Guns.....
There seem to be two things we can count on to be in the news headlines these days, bombings in Iraq and young Americans shooting their peers on school campuses.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.....
Several years back, my old high school made the news when my old Geometry teacher's class was held hostage by a kid with a gun. Apparently the shooting yesterday at Northern Illinois University was the fourth campus shooting in a WEEK. Columbine, Virginia Tech, these are places remembered not for being sanctuaries for young American students, but for being backdrops of some of the worst massacres to have taken place on American soil in the 21st Century.
I feel sick. I feel sick when I see young kids in pushchairs weilding their toy guns. I feel sick when I read that this latest gunman had 3 firearms on him. Where the hell does a college kid get a gun, let alone 3?
How is it possible that in a country where you can't smoke anywhere because you may endanger someone else's life, young people are able to acquire guns?
I don't even know where to begin to organize my thoughts on this one. There seems to be a malaise spreading across the States at the moment. What's the cause? What's the solution? Why is it that Americans feel confident enough to 'sort out' the world's problems, but can't stop young Americans from going on shooting sprees in our own country?
How much money does the government actually make off gun sales? I mean, come on, this has to be the only reason why it is still so easy for people to get guns in the first place......
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2 comments:
There was an interesting article about this in on Rue 89, if you read French. The question is WHY does this thing seem to happen just in America? The obvious answer is the free availability of guns, but as one commenter pointed out, people who really want guns can get them in just about any country.
It just really defies logic, doesn't it? There are guns everywhere you look here because we are deep in hunting country.
The other day at the school carnival, all the little boys were dressed up like cowboys with toy guns.
Yet there isn't the same culture of gun related crimes. Sure they exist, but not even close to the same level as in the States.
There is just something completely out of whack going on in the States as far as guns are concerned.....
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