Virginia Tech Tragedy Highlights Need to Prohibit Guns in U.S.
The worst shooting spree in U.S. history has just occurred. If there were ever a time to take a stand for gun control, it's now. I know what's coming - the argument that all gun fanatics throw out when yet another tragedy involving guns occurs in a U.S. school, workplace, or home: People kill people, not guns.
There are crazies all over the world. In these times of social isolation, overwhelming stress, and less and less time to enjoy life or make meaningful connections, such tragic incidents only seem more and more likely to occur. The U.S. is not the only country to suffer the effects of our unhealthy world, yet it is one of the few where a young man can easily get hold of a gun that shoots as fast as you can pull the trigger. (source: CNN) In Europe, there are stabbings to be sure, but there are no mass tragedies of these proportions, because an assailant with a knife can only do so much harm before he or she is subdued.
Why a modern, educated society needs such liberal firearms laws is a question that will no doubt arise in the media and in intelligent discussion throughout the world. For years to come, quaint, sleepy Blacksburg, Virginia and its pride, Virginia Tech, will become the unfortunate symbols for the dire need to prohibit firearms in the U.S. and to rectify the ills of our society that would bring a young man to commit such an horrendous act against the innocent.
Do hunters have a right to hunt? I suppose. Do target shooters have a right to practice their sport of choice? Sure, but guns should be locked up for safekeeping, maybe at the local police station. They should be bought and sold through a regulated government agency that tightly controls the type and number of firearms that are purchased by its citizens.
Infringing on your right to bear arms to protect your life and your property? Too bad. In the name of a safer society, it's worth stepping on a few toes. Unless you live in the back woods and face regular visits from wolves and black bears, you don't need a gun for protection. We are a nation of laws and we have a professional and highly skilled police force that is ready to protect our lives and our property. We no longer live in a frontier nation where we have to protect our own from the dangers lurking in the unknown. It seems the American psyche has never really overcome this heightened state of fear that our ancestors lived with centuries ago.
As a Wahoo (the arch "enemy" in a long-standing friendly rivalry with the VT Hokies), I offer the sincerest and most heartfelt of condolences to the Hokies and their loved ones, a sentiment that I know is shared by every UVa student and, indeed, by decent people around the world. Located in a cute country town nestled in the mountains, Virginia Tech is a place you send your kids to get a great education in an unpretentious, down-home environment. Now, Blacksburg joins the ranks of Padukah and Columbine as single words that will forever be linked with the tragedy and horror of gun violence.
As you have heard time and again since this horrific event occurred, if it can happen in Blacksburg, sadly, it can happen anywhere. So, so true. But now's our chance to make sure it doesn't. Do what you can to fight for gun control in the United States.
Published by Mrs. D
I have taught English, Spanish, and German in Europe, the U.S., and Central America. My experience includes college teaching and school administration. I am married with two children and write textbooks as w... View profile
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23 Comments
Post a CommentIf guns were prohibited, then only criminals would have guns, it's not like having a gun makes you a deranged murder, not even if you had them in school, school massacres of this proportion would not be possible at all if students had guns. Not having guns in schools makes students incredibly vulnerable, only once did unarmed students stop a school shooter, and that was while he was reloading his crappy pistol. Maybe not elementary students, but definitely middle school and up.
Darn it, did it again, I guess I talk to much!
Well, you're probably right about either of us being beyond convincing! Here is a quick summary of what got cut off -
1. Automatic weapons, those able to fire more than one bullet per pull of the trigger, are for various reasons, almost never used in crimes. In the past 50 years, no legally owned automatic weapon has been used to commit a crime. Even among those who posses illegal automatic weapons, they are almost never used to commit crimes. (North Hollywood shootout being the only thing that comes to mind)
2. Handguns do the vast majority of killing by firearms in the country. (Look at the DoJ website I posted.) Not automatic weapons, not the so called "assault" rifles, not even the hunting rifles and shotguns so many Americans own.
3. When you toss out homicides, suicides, and killings by law enforcement officers, all of which probably would have happened anyway by other means, you're left with less than 800 accidental deaths caused by firearms, which is far less tha
Good thing about a democracy - we can simply disagree on very fundamental issues. I'm afraid we are both beyond convincing!
Well, I got cut off without realizing it. Guess who's ignorant now!
By "these weapons" do you mean automatic weapons? The number of crimes committed with automatic weapons is so small as to be insignificant. They are, as I stated, expensive and difficult to obtain, not to mention usually large and hard to conceal. Look at the DoJ statistics, handguns are far, far more likely to be used in a crime than any other type of firearm. Of 10,086 murders by firearms, 7,361 were committed with handguns versus 2,725 by all other types of firearms combined. (This includes rifles, shotguns, "other guns", and "type of gun not reported") Here is the link - http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/offenses/expanded_information/homicide.html
Here is a few more facts for you, all from CDC data for 2005 -
deaths by firearm - 30,694 total, 10.25 per 100,000 people
of those 12,352 were homicides, 17,002 were suicides, 789 were accidental, and 330 were through "legal intervention" (killed by cops, executions, I don't know)
Take out the suicides, who would have probably
Happily, I am "ignorant" about how to go about purchasing guns. Sure, it's relatively hard (but not too hard) to buy a gun, but why is it in your expert opinion that so many crimes are committed with these weapons and semiautomatic weapons proliferate in the criminal element in our country? Something is wrong somewhere. Why is it, in your expert opinion, that firearms fatalities in the U.S. are higher than the rest of the industrialized world COMBINED?
Here we go again with a shocking level of firarms ignorance and fear. For the record Mrs. D, no can just go into their local gun store and buy an automatic weapon. They have been tightly regulated by since the National Firearms Act of 1934. They can be legally owned, but only once alot of paperwork has been filled out, background checks have been performed, taxes have been paid, the bothe the BATFE and local law enforcement approval has been gotten. Add in the fact that since 1986 no new automatic weapons are allowed to be placed in civillian hands and you can see why the owning of automatic weapons has become a hobby of the law-abiding rich.
Do you even know what an automatic weapon or an AK-47 is or how much they cost? If you can find an AK-47 someone is willing to sell and jump through all the hoops to purchase it, you'll have to come up with about 16 grand to take it home. Certainly sounds like something I can go get at the corner store.
Shameless ignorace Mrs. D, shame
Some of the least violent societies in the world do not have access to guns - pure and simple. I don't hunt, but I don't propose restricting that "freedom". In every other circumstance, guns belong in the hands of law enforcement. The disgruntled employee who shoots up his office, the teenager who kills a police officer (just happened in my town), the student who kills half of his classmates and instructors - this is almost entirely an American phenomenon. Why? Because you can go to the corner gun shop and buy an automatic rifle. NO ONE in this world needs an AK -47 - it doesn't take a genius to make the connection between access to guns and the level of gun violence.
I am a Virginia Tech student. I am absolutely horrified by your willingness to sacrifice the freedoms for which generations of Americans have fought in order to envelop the nation in a false sense of security. Gun violence is merely a manifestation of underlying problems, and gun control merely exacerbates those problems.