I knew people would go there. My friend (and rival blogger from the other side of the aisle) Dan at LasVegasBadger knew people would go there. And so they have. Gun rights advocates (or gun fetishists, as I like to say) are all over the interwebs, talk radio, and doubtless FOX "News," loundly proclaiming that if they had been there, they'd have stopped it, by cracky! They'd have pulled out their concealed weapon, and popped that wacko before he did so much damage.
I for one am horrified by the thought. It would be bad enough finding myself in a situation like what happened Thursday night in Aurora, Colorado. The terror of an event like that probably can't really be imagined if you haven't been there. But you know what? The Dirty Harry or Die Hard imaginings of these vocal gun nuts is primarily imagination. It's quite simply delusional. And the following writeup from Wonkette--a snarky, largely humorous site--has one of the best takes I've seen on the subject. From a person who was in a shooting incident. Read it, please, particularly if you disagree with me.
[Excerpt]
Notes From The Periphery Of A Shooting: A Wonkette Moment Of Tenderness
You don’t have to have witnessed a random shooting in a public place to question whether an armed bystander could have stopped the shooter, but it helps. On the morning of May 21, 1998, on the way to a movie matinee, I stopped by a Tucson post office to send a package of comic books (“The Maxx”) to be autographed by the artist/writer Sam Kieth. I take my nerding seriously. . .
Read more at: Wonkette
I for one am horrified by the thought. It would be bad enough finding myself in a situation like what happened Thursday night in Aurora, Colorado. The terror of an event like that probably can't really be imagined if you haven't been there. But you know what? The Dirty Harry or Die Hard imaginings of these vocal gun nuts is primarily imagination. It's quite simply delusional. And the following writeup from Wonkette--a snarky, largely humorous site--has one of the best takes I've seen on the subject. From a person who was in a shooting incident. Read it, please, particularly if you disagree with me.
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| Image from Wonkette. |
Notes From The Periphery Of A Shooting: A Wonkette Moment Of Tenderness
You don’t have to have witnessed a random shooting in a public place to question whether an armed bystander could have stopped the shooter, but it helps. On the morning of May 21, 1998, on the way to a movie matinee, I stopped by a Tucson post office to send a package of comic books (“The Maxx”) to be autographed by the artist/writer Sam Kieth. I take my nerding seriously. . .
Read more at: Wonkette
While the Aurora shooting is tragic, the same number of people are murdered everyday throughout the U.S. Most of the time, no one cares because it is a gang banger versus another gang banger.
ReplyDeleteBut I have also noticed that more innocent kids are being killed with drive bys.
Most of the murders happen in the inner city, so most people could not care less, including those in the inner city. The problem is that you have young kids who have the no snitch rule and the adults, including community leaders and ministers keep their mouths shut.
You can restrict all the guns you want but if people don't change their attitudes about violence, nothing is going to change.
You can't mow down a crowd with a six-shooter. That's all I'm saying.
ReplyDelete