Forward With The Agenda
The media is instantly attempting to advance the agenda of gun control as a result of the shootings at Virginia Tech. ABC News - who admit to having no proof whatsoever that any were used in the shooting rampage - are reporting (with much tut-tutting) on the availability of high-capacity magazines. They are, however, leaving out the fact that Virginia Tech is a so-called "gun free zone". That designation deterred the shooter how? The only people that deterred are the law abiding. I have a carry permit, but I obey the law that says I cannot carry my gun in a park or a school.
Think that law bothers someone who is intent on shooting people? Than you are not playing with a full deck. It has no imapct whatsoever on someone who is bound on this sort of thing. Because the shooter knows - with certainty - that the police will not be able to get there in time to stop him.
I assure the uneducated that I can swap 10-round magazines in the same amount of time as a 15 round one. I might have to carry a few more, but it would not significantly change the rate of fire, no matter what a reporter or a gun control spokesman pontificates. But had an armed citizen with a legal gun been legally allowed to carry his or her weapon, the outcome of this horror might have been completely different. Because the gunman who was carrying illegally in a "gun free zone" might have been badly surprised to find himself in hell a bit earlier than he planned.
The simple fact is that the police CANNOT be there at exactly the second when they are needed the most. Unless you want a police state, that is. I'll pass on that, thank you.
This is some pretty darned shameless agenda-driven exploitation reporting by ABC. Have a bit of decency, you schmucks.
By old_dawg, Tuesday, 17 April , 2007 @ 2:06 pm
The courts have consistently held that the government, e.g., the police, have no specific obligation to protect any individual citizen. Therefore, their primary purpose is to deter crime from wherever they happen to be and to document crimes (after the fact) wherever they are not. Criminals know this, which is why so little crime happens in police stations. Governments know this, which is why police services are consistently under-funded.
Owning and carrying a gun is all about being responsible for your own security. Knowing the above facts simply clarifies the issue for me.