Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Another gun death in America
Here we go again. Yet another incident in America of a crazed gun-toting maniac going on a one-man killing spree and murdering innocent civilians in cold blood.The latest carnage happened in an Amish school in Pennsylvania. I won't go into the details of this unbelievably grisly and barbaric murder.
What I will do is point out that last Wednesday in the US a 16-year-old girl died when an armed man, who also killed himself, took six students hostage at a Colorado high school.
As well as that, on Friday, a head teacher at a high school in Wisconsin was killed when he confronted an armed 15-year-old student as he entered the school.
I know that some Americans read this blog so I'd like to hear their thoughts on all this. I just can't figure out this American fascination with owning what are essentially tools for murder.
Let's face it, every society has nutcases and I can't figure out why a society would give said nutcases a constitutional right to own firearms.
Let me use the example of nuclear weapons. The United States has always worked diligently to combat the proliferation of nuclear weapons and still does to this day with regard to Iran and North Korea. The US however is one of the countries on this planet to own a nuclear weapon. Now presumably the argument for retaining this weapon is the same as the argument held by those who are pro-gun in the US - for protection right?
So why not allow all states on this planet the chance to possess a nuclear weapon? For protection?
Well, I'm guessing it's because the US knows that some states simply cannot be trusted to possess this weapon.
So that leads me to ask, why does the US trust each one of its citizens to possess a weapon?
If the USA were to adopt the no-nonsense approach towards gun ownership in their own country that they currently adopt towards nuclear weapons in the world, I firmly believe that the number of deaths in the United States would drop dramatically.
Guns aren't toys. They are tools for killing and I don't believe citizens should have the right to have them in their homes.
"Like, I was over in England. You ever been to England, anyone, been to England? No one has handguns in England, not even the cops. True or false? True. Now in England last year, they had fourteen deaths from handguns. Fourteen. Now the United States, and I think you know how we feel about handguns, woooo I'm getting a warm tingly feeling just saying the fucking word, to be honest with you. I swear to you, I am hard. Twenty-three thousand deaths from handguns. Now let's go through those numbers again, because they're a little baffling at first glance. England, where no one has guns, fourteen deaths. United States, and I think you know how we feel about guns woooo I'm getting a stiffy - twenty-three thousand deaths from handguns.
"But there's no connection, and you'd be a fool and a Communist to make one. There's no connection between having a gun and shooting someone with it, and not having a gun and not shooting someone. There have been studies made and there is no connection at all there." - Bill Hicks - an American.
# posted by United Irelander @ 12:00 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
