I thought they said that this kid got the guns from his grandfather, who was a cop? Are they proposing that we take the guns away from cops now?
Which is logical enough. However, if laws and security measures failed to prevent guns from being smuggled into a school, how are other laws going to prevent the same shooter from illegally obtaining guns?
For some strange reason, the folks at VPC never get around to answering that logical follow-up question.
She's right about that. Too bad kids can't carry firearms to school, maybe somebody could've shot back. It could be equally said, too, that ...
"There is simply no way more laws can prevent crimes when people are willing to break the law to commit crimes."
As opposed to what?
Thanks for posting this. I just fired off a little "love letter" to them!
This may sound crazy, but I wonder how many would have died if this kid had walked into this school of 300 kids where all of them were armed.
::These shootings, like the vast majority of such incidents, were perpetrated with a gun.::
Wow. Shootings perpetrated with a gun. Who'd have ever guessed???
Whatever. I'm glad that VPC is willing to blame guns for all our problems, instead of addressing the actual problems. Meaningless rhetoric is always a better solution, or so say these loonies.
"Yesterday's mass shooting at a Minnesota high school in which a lone shooter killed nine and wounded more than a dozen before taking his own life was the worst school shooting since the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, where two students killed 13 and wounded another 23 before taking their own lives."MY good G-D!!!!
The vast majority of shootings are perpetrated by guns? What were the other ones perpetrated by?
I was actually a little shocked last night that this was the 3rd story into the news. When the Columbine shooting occured it was not only the Top Story it was the Only Story.
I expect the anti-gun news will make up loss grown tonight.
And 95% of all heroin addicts drank milk as children.
So?
Alberta Mountie Massacre Latest Example of the Human Toll of Canada's Love Affair with Drugs.
And how many high-schoolers lives are lost in automobile accidents? Maybe we should ban them too.
The security guard was unarmed. Had he been armed he might have been able to do his job!!!
Latest example of parents not disciplining their children and an out of control society that won't punish people of all ages for intentional murder.
"Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Violence Policy Center (VPC) states, "America must face the fact that we have a love affair with guns that exacts a tremendous and unacceptable cost in human lives lost."
Unacceptable to her perhaps. The occasional sensational tragedy always overshadows the day-to-day losses we all accept. How many high school students were lost to traffic accidents over the last year, versus "high school shootings"? Life is simply not safe, end of story.
Guns, like it or not, have perfectly legitimate uses and restricting legitimate access to them (by adult citizens) isn't the answer.
"Mass shootings like that at Red Lake High School are the future for America's children until policymakers decide it's time to enact real gun control. Other countries have found the solution to mass shootings, and it consists of severe restrictions on the availability of specific classes of firearms, such as handguns and assault weapons."
These shootings are tragic, but they also affect an infestimal fraction of our schools and students. The cure would be worse than the disease.
'Rand adds, "There is simply no way the criminal justice system or a series of security measures—such as the guard and metal detectors present at Red Lake High School—can prevent a shooter determined to kill and willing to die."'
Um, wrong. The guard could have shot him and saved many or all of those victims. Too bad he didn't.
And for the brilliant statement of the day award:
"These shootings, like the vast majority of such incidents, were perpetrated with a gun."
Thank you for that scintillating insight. ;-)
On a more serious note, improvised explosives are fairly easy to concoct. If the maniac is willing to commit suicide, walking in with a backpack full of ANFO and broken glass isn't that hard to arrange.
A fact this opinion piece ignores is that this student was recognized as a problem long before this happened. If the right kind of intervention had taken place, this tragedy would have been averted.
...and the NRA/GOA stand like a deer in the headlights to the future of stricter gun control and confiscation.
As long as those individuals and organizations, in support of the Second Amendment, do not address the problem of mentally ill minors and adults shooting up the place, confiscation will be the ultimate result.
I'm a life member of the NRA and yearly of the GOA and ignoring these shootings won't make their political impact go away.
I really have to wonder if the anti gun crowd really believes they could ever effectively ban guns. A gun is an extremely simple mechanism. Even palestinian children make guns that fire real bullets.