Posted on 10/13/2006 2:33:17 PM PDT by NapkinUser
More school shootings, and the inevitable commentary on the evening news: "I didn't think this sort of thing could happen here."
The heartfelt, but naive belief that murderous rampages "don't happen here" begs the question: "Where do you think such things happen?"
Labels exist for the places where shootings occur: urban, inner city.
But one thing urban folks can tell their scared suburban friends right now is that a good part of the horrendous violence in their communities is due to the proliferation of guns.
Sometimes it seems like everyone is packing. Someone disrespects your girl? Shoot 'em. Someone looks at you wrong? Shoot 'em. Someone mouths off to you at a party? Shoot 'em.
So for once, maybe the suburbs and rural America can take a cue from the cities: "Get the guns out of your homes."
Because while much of America lulled itself into believing that these things "do not happen here," they were also stockpiling. Where they live guns are used for hunting, for target practice and for a misplaced sense of security. I get that, my mother's family has those references. Mother's stories about growing up on the Kansas farm often involve guns.
There was the time when grandfather's favorite dog turned up rabid. "Get the gun!" Grandpa shouted from the field, knowing he had to shoot his dog before it bit his family.
There are stories about hunting rabbits and duck for dinner and shooting coyotes so they wouldn't kill the livestock.
But mother gave up fetching food from the woods long ago. She goes to the grocery now. She feels safe with good locks on the house. Grandfather's guns have been passed down as family heirlooms, not loaded weapons.
She has no use for a gun.
More people who live in these "couldn't happen here" communities need to come to the same revelation.
Because for all the recent head scratching about how to prevent more school shootings, studies have made several things clear: School shooters almost always are boys. The shootings are planned attacks, not spur of the moment. And the guns come from the shooters' homes.
We need to quit dancing around these facts, starting with the president. George Bush's recent summit should have been titled "Gun violence in schools."
Apparently that would have been too to-the-point. So it was proclaimed the less accurate but more benevolent, "Conference on School Safety."
The little political commentary about guns in schools has been insane commentary. Wisconsin Rep. Frank Lasee proposes teachers carry guns. Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt made the same suggestion, until smarter heads backed him away from the idea.
Arm the teachers? How about disarm the kids?
The best way to do that would be to address where school shooters get their guns - from their homes. Oh I know, people will talk about their right to bear arms, the need for self-protection, that they like to hunt wild game. All are understandable replies.
But anyone giving these answers should also honestly address two questions: Do you really need a gun in the house, and if so, how secure is it? And, how well do you know your son?
I can hear the refrain now: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Nice slogan.
Here's the truth: Troubled boys with access to their parents' guns have killed their classmates, their teachers and quite often, themselves.
And yes, it can happen anywhere.
Thanks for the ping!
In a room of unarmed sheeple a wild lad or lassie can do nearly as much harm with a steak knife as with a g-u-n.
I do. :>
ROFLMAO!
To hear this bitch who wrote the opening article tell it, things would have turned out different if even one of the kids had a gun.
ROFLMAO!!!!!!
The truth is that the kid could just as easily go on the internet and easily make a rudimentary bomb that would blow up the entire school, perhaps killing dozens or even hundreds, easier than he could hide a gun to bring in. Just ask the ghost of any young suicide bomber.
Whe it comes to kids, because they have so few years behind them, it's much more difficult to identify which ones are weird enough to do such a thing.
Life ain't perfect.
She's not only a gun-basher, she's a male-basher.
Probably another ugly, leftwing moonbat dike.
The only thing that will change is her body temperature - it won't do a thing to improve her mind.
Very true. In fact, among black tribal societies, the ratio of killings isn't any less than it is here. It's just that they use spears instead of guns.
LOL! That's cute! :>
Is it just me or does this sound like it was written by a 12 year old?
Really? Where I went to high school 35 years ago, nearly every boy and a few girls, including myself, owned at least one gun. Boys with vehicles kept rifles or shotguns in the trunk or in a rack in the back window of a pickup. They went hunting and target shooting after school quite often. Nobody locked their vehicles, and nobody would even consider taking or even touching somebody else's guns.
There were no "school shootings." Boys would have fist fights once in a great while, but nobody ever pulled out a gun to make a finer point. Guns were respected tools, nothing more. What's changed is our culture. When you live in a culture where it's okay to kill an unborn child because it is inconvenient right up until it's ready to be delivered, and you can dispose of it by stabbing the base of its skull with a scissors and then collapse its head by sucking out its brain with a vacuum, it isn't surprising that there are more shooting deaths. When you live in a culture that celebrates death through entertainment venues, it's not surprising that there are more shooting deaths. Listened to any rap songs lately? When you live ina culture where parents blame everyone but their own kid for that kid's bad behavior and exercise no discipline whatsoever, is it surprising that that kid feels he can do whatever to whomever whenever he feels like it? When you live in a culture where the education system teaches that anything anyone does is okay and is morally equivalent to an accepted, established behavior, is it surprising that confused youths feel justified in taking the life of another?
Excellent. :>
I experienced the same thing in CA in the late 60s and early 70s.
"Would have thought it is better to stop the 'nuts' having access to guns."
That would seem reasonable but there is a small problem. How do you define 'nuts'?
I am reminded of a conversation where one person stated that all who wanted to own a gun should have to pass a rigorous psychological investigation. That too seem reasonable but there was another small problem. According to this person, any one who wanted to own a gun obviously had psychological problems that should disqualify them from owning a gun.
While the author of this article was not as clear as the conversation I recounted, the author shares that basic assumption with my friend that there is no legitimate reason to own a gun.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.