Posted on 12/15/2012 6:30:12 AM PST by marktwain
America now has its second worst mass shooting. And it, as usual, accompanied by calls for gun control. It’s no coincidence that we have had quite a few spree killings in such a short time. The lavish coverage of every shooting by the media encourages every shooter to think that he will be famous if he goes out and kills. And that is exactly what happens.
Our shooters are creatures of the media, not the NRA. A media that turns killers into celebrities and then warns that the only way to stop more shootings is by cracking down on firearms.
But no amount of media coverage ever stopped a man with a gun. It only encouraged him. It takes a gun to stop a man with a gun. That is the hard truth of human affairs. It is why we have a Second Amendment, it is why we have armies and police, and it is why people own guns.
There is no going back to a time before people owned guns. There is no going back to a time when violence did not exist. There is only the reality that killers stalk the streets and that we can either defend against them or take comfort in empty outrage.
Guns stop shootings. Not all the time and not every time, but they do. Gun control does not. Media coverage calling for gun control does not.
Gun crime was up 35 percent in the UK which has harsh gun control laws. And Europe has had plenty of its own school massacres.
(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...
Everyone was so cowardly they were afraid to attack the rampaging loon in any manner. The kids were like: heroism? What’s that? Such chauvinism went away with WWII! And the adults were like: not my yob, mon.
As a matter of reference:
The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, four other adults and the bomber himself; at least 58 people were injured. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–11 years of age[1]) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest mass murder in a school in U.S. history and the third-deadliest non-military massacre in U.S. history, behind 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing.
The bomber was school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe, 55, who died in a car bomb he set off after he drove up to the school as the crowd gathered to rescue survivors from the burning school.
On the morning of May 18, Kehoe murdered his wife by beating her to death, then set his farm buildings afire. As fire fighters arrived at the farm, an explosion devastated the north wing of the school building, killing many schoolchildren. Kehoe used a detonator to ignite dynamite and hundreds of pounds of pyrotol which he had secretly planted inside the school over the course of many months. As rescuers started gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb inside his fragmentation-filled vehicle with his Winchester rifle, killing himself and the school superintendent, and killing and injuring several others. During rescue efforts searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of unexploded dynamite and pyrotol planted throughout the basement of the school’s south wing. Kehoe apparently had intended to blow up and destroy the whole school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster
Yeah, right. You are expecting elementary school children to take out an adult attacker armed to the teeth? Get a grip.
The video games programming this young man’s head did not help.
If virtual reality can be successfully used to deprogram PTSD by the military it can be used to program evil actions as well.
Except that I have been amazed to hear about what “little children” have been capable of when seized by sufficient indignation and have not been taught from the word go that they have to proceed through the world like sitting ducks. That is not a preferable measure, far far better that adults stood up for their proper roles, but in a society where adults stood up, so would children in the necessary circumstance.
I agree that kids can be capable of many things—but 5 year olds? If the shooter had taken out all the closest teachers and then locked himself in a classroom with a bunch of 5 year olds, the odds are stacked in his favour even if he is outnumbered.
This was a kindergarten?
There might not be much, but I think when faced with do-or-die, even tykes would benefit from some advance planning as to what they might do. To swarm the attacker would incur some death, but would probably also bring the attacker down. But there would not be room for cowards.
Again, in such a society it goes without saying that adults too would face their duty with courage.
This courageous woman saved 50-100 lives with her gun. We need more like her guarding our schools:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nujt4QPN61U
I agree it would be far better if we had an environment where adults could reasonably step up in this kind of situation (i.e. defensive weapons available, with training on when and how to use them.)
But please leave the kids out of this. They don't need attacks on their character to accompany the attacks on their lives.
How can you build something up without recognizing that it needs to be built up?
I betcha that was a place where a little boy could get in trouble for pointing his finger at playmates and saying “bang, bang.” This is the excruciatingly wrong direction in which to go. Actual bullying should be cracked down on with alacrity, but this is normal play for boys. And, should they ever meet the unthinkable, perhaps what they might think to do would be a trifle more courageous. I do not blame the children for being cowards. I blame how they are taught for instilling cowardice. Far more people will be brave and bold if it is inculcated.
Can't argue with that.
There is no going back to a time before people owned guns.
True but irrelevant.
Before guns the only way to stop a man with a sword was with another weapon.
It would be more accurate to say that the only way to stop violence is with more violence. Weapons are only incidental to the question.
Also before you say lay off the kids... remember today’s kids are tomorrow’s adults. There are ways to teach them from an early age to be brave and courageous without berating them. It will take a repentant adult segment of society to initiate this.
It’s essential to a civil society to teach that peace is a valuable thing and to be prized. But it is also right to teach that there are situations in which it is better to fight than acquiesce.
Yes most of the killing took place in a kindergarten classroom.
That’s logically where a mean cowardly killer would go. Perhaps even he feared that older children might be a menace to his plans. And/or he wanted his attack to have the most horrific aspect possible.
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