Another Nut with a Gun

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Idaho and guns seem not to mix well. I don’t think my next vacation will be planned for Idaho. Need I say more?

clipped from www.reuters.com WASHINGTON (Reuters) – At least four people were shot by a sniper in the town of Moscow, Idaho, CNN and local media reported on Sunday. Moscow police confirmed there had been a shooting but declined to give any details on the phone. CNN said two officers and two civilians were shot at around 1 a.m. PDT (0800 GMT) but their condition was not known. At least 75 shots were fired and up to seven blocks were cordoned off, it added. Local radio station KXLY said the shots, believed to be from a high-powered rifle, were shot from a Presbyterian church and targeted the town’s courthouse. It said on its Web site no more shots had been heard since 1 a.m.

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Texas Gunman At NASA

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clipped from www.reuters.com HOUSTON (Reuters) – Workers evacuated a building at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and police surrounded it on Friday after reports that a man with a gun was spotted and shots were fired, authorities said. NASA spokeswoman Brandi Dean said it was not known if anyone was hurt and Kelly Humphries, another spokesperson, said it was not yet known if there had indeed been gunshots. The incident added to jitters across America after a student gunman killed 32 people Virginia Tech university, the in the worst shooting rampage in the nation’s modern history.

When I was on the faculty at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, I was taken aback when I signed my apartment lease. I was required to sign a rider to the standard lease that was effectively a promise to not discharge firearms within the limits of the apartment complex in which I rented my apartment. I was further stunned when I went to visit my internist for the first time. When I entered the professional building in which his office was housed a large sign in both English and Spanish warned me about carrying a weapon into the building. I thought, have I jumped into the rabbit hole?The American love affair with the gun and political points gained by supporting freedom to own guns leads to the probability that more and more of these kinds of incidents will occur in the United States unless we do something about it.

Keep up the foolhardy freedom for anyone to own a gun, to have poorly enforced background check legislation, and to not ban weapons whose only purpose is to cause death on a large scale and expect more headlines just like this one. But from me there will be no sympathetic cries nor will there be gnashing of my teeth. I will continue to feel ANGER, FRUSTRATION, HOSTILITY AND HELPLESSNESS and I will direct these emotions at the NRA and the gun lobby. I will work for politicians that support tough, enforceable gun control legislation at both state and national levels. I will continue to speak loudly and often about the absolute need for gun control legislation in the United States. I am mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.

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How the Rest of the World Views the United States.

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clipped from harpers.org The leading newspaper in the Spanish-speaking world, Madrid’s El Pa’s, puts the blame squarely on the National Rifle Association and reproduces a photograph of Charlton Heston brandishing a rifle. “[C]ontrol measures,“ writes that paper, ”are systematically challenged by an abusive interpretation of the Second Amendment—which was written before there was a National Army or National Guard—says that, ‘A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’” In France, Le Monde calls the event a typically American tragedy, highlighting President Bush’s condolence message which incorporated a defense of firearms. “There is no reason to be shocked, since the American chief executive is supported by a party that in 2004 wentas far as refusing to re-approve the prohibition on sales of assault rifles put into place in 1994 by a Congress with a Democratic majority under Bill Clinton.”

Read these couple of clips from the foreign press is a difficult task. The critique of our national response to the VT shootings, to the gun culture in general is disturbing. And these are our friends. Imagine what the enemies of the United States must think?I think it is shameful that in times of great tragedy our nation becomes the laughing stock for the rest of the world. My dear old grandmother used to mumble the following ethical pronouncement whenever she decided one had done something of which one ought not be proud, “What you did you did yourself and what you did yourself you are responsible for.” This was her translation from Polish and her grasp of English was not so hot, but the meaning was clear even to my ten year old ears when I first heard her speak these words. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTS, FOR YOUR ACTIONS. In my personal life I have honored those sentiments and granny has been gone nearly 30 years. When I read the international response to America as a Cowboy nation obsessed with guns I am ashamed to say that my country’s leaders fail to follow my grandmother’s advice.

