Imagine what will happen in the USA if a major event causes mass civil unrest.
All those guns no the streets. All those gun fanatics.

Sorry I have no evidence to support my statement... The laws are very close on gun owner ship ... I am Canadian too Ay ... Oh Canada oh Canada... Bla bla

Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.


It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

Every time there's an event like this gun sales go up. I assume also that membership of the NRA goes up as well.

So given that the NRA and the gun industry receive a direct financial and politic benefit from each massacre why do we think they have any interest in limiting future disasters?

Mikedobee said...
Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

Not sure what credentials he has to comment publicly?...he's an actor (a very good one imo) and famous for portraying characters. I don't argue with his opinion though as he makes a valid point.

I think the best comment I've heard was made by a USA congress rep this morning on the radio - something like;

(non-verbatim) It's (gun law reform) a complex problem & will require a complex solution - no single solution will address the problem.

Sailhack said...

Mikedobee said...
Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

Not sure what credentials he has to comment publicly?...he's an actor (a very good one imo) and famous for portraying characters. I don't argue with his opinion though as he makes a valid point.

I think the best comment I've heard was made by a USA congress rep this morning on the radio - something like;

(non-verbatim) It's (gun law reform) a complex problem & will require a complex solution - no single solution will address the problem.

The credential of a person with a very good point. Can you imagine the amount of money media made with these horrific attacks?!!!

bigmark100 said...
Imagine what will happen in the USA if a major event causes mass civil unrest.
All those guns no the streets. All those gun fanatics.

This occurred after the Californian earthquake some years back. The Korean shop owners were being targeted by looters, who were shooting back. Certainly ammunition (sorry) for gun ownership, but what caused the mentality to loot in the first place? Was it the need to survive, or personal greed?

I am inclined to view capitalism as a driving force for might being right, and we are simply seeing the results of several hundred years of grooming. It would be interesting to match up the demographics of incidents of mass murder and powerful capitalist nations. The US certainly seems to take first place in both.
And no. I am not politically motivated to any particular form of government, although I believe that it is the mandate of government to care for the population as their first objective.