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Subject: The Day After
The tragedy that unfolded
yesterday is starting to sink in. There are still some major unanswered
questions.
In these days of heightened security I find it
interesting that a resident alien was able to obtain firearms so easily.
If his name were Habib or Mohammed rather than
Cho Seung-Hui what would be the reaction?
As a country we place
certain responsibilities squarely on the shoulders of the people who own
and
operate motor vehicles. We have titles
transferred when it these machines pass from one owner to another.
There are prohibitions against people who would
operate them in reckless fashion. We are acutely aware of
the tragic often fatal results that are the end
product of those who are drunk, crazed, or irresponsible in their
driving. Where are these same concerns when it
comes to handguns?
Formerly, as a bartender,
I was shocked when Governor Jim Gilmore was pushing to allow people to
carry concealed weapons in ABC licensed establishments.
Belligerent drunks are hard enough to deal with.
An armed one would be a real treat. A drunk
can't drive a car, but he can carry a weapon.
When it comes to violations
of the 4th Amendment you oft hear people say that if you aren't doing
anything wrong, you shouldn't be worried if the
Government is monitoring your e-mails or phone calls.
Where is that lack of concern over the guns?
If you aren't committing crimes with your guns, why should
you be afraid to register it? Do you really
think the Feds are going to come and take your guns?
Where is the evidence for this paranoia?
Why do we ignore the
opening words of the amendment? Why are the first 2 phrases so blatantly
ignored?
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to
the security of a free State " "A well regulated Militia".
For my money that's the National Guard.
I'm also disturbed the
Christian Right is silent about the gun issue. If they are so worried
about unborn life,
why are the lives of these college age students
and the other victims not worth a single protest. Why aren't they
picketing gun stores as well as abortion clinics?
Once again, the unborn trump the living. I'm sorry, I would
hold the lives of these students as being markedly
more important than a first trimester embryo.
Wayne Lapierre, the CEO
of the NRA, is from Roanoke; the city less than 40 miles from Virginia
Tech's
bucolic campus. Could he come down to Blacksburg
to explain to the friends and family of these students why
his organization's monolithic stand against any
form of regulation is more important the lives of these young people?
As for our President,
he is down here to comfort for the students and the families. At
least this is more than
what for he has done for the thousands killed
in Iraq. I'm sure his words will be well scripted, and they will
comfort many. What will he do to prevent
tragedies of this nature in the future?
Finally, I'd like
to know why we decide that we a would have a country caught in it's Wild
West adolescence
with pistols on the hip and cowboy president
spewing "Wanted, dead or alive" platitudes. Forget words when we
can settle our problems at the barrel of a gun.
Yee hah. Time to grow up.
Joel in Blacksburg
Any gun discussion should include the fact that there are over 200M
guns in America.
If Cho couldn't get a gun legally, cash always talks.
The Second Amendment is more poorly written than Bartcop Volume 100.
The Christian Right is insane by definition.
You can't expect sanity from people who reject facts and logic.
Wayne LaPierre is the head gun nut in America.
Remember, Bush signed a law that made it legal to take guns to football
games, church and,
of all places, a courthouse where children are taken from their parents
and fortunes are lost.
People voted for an idiot cowboy in 1980, 1984, 2000 and 2004.
As long as the Democrats remain the party of surrender, we'll continue
to lose.