For those people who still think "gun control" equals "victim disarmament"...

[ladymirth]

Shooting at Illinois University, 6 dead, 16 injured. 

This is the fourth shooting at a US university within a week. 

WTF?!

It's enough to make you think people are being possessed or something. "Freaky" is too mild a word. 

One thing's for sure though. It doesn't matter how many people die, the White House is never going to be able to push through a federal gun-control bill successfully. 

The thing is, there is no such thing as "arming the innocent", because there is no such thing as innocent. Anyone, anywhere is capable of murder, given the right incentive, pushed hard enough. Sri Lanka is far from being the safest country in the world, but at least we don't live in fear of Ordinary Joe suddenly going wacko and killing people at random. The only people in this country carrying guns are soldiers and policemen. 

It's not just Sri Lanka. It's a fact that countries with strong gun control laws do not have many shooting incidents. There are those people who point out that there have been more shootings in states which have stronger firearms regulations than those which do not, but I say that it is simply indicative of the fact that gun-control laws are only effective as long as they are made federal laws and not just state laws. And don't even bring up the Prohibition, unless you want to tell me exactly how you're going to bootleg a rifle and find a wide market for it amongst the general public. The only people who really need guns are people who are afraid of other people's guns. Weapons are not a vice, they are not alcohol, and they sure as hell aren't as easily accessible in most parts of Europe. The lack of gun trade do not make a serious dent in the economy, either. So please don't bring up the Prohibition as a counter-example to the efficiency of gun-control laws, unless you want to de-regulate drugs and prostitution as well.

Bottom line, if you want to "arm the innocent", teach them to use tazers, pepper spray and iron rings. If somebody does elect to go berserk with one of those, at least the death toll will be minimal. I know the saying is that nobody ever raped a .38, but nobody raped a small but efficient carving knife either.  

The following is a response I got off the LnCMBs on the gun-control topic a few months back:

If there were more upstanding citizens with the responsibility and skill around allowed to carry a firearm, mass murders would NOT happen either simply because the instigator would not live long enough to kill a lot of people.

Right. Well, we should just make sure we sell guns to proportionately more "upstanding citizens with responsibility and skill" rather than ordinary people doing ordinary things who may or may not go totally ballistic out of the blue one day. Although now exactly we are supposed to judge that, I have no clue. 

*scrambles off soapbox*

ETA: Not to misunderstand my remark about knives, because they are lethal and problematic things as well, and should be handled as responsibly as any gun. Come to think of it, rather than weapons, it would be better to instate a nation-wide mandatory martial arts program for all students (especially girls). The thing about teaching martial arts correctly is that it teaches you how to control your impulses, not just to kick the crap out of the other guy. Although that is certainly a bonus. =)

Comments

No, you don't want knives

[googlebrat.livejournal.com]

Trust me on this. We have problem with these over here. They're small, they're hidable, and hey every house has knives and they're not hidden away like guns. Easy for a kid to swipe.

No, you don't get kids killing six people at once with a knife. But six kids easch killing one because they're KIDS and didn't realise how out of control the situation was until it was too late and then it wasn't just someone hurt? Not really better.

Re: No, you don't want knives

[ladymirth.livejournal.com]

You're right, that was a rather thoughtless remark. I wasn't thinking about kids that young, to be honest. I was thinking about women who swear by small handguns. Come to think of it, we have a problem with stabbings in rural schools as well. Shall edit.

Well, knives are definitely out. What do you suggest then? A nation-wide mandatory self-defense education prgram?

Re: No, you don't want knives

[(Anonymous)]

I personally carry a personal alarm and am ready to yell a whole hell of a lot if danger hits. Or we used to keep a baseball bat behind the bed at Mum's in case of intruders.

Any weapon dangerous enough to be effective is unfortunately dangerous enough to be a killer in the wrong hands. Knives especially they're trying to cut down on around here, not just because of afore-mentioned kids. In the wrong hands, someone can yank it OUT of your hands and use it against you, or it can escalate what was previous a fists-only situation into a fight with weapons.

Re: No, you don't want knives

[googlebrat.livejournal.com]

Bah. That previous was me if you hadn't guessed.

Re: No, you don't want knives

[ladymirth.livejournal.com]

I had guessed. =D The entry has been edited. Thanks for pointing it out.

[cyad.livejournal.com]

I just saw the news. Crazy world.

I hope elshadye is safe.

And totally backing you up on martial arts technics. Which is why, I'm coonsidering taking Taichi (ok, helygen already taking classes and telling me about it and pimping me with TYaichi movements videos so I can follow and do movements and realizing it's actually really good on calming my nerves and helping me relax...er...cutting babbling. right! :)

Gotta look for a class here. But hours are much too early in the afternoon. it's not a problem since am looking for a job but if I find one, there are right in the middle of afternoon. shutting up now.

[faye-lights.livejournal.com]

"This is the fourth shooting at a US university within a week."

Where did you read/hear this? I must be totally out of the loop, because I haven't heard of a campus shooting incident like this since the one in Virginia. Unless of course you're just referring to one person shooting another, in which case there's no telling how often that happens, on campus or not.

I don't mean to appear as a crazy conservative here, but don't waste your energy. There's a difference between gun control and disarmament, and I can assure you that as long as the US stands on its current constitution, Americans will always be able to own firearms. I find incidents like this just as upsetting as you do (especially as I have frequented college campuses either as a student or a teacher for the past ten years), but there's no changing that fact, on principle.

[ladymirth.livejournal.com]

They've said so in the article itself, although the other incidents are on a smaller scale of fatality.

I guess that for a person from a country where civilians almost never use a gun, the situation in the U.S is a little boggling. But then, the idea that Sri Lankans have been living in the middle of a war for the past 25 years is quite boggling to other people as well, so I guess it's just a case of what you're used to living with.

I'm a bit confused. Are you pro-gun control or not?

One thing is for sure though. People over here are going to think hesitate to send their kids to American Universities. Personally, I think that's funny as all hell, given the crime rate in Sri Lanka itself, but apparently running the risk of having your kid gunned down in a strange country is more real a fear to them than the fact that they could all be robbed/killed in a hit and run/kidnapped or even caught in a bomb explosion right here. But at least they won't get shot, right? *roll eyes* Go figure.

[faye-lights.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I've read through the article you linked twice and couldn't find any reference to other shootings within the article itself. I wonder if something on the page was changed? It makes me feel kind of stupid not to have heard anything else about these other shootings and not to be able to find anything about them either.

And that depends on what you mean by gun control. I certainly don't believe in banning personal firearm ownership. In the US, states regulate firearm purchase and ownership for the most part, and I do think that some states have better ideas than others. I live in a state in which firearms do not have to be registered, and I do like the idea of registering them because I think it increases personal accountability. My husband disagrees. In all honesty, I am more afraid of people who use firearms that are obtained illegally, which is another can of worms. We need to be able to enforce our existing laws before we make new ones.

And I can completely understand about internationals not wanting to come to American universities because of this. I wouldn't either. But this certainly isn't our worst problem--we have had many more public high school shootings with teenagers killing other teenagers and teachers. Unfortunately, most people don't have a choice about sending their children to public schools. How scary is that? We definitely have problems. But getting rid of guns isn't going to solve them. They are much more fundamental than that.