Cho Seung-Hui, the VT shooter who bought two hand guns in one month, and later used them to kill 32 people just over one year ago The Supreme Court broke a two century old silence on gun control recently by narrowly (5 to 4) overturning Washington, D.C.'s gun control law. Basically D.C. had a ban on handguns in people's homes and the Supreme Court overturned that law based on the second amendment. This comes as a great disappointment to me, especially after being so happy on the the high court's recent ruling on the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and their decision for LIFE even in the case of heinous and extreme criminality.
I think that it goes without saying that, "more handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence." Its also worth noting that pro-gun groups and lawyers are already in the process of trying to get gun laws overturned in other urban (read: high crime) areas. That's just what these cities need, more gun availability.
There is also another part of what the courts struck down, that is sorta lost in this discussion. Not only will hand guns be allowed in homes, but people will not have to ensure that "firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled." The main problem here is that even if the gun is in a law-abiding citizens home, what happens when that gun is stole by a criminal or mentally ill person? I have a hard time understanding what good, honest to G-d gun owners fear about keeping their guns locked. Why do we need ready-t0-fire hand guns in homes? If guns had trigger locks, a stolen gun does a criminal no good.
And, while I'm complaining, let me go ahead a mention my disappointment with (my political candidate of choice)'s recent political pandering to move to the center on issues such as gun control and capital punishment. Its a helpful reminder that my (our) hope is NOT in a politician.
3 comments:
I think if you were to rewatch the China parts of The Red Violin movie, you might understand a little how handguns could be vital to your existence as a free man someday or to protect your family someday. You just never know. It is only a right of freedom, doesn't mean you have to own or believe in the use of one.
Every good intentioned object can be placed in the wrong hands and used for bad things. Do you want to get rid of butcher knives? Mentally ill people have killed others with those, too.
I would sign my name, but don't know how. This is Nole's Mom! Love you and your right to think freely - God bless America!! xoxo
Love your mom...haha.
I don't really have an definitive opinion on the gun issue. I'm not opposed to them, i'm not in favor of them...i don't think any bans or laws against them short of an absolute banning of them will have any impact overall. Did the DC ban have any statistical impact on safety or crime or murder in that town? Were the cops still allowed to have them? Because that shit is scarier than the criminals having them. Let the government keep their guns and take ours away? I'm not sure i'm comfortable with that. Nor should you be.
I'm the same way on the death penalty...i'm against it because our justice system is so racist and screwed up and so often wrong in murder cases, etc....but you know what? You rape a child? Fuck you, you're dead. Even if you're "innocent"...if you put yourself anywhere even close to the position where you could be accused of touching a child sexually, i don't care, you get a bullet in your head on site. No trial, just a bullet. It's the worst thing in the world and should be removed from our society instantly. That guy on "To Catch a Predator" should be given a license to kill. It's should be quickly and violently eradicated from our society.
As far as Obama goes...welcome to politics little buddy! Go back and read my Vox posts about voting and see how right i was. I think this quote breaks down the whole thing for any politician: "What's becoming clear in this campaign," Scheunemann said, is "that for Senator Obama the most important issue in the election is the political fortunes of Senator Obama. He has demonstrated that there really is no position he holds that isn't negotiable or isn't subject to change depending on how he calculates it will affect his political fortunes."
Keep your head up.
Mom, thanks for you comment and point of view. Although I have no interest in owning guns, I'm not arguing that we ban them all together. The DC was specifically banning handguns... so hunting rifles and shotguns are still allowed. In addition to that, if we to allow hand guns, what's wrong with requiring locks for them while they are in the home? That helps ensure that kids aren't able to accidentally discharge the gun and it also renders the gun useless to any criminal who otherwise would be able to steal the gun and use it for crime.
Also, regarding the butcher knife argument: how many people do you think the VT shooter would have been able to kill with knives only? My guess is far less than 32.
Adam, again, I wouldn't advocate for complete ban on all guns (esp while the gov't still has them) but I don't see what we need hand guns... and if we do, why not lock them? I'm not sure if the ban had a statistical impact on DC (it'd be hard to tell because of the many different factors involved), but it sotra goes with out saying (as the mayor of DC pointed out in the article) that less guns means less opportunity for gun related crimes. We'll never be completely rid of criminals, but laws that help reduce them is a good thing.
As far as the death penalty for child-rape goes... its a hard one because that is obviously the lowest, grossest, hideous crimes of them all. However, as a person of faith, I strongly believe that ALL people can be renewed regardless of their past. It doesn't make what they did any less disgusting and despicable, but I feel they have the right to life like everyone else (even if it is behind bars for the remainder of their life). There have been some pretty incredible transformations of horrible people in jail.
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