While some of you might not be able to understand how people there feel, I most certainly can. Some of you may recall the Platte Canyon hostage situation last September?
If not, allow this to refresh your memory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platte_Canyon_High_School_shootingThat was my old high school and my sister's class, though thankfully she was home sick. My ex-girlfriend(but still good friend) was actually there, though, and the girl that was shot and killed? She was my sister's best friend.
I first heard about the events from customers in the drive-through--I was working at Wendy's at the time--and I had no idea who was there or what was going on. When I found out it was at my old high school, I was freaked out of my mind. My two sisters go to that high school and while I knew my sister Samantha was home sick I had no idea where Rachael was, what classrooom it was in, and so on and so forth. It was extremely scary, sad, and horrible.
You know what one of the worst parts about it was? The place where the hostage taker was camping near the school? That was a favorite river side spot for my girlfriend and me just the month before...had we not broken up and kept going, we might have run into the guy ourselves.
So, I can definitely understand how the parents and families of those murdered at Virginia Tech...it's not pleasant, to severely understate the situation.
I wonder if firearms are not in fact obsolete as a method of revolution against the U.S. federal government. Arms firepower is no match for the government's vast security forces in all their boggling might. If there were a revolution, one of two things would happen: The government would utterly collapse without the need for much (if any) armed conflict, or the revolution would be crushed at an enormous cost in lives, economic stability, and civil function.
Iraq is proof that our vast military couldn't hold down our own country...people find a way to get past even the best of military technology. I am firmly in favour of Second Amendment rights...the whole idea behind it is to protect the people from an oppresive government should the worst happen.
That said, I am also definitely in favour of doing the best we can to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Background checks, waiting times, and other safeguards put into place to ensure that those purchasing firearms legally are law-abiding citizens are a definite must. On that same token, I also highly encourage that gun safety and gun use classes are required for any gun owner so they know what they're doing with it.
Why did no one commit these kind of school rampages 100 years ago? Society has changed. We've changed. So yes, take away all the guns you like, write more laws regulating the use of weapons, become even more dependent on the government to save you from yourself. But I agree with the Bard of Stratford when he said, "The fault...is not in our stars, but in ourselves" xD Despite the pretentiousness of that quote, it's actually kinda apt. Violence and its concomitant violent crime is a problem here in America, and it has nothing to do with the availability of weapons.
One definite cause of violent crime is passion or sudden emotion, which is usually much more present in men than women. It's a problem with our society...we discourage the idea of men sharing their emotions and feelings, and by doing so we create a huge problem where so many men in an attempt to be "macho" will bottle up their feelings and then unleash them. That's why men tend to be much more violent. It's stupid and ridiculous, really, and ought to be changed if we want to reduce violent crime.
Of course that's just one reason...we've also got poverty, social inequality, and many other causes. Only by eliminating these causes can we truly eliminate violent crime. Guns don't kill people...people kill people, and if they are intent on killing someone they will find a way.
