Usually I leave this topic to my sweetie ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zen_shooter , since it's really his pet rant. But I felt the desire to comment on this myself for once.
zen_shooter , since it's really his pet rant. But I felt the desire to comment on this myself for once. Student Group Wants More Guns on Campus
http://www.mail.com/Article.aspx?articlepath=APNews\Top%20Headlines\20071121\Guns_on_Campus_20071121.xml&cat=topheadlines&subcat=&pageid=1
What makes the pro-gun-control people concerned is that, by allowing anyone to carry guns anywhere, it'll turn into a bad Old West movie, with shootouts in the street and people getting killed in the crossfire like some silly action movie.
But the facts speak for themselves. Crime is higher in areas with stricter gun control laws (much like STDs and teen pregnancy is higher in areas with abstinance-only programs).
What the gun control advocates don't seem to understand is that being allowed to carry a gun won't make everyone run out to get one. Some people just don't want to carry guns.
Another thing they don't seem to understand is that the anti-gun laws only prohibit already law-abiding citizens. If a person wants to go out and kill someone, the idea that owning the gun to do so is a misdemeanor isn't going to stop him. If he's not put off by the idea of murder, he's not going to be deterred by the idea that he could get fined for carrying the murder weapon.
The act of murder is already illegal. Making the gun illegal is not necessary. The people who will do evil with the tools don't care if the tool is illegal. How many people have child pornography on their computers? Should we outlaw computers because you might participate in child pornography with it? What about cameras? They use cameras to take those pictures, don't they? No, the people who will do bad things aren't concerned with whether the tools of their actions are illegal too.
What carrying a concealed weapon *could* do is prevent one of those homocidal maniacs from doing as much damage as they currently are able to do by giving law-abiding citizens the means to stop him when the cops can't get there in time.
http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/2nd_Amend/gun_control_kills.htm
"In Killeen, Texas, George Hennard murdered 23 people at a local Luby's Cafeteria. He rammed his pickup truck through the window and began systematically shooting people. He continued shooting people for about ten minutes, reloading five times and even throwing away one gun which jammed during his murderous rampage. Dr. Suzanna Gratia, a patron who survived, but who had to watch while he killed both of her parents, had a gun. But because of Texas law at the time, she had left it in her car and was not able to get to it. Hennard was totally focused on what he was doing and if she had been able to get to her gun, she could have easily shot and killed him without danger to others before he could murder any more of his victims. "
The case that the students are using is the VA tech shooter. If any one of his fellow students had a weapon, they could have neutralized him before the body count got as high as it did.
Their proposal is simply to allow those who qualify AND OBTAIN a concealed weapons permit be allowed to take it onto campus just like they can into any other public venue. They are NOT suggesting we arm the entire student body. They are only suggesting that those who already have the right to carry a gun into a restaurant be allowed to wear it at school. I wear my switchblade and I wore it to class all the time. It was not waved around, nobody got accidentally or intentionally cut with it. Women carry pepper spray for self defense, not because they like to spray their classmates with it, but just in case they need it in an emergency.
When a bad guy goes out into public with the intention to do harm, he often choses victims that will offer the least amount of resistence, of struggle. When a couple of gangbangers wish to off each other, they look for times when their enemy might be unarmed or otherwise less likely to retaliate. But if the general population has the RIGHT to carry a weapon, has been trained in self-defense, and the bad guy *knows* this, he is less likely (note, I didn't say definately wouldn't) to choose that target as a victim. The population doesn't actually have to be carrying any sort of weapon, but if the bad guy knows they *could* be, he could be less likely to try for that target.
Stories of kids and adults "accidentally" shooting their friends, family, or children are not stopped by anti-gun laws. Concealed carry permits are for age 21 and up only. This doesn't stop the 9 year old from getting into her father's gun cabinet for his hunting rifle. What stops these kinds of crimes is proper handling of firearms. Keeping a loaded weapon with the safety off in reach of a child or someone who does not have the mental capacity to understand the danger is just plain stupid. And if all guns were outlawed, these people would keep the kitchen knives on the table where the kid could grasp it.
It's not the gun, it's the people. We have been finding inventive ways of killing each other and ourselves for our entire history. Outlawing one set of tools does not solve the problem, it merely makes those intent on harm find another method ... or using that tool anyway because once you've decided to commit a crime, the idea that the tool used to commit the crime is illegal is not a deterrent. And it prevents those who *are* concerned with following the law unable to defend themselves against those who aren't.
