Comments on: Pure Horserace: Gun Control To The Front?

Will Virginia Tech Massacre Bring Issue Into Focus?

[jimibear]

I bleieve US gun deaths are around 11,000 per year, cbse3. Also, how many of those alcohol-related deaths were shootings by a drunk?

There's no reason why responsible gunowners should be lumped in with the scum. But stricter controls on gun ownership wouldn't eliminate the responsible gunowner. If you don't have a criminal past, are willing to wait a few days to take your gun home, are prepared to take training and be licensed just as you would to drive ... no problem! Buy away! Shoot in safety! Have fun!

If you can't or won't do those things, though, you shouldn't have a gun. Can we agree there?

[chefrc]

jimibear
I,m with you.

[cbse3]

To keep things in prespective, for the many of us who are responsibe mentally sound citizens who own some guns, target shoot, hunt, drink responsibily and sometimes inhale, why should these type of citizens be grouped in with the dregs of society who can't. And for the drinking and drivers of the world, there were 33,804 US alcohol related deaths for 2004 and 2005 combined. So thats like 41 VT shootings per month.It looks to me like the bottle is mighter than the gun. Check out the MADD.org for confirmation if you need too
and as far as the gun shop that has sold 2,500 guns per year for the last 5 years.... thats 12,500 guns. of which CBS reported that 59 of those guns were used in crime. That comes out to about 4 tenths of 1% bad usage. I'm still looking for combined national crime deaths caused by guns

[jimibear]

realpatriot1,

I agree with you 100%. I see no reason why people who want guns for legitimate purposes of self-protection and/or hunting should not be able to do so. However, I also see no reason why those same safe, reponsible gun-owners should object to a thorough background check, safety training, a waiting period and possibly a psych evaluation before they take those guns home. If they are really responsible people in whose hands a gun would be safe, they should welcome such safeguards.

[jimibear]

"The Virginia Tech tragedy is NOT a gun issue. Liberal opportunists and yellow journalists have stepped over the line by using this terrible incident for political gain and implying that more gun control laws would have prevented this terrible incident."

Moron -

He used a legally purchased handgun to kill 32 people before belatedly shooting himself. LEGALLY PURCHASED. Had he not been able to buy the gun, how far do you think he would have gotten trying to kill those people with a knife, for instance?

It is sickeningly horrifying to read these posts, because they so clearly show why we are a culture of violence, despised by most of the world. You people saying everyone should walk around armed are insane.

[jimibear]

"Rhetorical Question:

So what would have happened if Cho Seung-Hui couldn't buy the guns that he used, then what?


Posted by corpknot at 10:22 AM : Apr 18, 2007
+ report abuse"

Don't try to introduce logic here, corpknot! You're wasting your time. These people believe the answer to gun violence is more guns. How can you argue with that stupid insanity?

It's pretty obvious that the reason so many gun-owners are against background checks and psych evals for gun purchase is that they know they wouldn't pass either.

[tcoleman12]

I have a couple of guns in my closet...two shotguns and a pistol. Never, in the many years that I have owned these guns, have they just gone off. No one has been shot or injured by these guns just sitting where they are. They do not appear to have any ill will toward me or my family, even though they are locked away in a closet most of the time.

[chefrc]

lawandorder6
Should have spent some of those millions you earned cashing in beer cans to achieve a higher education level for yourself. I'm glad you retired, Just one more uneducated idiot out of the workforce. The proper way to spell waste is W-A-S-T-E. Probably a good thing you don't have a gun, You would have to be educated enough to operate one.

[corpknot]

Rhetorical Question:

So what would have happened if Cho Seung-Hui couldn't buy the guns that he used, then what?

[steelr22]

The Second Amendment gives each citizen the right to keep and bear arms to defend against just the type of attack that recently happened on the campus of VT. If VT's students had not had their civil rights violated by university policy, we may be reading today how the first student who was gunned down defended herself and shot dead a South Korean student intending to do her harm. However, this would have been a footnote on page 22 of your local newspaper.

[realpatriot1]

RandalDS,

It's refreshing to read a post on this subject that takes a middle road and doesn't see everything in terms of absolutes.

The point isn't to prevent the regular Joe from protecting themselves from the perps or for hunting.

I'm a tree-hugging Bambi-loving liberal but I understand that hunting is actually necessary to control some animal population and for people to feed themselves.

I used to have a gun permit and went through Boston Police Department firearms training. I took it seriously and I know most people do.

However, we do need more effective background checks to keep an aloen resident in psychological counseling and on anti-depressants from purchasing multiple guns.

As far as the government, it would be unconstitutional for them to confiscate evryone's guns and they would start a revolution if they tried to do so.

[swkleo]

Law Enforcement in Va should be ashamed... No guts... Video and photos tell the story.. they just hid behind their cars and waited until the shooting stopped... No officers acted... they merely waited... forget high tech and swat... what about guts!.. Politically correct law enforcement will get us all killed... Gun control advocates are fools... this is a perfect example of why law abiding citizens need to be armed... to protect themselves and others since law enforcement can't or won't act... Cowards all! Shame on what law enforcement has become.. All involved in the Va incident should be fired as well as campus leadership.... Disgusted!

