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Gun control: the bloggers' view
Matthew
Weaver
London Guardian
Tuesday April 17, 2007
After the deadliest mass shooting in American history you might
think that Virginia Tech killings would prompt a rethink about gun
control in the US. But No. If anything American's stance of the
right to bear arms is hardening, judging by what the bloggers have
to say.
Trish
and Halli, two harmless looking old ladies who post "great recipe"
suggestions from Idaho, argue that some of the 32 deaths could have
been prevented if guns had been more freely available. Halli posts:
"If some students and faculty had been carrying their legally permitted
guns today, it is likely that a few deaths would have occurred.
However, in at least two instances the murderer chained classroom
doors closed and proceeded to fire at students. In all likelihood
an armed student would have stopped him before 32 people had been
executed."
Similarly Frank
Staheli argues that if more students carried gun there would
be fewer spree killings.
The National
Rifle Association is reluctant to be drawn on the issue, But
Gun Owners of America
demands a end to gun-free zones in schools and campuses. It says:
"It is irresponsibly dangerous to tell citizens that they may not
have guns at schools. The Virginia Tech shooting shows that killers
have no concern about a gun ban when murder is in their hearts."
So what about the politicians? The leading Democratic presidential
contenders all steer clear of advocating gun control. Instead Hillary
Clinton, Barack
Obama and John
Edwards all turn to prayer.
According to
Robin Toner on the New York Times political blogging site the
Caucus says that Democrat hopefuls don't want to harm their chances
of election by calling for gun control as Al Gore did in 2000.
John
Nichols in the Nation argues that US has failed to learn the
lesson of Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine.
Raised
in Chaos calls for a deeper examination of the malaise in American
society She says:
"The issue is not guns, and while I personally believe there should
be no need for them in a "civilized" society, and that fucking ANYONE
shouldn't be able to pick up a rifle and a pack of Cheetos at your
local Wal-Mart, this is not the context in which to have this debate.
Instead, when a man with a gun (and do we know yet if he was a
student or not?) strolls into a college dormitory at 7 a.m. and
starts shooting people at random, we really need to take a critical
look at the kind of society we live in."
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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