I totally support those kids in their effort to remove the ban of weapons on campus for already-legally licenced carriers.
http://www.mail.com/Article.aspx?articlepath=APNews\Top%20Headlines\20071121\Guns_on_Campus_20071121.xml&cat=topheadlines&subcat=&pageid=1
What makes the pro-gun-control people concerned is that, by allowing anyone to carry guns anywhere, it'll turn into a bad Old West movie, with shootouts in the street and people getting killed in the crossfire like some silly action movie.
But the facts speak for themselves. Crime is higher in areas with stricter gun control laws (much like STDs and teen pregnancy is higher in areas with abstinance-only programs).
What the gun control advocates don't seem to understand is that being allowed to carry a gun won't make everyone run out to get one. Some people just don't want to carry guns.
Another thing they don't seem to understand is that the anti-gun laws only prohibit already law-abiding citizens. If a person wants to go out and kill someone, the idea that owning the gun to do so is a misdemeanor isn't going to stop him. If he's not put off by the idea of murder, he's not going to be deterred by the idea that he could get fined for carrying the murder weapon.
The act of murder is already illegal. Making the gun illegal is not necessary. The people who will do evil with the tools don't care if the tool is illegal. How many people have child pornography on their computers? Should we outlaw computers because you might participate in child pornography with it? What about cameras? They use cameras to take those pictures, don't they? No, the people who will do bad things aren't concerned with whether the tools of their actions are illegal too.
What carrying a concealed weapon *could* do is prevent one of those homocidal maniacs from doing as much damage as they currently are able to do by giving law-abiding citizens the means to stop him when the cops can't get there in time.
http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/2nd_Amend/gun_control_kills.htm
"In Killeen, Texas, George Hennard murdered 23 people at a local Luby's Cafeteria. He rammed his pickup truck through the window and began systematically shooting people. He continued shooting people for about ten minutes, reloading five times and even throwing away one gun which jammed during his murderous rampage. Dr. Suzanna Gratia, a patron who survived, but who had to watch while he killed both of her parents, had a gun. But because of Texas law at the time, she had left it in her car and was not able to get to it. Hennard was totally focused on what he was doing and if she had been able to get to her gun, she could have easily shot and killed him without danger to others before he could murder any more of his victims. "
The case that the students are using is the VA tech shooter. If any one of his fellow students had a weapon, they could have neutralized him before the body count got as high as it did.
Their proposal is simply to allow those who qualify AND OBTAIN a concealed weapons permit be allowed to take it onto campus just like they can into any other public venue. They are NOT suggesting we arm the entire student body. They are only suggesting that those who already have the right to carry a gun into a restaurant be allowed to wear it at school. I wear my switchblade and I wore it to class all the time. It was not waved around, nobody got accidentally or intentionally cut with it. Women carry pepper spray for self defense, not because they like to spray their classmates with it, but just in case they need it in an emergency.
When a bad guy goes out into public with the intention to do harm, he often choses victims that will offer the least amount of resistence, of struggle. When a couple of gangbangers wish to off each other, they look for times when their enemy might be unarmed or otherwise less likely to retaliate. But if the general population has the RIGHT to carry a weapon, has been trained in self-defense, and the bad guy *knows* this, he is less likely (note, I didn't say definately wouldn't) to choose that target as a victim. The population doesn't actually have to be carrying any sort of weapon, but if the bad guy knows they *could* be, he could be less likely to try for that target.
Stories of kids and adults "accidentally" shooting their friends, family, or children are not stopped by anti-gun laws. Concealed carry permits are for age 21 and up only. This doesn't stop the 9 year old from getting into her father's gun cabinet for his hunting rifle. What stops these kinds of crimes is proper handling of firearms. Keeping a loaded weapon with the safety off in reach of a child or someone who does not have the mental capacity to understand the danger is just plain stupid. And if all guns were outlawed, these people would keep the kitchen knives on the table where the kid could grasp it.
It's not the gun, it's the people. We have been finding inventive ways of killing each other and ourselves for our entire history. Outlawing one set of tools does not solve the problem, it merely makes those intent on harm find another method ... or using that tool anyway because once you've decided to commit a crime, the idea that the tool used to commit the crime is illegal is not a deterrent. And it prevents those who *are* concerned with following the law unable to defend themselves against those who aren't.
I totally support those kids in their effort to remove the ban of weapons on campus for already-legally licenced carriers.
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no subject
Date: 11/22/07 01:22 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 11/22/07 03:24 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 11/22/07 11:16 am (UTC)From:The Pill requires forethought and planning. Abortion does not. The people most likely to be born to people who will not do a very good job of taking care of them are not people who are going to be able to manage forethought and planning all that well.