whatever can be done to keep the Cho Sueng-huis from laying hands on guns more easily than on driver's licenses.

I live in Arizona, one of the most gun-friendly states in the Union, and I have yet to see this occur.

When I moved here and got my driver's license, I filled out a piece of paper, gave the paper and my old state's license to the clerk, had my picture taken, and was given my license. Easy. The most difficult part was waiting around for four hours.

When I buy a gun from the dealer, I filled out a piece of paper, gave it and my photo ID to the dealer, had him call in the background check, met with approval, signed the form, paid, and walked out with my gun. This took about 15 minutes.

Other than the time involved, the requirements for buying a gun here in Arizona seem to be actually more stringent than getting a driver's license. After all, the DMV didn't do a background check on me when I got my AZ license.

.....

Yes, driver's education at age 16 (oh, so long ago) was a bit of a pain, but nothing exactly difficult. It boiled down to "Obey the posted signs, don't be a knucklehead, or you'll go splat."

Oh, and yes, private person-to-person transfers are legal in Arizona. So what? I can sell my computer, my bicycle, or my books without any problems. Why should other personal property be any different? It's not like Cho Sueng-huis bought his gun in a private transfer (and even if he did, so what?).

.....

I'm going back to college, and as such I have a Facebook.com account. I was invited to a group to remember the victims at Virginia Tech. One of the ways it said members could help prevent such an event from occurring again was "lobby for stricter gun control laws/stage lie-ins at government offices". Somehow, I don't think they've thought their cunning plan all the way through, as murder is quite illegal anyway, and Cho violated dozens of laws that day. More laws won't change anything.

 

[charon]

And the toll keeps rising, 13 dead in Columbine, 32 dead in Blacksburg, and someday, inevitably, there will be more. Because in a country awash in 200 million guns, there have been 41 school shootings in the U.S. since 1996, taking 110 lives - almost double the total fatalities suffered in 80 other countries over the same period.

If the statistics I've seen are correct, between 1000 and 2000 Americans have been killed by lightning during the same period. And we all know how lightning terror rules our daily lives.

 

[Hook686]

Hmmmmm perhaps it is the anti-gunnut is focusing his fear of survival on someone else's weapon, rather than his own skills Vs the gunnut focusing his fear of survival on some external tool, rather than his own skill and cunning.

 

[Soybomb]

No, all those deaths might not have been avoided with even the strictest gun control laws. There's not much to be done about blind fate.

That says alot about his frame of mind. It says that he feels powerless against someone with a gun and hasn't considered fighting back to protect his life.

 

[1KPerDay]

Congress won't even bring itself to ban private ownership of military-grade assault weapons

Where can I get one of these? Sweeeeet.

 

[RLsnow]

god bless america? xD