This is all I want to say about that:
Believing that Gun Control means that the government is going to come and take away all your guns and prevent you from ever having more is like believing that Birth Control means that the government is going to come and take away all your children and prevent you from ever having more. No dictionary in the world makes "control" and "eradication" synonymous. Hunters in particular should understand this, as they claim to "control" deer populations, but they are never intent on eradicating the entire population. (The taking of innocent life here is a separate issue.)
Believing that non-projectile weapons are just as dangerous
as guns is exactly the kind of madness that makes the rest of us want those
guns taken out of your hands. To kill with a knife, a box-cutter, a baseball bat, etc., you have to get within PHYSICAL PROXIMITY of the victim; you can't
stand at a cowardly and protective distance. You HAVE to fight with your own
body. You HAVE to give the opponent a chance to fight back. And while you do
that you give others the chance to either overpower you or get very far away
from you. There is no way in hell you'd actually KILL 26 people with your
knife. I'm sorry. I don't buy it. Yes, you'd still be a crazy person in need of
serious mental help, but your damage would be limited.
In fact, if you believe that you can stand at the average distance between a shooter and his victim, throw your knife -- disarming yourself, manage to hit and kill your victim, and then retrieve and throw your knife with fatal results 25 more times, you actually SHOULD be getting mental help.
Not that the health system is much help there, but that too is another issue.
No, when you want to do that kind of damage and wield the control of an indefensible weapon, the one you reach for is a gun. Pure and simple. You don't think there should be SOME control on that? The only other weapon I've heard mentioned this week which allows a killer the same degree of devastation (or more) with a comparable or better degree of personal safety is a bomb. Funny, I don't hear you telling us we have a right to tote those around.
And don't tell me that's because bombs aren't mentioned in the Second Amendment. Neither are semi-automatic weapons. And, friend, until you can show me specifically and to the letter that that gun you ARE toting is in service to a "well-regulated" anything, neither is yours.
There are a lot of things that need to change to stop these shootings. A lot of things. Better discovery of mental illness and better support from a less greedy health care system are high on that list. However, there also needs to be some discipline and understanding among gun owners and gun supporters that "control" is not a four-letter word.
.
In fact, if you believe that you can stand at the average distance between a shooter and his victim, throw your knife -- disarming yourself, manage to hit and kill your victim, and then retrieve and throw your knife with fatal results 25 more times, you actually SHOULD be getting mental help.
Not that the health system is much help there, but that too is another issue.
No, when you want to do that kind of damage and wield the control of an indefensible weapon, the one you reach for is a gun. Pure and simple. You don't think there should be SOME control on that? The only other weapon I've heard mentioned this week which allows a killer the same degree of devastation (or more) with a comparable or better degree of personal safety is a bomb. Funny, I don't hear you telling us we have a right to tote those around.
And don't tell me that's because bombs aren't mentioned in the Second Amendment. Neither are semi-automatic weapons. And, friend, until you can show me specifically and to the letter that that gun you ARE toting is in service to a "well-regulated" anything, neither is yours.
There are a lot of things that need to change to stop these shootings. A lot of things. Better discovery of mental illness and better support from a less greedy health care system are high on that list. However, there also needs to be some discipline and understanding among gun owners and gun supporters that "control" is not a four-letter word.
.
