Letters to the Editor
Published Letters: 260 Editor's Choice: 22
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It's the Guns
[Read the article: Why Democrats dumped gun control]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Cho Seung-hui was a Korean immigrant, as was the Serbian shooter who killed five in Salt Lake City’s Trolley Square last month. This is not an anti-immigrant screed because I’m pro-immigration (brain drain made America what is today, but that’s another topic). The only reason I bring this up is to point out that it’s not immigrants that are the problem. It’s not the American education system that is at fault, its not Virginia Techs fault, psychological counseling’s fault’, it’s not a lack of ‘good Christian value’, or loneliness, or religion or anything else that is at fault here. As soon as one of these tragedies unfolds, the finger pointing game comes into full swing and every pundit, preacher and pontificator gets on his or her soapbox to blame someone or something.
Cho Seung-hui was sick. He was disturbed and socially disenfranchised (and for good reason, he obviously wasn’t a barrel of yuks to be around). Mentally ill and socially disenfranchised people are everywhere in the world—and by the millions. Most are not dangerous but the ones who turn violent generally turn to the resources they have at hand to lash out at others. I was on a subway once and was attacked by a mentally ill person with a rolled up newspaper. I’m 6’4” and weigh 270 so the effects of that rolled up Monday Times on me were physically negligible, especially since this guy was probably 120 pounds dripping wet and weak from malnutrition.
I think most readers here will see that what I’m getting at is that the difference between a rolled up newspaper and a AK-47 (or a twelve gauge shotgun, etc.) are pretty big when put in the hands of a person with severe ‘issues’.
Before the advent of modern weaponry, a nut job with a hankering for violence could sharpen a stick, wield a knife or throw a rock at someone—and there is just so much damage that can do! In fact when the Bill of rights was penned, the muzzle-loaded gun was the most dangerous personal weapon at hand (and by the way, despite the ‘frontier’ mythology, only a very small percentage of American’s at that time actually owned a functioning one). It took about a thirty seconds for a very skilled person to reload for another shot— making it pretty hard to commit mass murder.
It’s only fair to note that the two biggest school killings in history actually took place in Scotland and Germany. But as far as the frequency of this phenomenon goes, no one can touch the good ole’ U.S. of A. (just one more thing that we do better than everyone else).
It’s time to see the ample and easy availability of guns in America for what they really are—weapons of mass destruction.
We’ll go to war with a country over a fallacious rumor that they possess weapons that could POTENTIALLY kill millions—yet we can’t get our own country to address our own millions of weapons of mass destruction that DO kill thousands a year.