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Rules Bar Weapon Purchase

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So there are rules in place that scrupulous gun dealers are supposed to follow. The fact that state and federal background checks turned up no problems speaks volumes to the enforcement level of even the weakest gun laws in the known universe. This is extremely problematic. Not only are we loathe to pass gun regulation, but even the regulations on the books fail to be properly enforced. I guess the blame must fall on the executive branch of the government…that would be George W. Bush. Just one more area where George II is lacking both ethical and moral fortitude.

clipped from news.yahoo.com McLEAN, Va. – A judge’s ruling on Cho Seung-Hui’s mental health should have barred him from purchasing the handguns he used in the Virginia Tech massacre, according to federal regulations. But it was unclear Thursday whether anybody had an obligation to inform federal authorities about Cho’s mental status because of loopholes in the law that governs background checks. Cho purchased two handguns in February and March, and was subject to federal and state background checks both times. The checks turned up no problems, despite a judge’s ruling in December 2005 that Cho “presents an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness.” “On the face of it, he should have been blocked under federal law,” said Denis Henigan, legal director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

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VT Students turn to God.

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Reporting for Reuters, Andrea Hopkins writes:

By all accounts, the prayers started even before the gunshots stopped at Virginia Tech university, and the pleas to God from grief-stricken survivors of the massacre have continued ever since.

“God cares about Virginia Tech,” said Megan Martin, 24, joining about a dozen fellow students in a traveling prayer vigil that rambled across the sprawling campus a day after the worst U.S. shooting spree in modern history.

Carrying placards reading: “Jesus loves you,” “God knows and He cares,” and “Can we pray with you?” the small knot of students worked their way through the university grounds in Blacksburg, a Bible Belt town in the mountains of southwest Virginia.

I suppose turning to God(s) cannot do any serious harm to the individual that does the turning. The evidence, however, does not justify such a move. “God cares about Virginia Tech,” said Megan Martin, is quoted in the article. Is this God so cruel that he (she, it) only cares after the fact? Is this God(s) so indifferent that he (she, it) only takes an interest after the dastardly deed has been accomplished? God knows and He cares, is another after the fact fantasy that may serve to salve heightened emotions but does not address the fundamental issue–was this God who cares so much simply on vacation when Cho Seung-Hui decided to engage on a shooting rampage on the VT campus? Does the evidence point to a God(s) who cares, who knows? I think not. What the evidence points to is a random series of events that occur every so often because Americans are willing to sacrifice security for the right to bear arms for any purpose whatsoever. The evidence does not point to a loving God(s) but, rather, to a heightened probability that because guns are so readily available in the United States tragic events such as the VT shootings are more likely than not to occur.

While turning to God(s) is a defensive move in cases of unthinkable tragedy for many people, it seems to me that it is simply a misplaced use of human energy. Telling one’s self that God(s) really care, while that might have a temporary calming effect, does nothing to solve the problem that lies at the root of the VT shootings. Far more productive an approach is to focus the anger and frustration one feels in moments of unspeakable tragedy into efforts to place meaningful regulation on the ownership of weapons that have no other use than to cause permanent harm to those to whom the guns are directed. Gun nuts that demand no regulation of weapons spouting rights granted under the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed,) must ask: to what militia did Cho Seung-Hui belong when he began his rampage? Why was Cho Seung-Hui permitted to purchase and own guns? Why do we put up with this cowboy mentality? Is life really imitating the wild west shootout of the movies?

Rather than turning to God(s) how about turning to Congress and demanding that your lawmakers do something to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again. If you don’t then, it seems to me, that events like the VT shootings will surely occur over and over, again and again. One Italian journalist wrote that the VT shootings are as American as apple pie. It this the image America and Americans portray to the world? Is this the image we want to portray? It is time to stop the madness.

Technorati Tags: Cho Seung-Hui, Virginia Tech, guns, gun control, religion, God, Constitution, politics,

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Gunman, 32 others killed in Va. shooting

A White House spokesman said President Bush was horrified by the rampage and offered his prayers to the victims and the people of Virginia.

Now isn’t that nice of President Bush. I am sure the gunman was one of those gun nuts that rally around the NRA cry, “You can pry my gun out of my cold dead hand.” But that doesn’t do the victims of this rampage any good now, does it? Once again, the dead 32 point out the demented gun policy in these United States. Oh, but I forgot, Guns don’t kill people, people kill people! says the NRA. Actually PEOPLE WITH GUNS KILL PEOPLE–GENERALLY PEOPLE WITHOUT GUNS.

Mr. Bush, if you really want to leave a legacy you would support rigorously enforced gun control laws which would be a step in the direction of preventing tragedies like this one. Oh, but then you want to offer prayers. How sweet. Like the victims really care anymore.

Technorati Tags: guns, gun control, shooting, prayer, Bush

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