[farmerbb]

When I hear someone say "If we ALL had guns, we could protect ourselves against these shooters", I think, "Wait a minute,l didn't we all have guns a few years ago ?" Think of Dodge City, and the old west. Eventually, the city fathers of the day decided that all guns had to be checked at the edge of town, or you did not get to the saloon. The REASON they did this was to cut down on the constant gun battles and the resulting deaths in the frontier towns. THEY had first hand exposure to the widest possible availability to guns. And they put a stop to it. The death rate dropped, and everyone back then understood the direct link between lots of guns and lots of deaths by gunfire. What happened to this collective wisdom ? Picture all the cases of road rage, and imagined "disrespect", coupled with wide availability of guns. Can you say "Iraq" ?

[gunownerdan]

Priceless words from a massacre survivor:

"Let me make a point here, in case this isn't becoming extremely clear. My state has gun control laws. It did not keep Hennard from coming in and killing everybody! What it did do, was keep me from protecting my family! That's the only thing that cotton pickin' law did! OK! Understand that! That's ...that's so important!"

-Dr. Suzanne Gratia, Killeen Texas Luby's massacre survivor


"Somewhere along the line I made one of my stupidest decisions... I was afraid that ... if ... somebody caught me with the gun in my purse, I could lose my license to practice, lose my ability to make a living. So I took the gun out of my purse and I left it in my car ... which the laws in my state are kinda wishy- washy on ...and I thought, 'Heck, if I needed it, it's probably going to be when I'm out on the road ... in the middle of nowhere and, you know, my car's broke down or something ..."

-Dr. Suzanne Gratia, Killeen Texas Luby's massacre survivor

a-human-right.com

[gunownerdan]

We need to learn from this massacre.
After a major shooting it can be easy to blame the gun.
There will be many calls for more "gun control" and possibly even gun
bans and confiscation in the future.
What you will likely not hear much about on the news is the fact that
all students at Va. Tech are prohibited from having guns on campus
despite State law allowing people with valid concealed carry permits
to carry on college campuses.
Va. Tech officials had to fight to be able to ignore State law in
order to have a "gun free" campus.
No amount of "gun control" laws or rules are going to stop a homicidal
maniac from going crazy and killing people. What CAN stop them is if
their intended victims can meet force with equal or greater force.
Personally, I can and have used force to prevent a violent criminal
from attacking me and my friend and I would do everything in my power
to do it again if I had to. Guns are not evil, they allow good people
to protect themselves from those who would do them harm. Self defense
is the most basic of human rights and relying on the police for
protection only works if you have lots of money and/or power.
Thanks for listening,
Dan

[s_temper]

If one professor or student victimized at V-Tech had been armed, Cho would have been shot dead before he could murder all those people. Must we blame inanimate objects for the actions of individuals? If you do not support the right of individuals to own handguns and rifles, please move to another country. Canada, China, North Korea, anywhere! The only time a criminal stops killing the innocent is when someone else with a gun shows up (police, military, etc.). Every law-abiding US citizen should be armed at all times.

[s_temper]

The Virginia Tech tragedy is NOT a gun issue. Liberal opportunists and yellow journalists have stepped over the line by using this terrible incident for political gain and implying that more gun control laws would have prevented this terrible incident. Cho was psychotic. Psychotic people will find a way to murder people, regardless of any draconian gun laws they face. You blame guns for the actions of individuals, because you do not want to admit that certain people are born destructive and evil. Gun laws only prevent honest people from protecting themselves. We must punish criminals, not law-abiding citizens.

[shikisha]

I suggest a look at the gun laws in Switzerland. They have a truly citizen army who keep around 500,000 semi-automatics in their homes. But there are strict laws about their use, when they may be taken out the house - permits are needed etc.

Could this me a model for the US?

[randalds]

Personally I really don't have a problem with some gun restrictions. Surely nobody needs to have a machine gun and I can even understand registering handguns because the bulk of them have no hunting value. What I and many other s will not tolerate however is registering hunting rifles and shotguns. Americans have a right to own some unregistered weapons to defend themselves from their own government. If all of our weapons are registered then they'll know everyone who has one and where to go to take them away when it reaches that point, as it certainly is doing. We must draw the line somewhere and this is where we do it. The government does not have the right to know who all owns a gun, because eventually they will try to take them away and once that happens then then run us, not the other way around. Once that happens we truly will have no more freedoms.

[gunownerdan]

Priceless words from a massacre survivor...
"Let me make a point here, in case this isn't becoming
extremely clear. My state has gun control laws.
It did not keep Hennard from coming in and killing everybody!
What it did do, was keep me from protecting my family!"
-- Dr. Suzanne Gratia Hupp, Killeen Texas Luby's massacre survivor

Never forget, Virginia state law says it is legal for those with a concealed-carry permit to take their guns with them on college campuses. Va. Tech lobied and won the "right" to take away the right to bear arms on campus. No student, not even those with a valid gun license are allowed to have guns on campus property. Killers prefer unarmed victims.
a-human-right.com
packing.org