A Student with a Gun: My Response
In 1966, Charles Whitman, a student at the University of Texas, climbed to the top of a building and opened fire on every student he could put his sights on. The total carnage for the day was 14 killed, 31 wounded.
And that's where it all started. For the first time ever, the sanctity of a school campus was tarnished, no longer seen as a safe haven to send young adults to. And, like many things, it was only a matter of time before this kind of violence would find it's way into younger halls of academia.
Thirteen years later, in an elementary school in San Diego, CA, Brenda Ann Spencer, possibly high on drugs, entered an elementary school and started shooting. Two were killed - the principal and the custodian - and 8 kids and a police officer were injured.
Ten years after that, in 1989, the Stockton massacre - where a deranged gunman took an "assault rifle" to a children's playground, killing 5 before taking his own life - put gun violence in to the national spotlight. In 1991, a bill was signed in to law taking guns out of schools.
The only problem is - it didn't.
First, some perspective. Starting in 1966, with the UT shooting until January of 1991, when the bill was effected, there were 6 shootings* that would fall under the term we know as "school shooting." That's on incident every four years.
At this point you may want to sit down and brace yourself.
Starting with the year of the "gun free school zone" and going til the present, there have been 37 shootings. In 18 years. That's right at 2 shootings per year that shouldn't be happening inside this bubble of safety we've supposedly cast around our younger generation. What hasn't been realized is we've essentially cloaked our little ones in the Emperor's New Clothes.
So, what to do after the laws aren't obeyed and shootings increase? Well, restrict the guns even more. The Clinton administration did just that when they signed in to law what has become known as the Assault Weapons ban in 1994. Until it expired in 2004, there were 19 school shootings - with maybe one exception (Columbine - and I did say maybe) none of the weapons used in those shootings were banned; furthermore, the gun free zones were still in effect.
It hasn't worked, and it won't. Gun control is a myth. Gun laws, like any other laws, only work for the law-abiding citizen. They mean nothing to a criminal, much less a deranged person hell-bent on destroying others... and themselves.
Note: this is a more fleshed out comment to a post by Jrazz about the Israeli school shooting. As a source, I used the wiki page on school shootings. I generally don't consider them very reliable, but these incidents have been so well documented that the wiki page contains the citations.
And that's where it all started. For the first time ever, the sanctity of a school campus was tarnished, no longer seen as a safe haven to send young adults to. And, like many things, it was only a matter of time before this kind of violence would find it's way into younger halls of academia.
Thirteen years later, in an elementary school in San Diego, CA, Brenda Ann Spencer, possibly high on drugs, entered an elementary school and started shooting. Two were killed - the principal and the custodian - and 8 kids and a police officer were injured.
Ten years after that, in 1989, the Stockton massacre - where a deranged gunman took an "assault rifle" to a children's playground, killing 5 before taking his own life - put gun violence in to the national spotlight. In 1991, a bill was signed in to law taking guns out of schools.
The only problem is - it didn't.
First, some perspective. Starting in 1966, with the UT shooting until January of 1991, when the bill was effected, there were 6 shootings* that would fall under the term we know as "school shooting." That's on incident every four years.
At this point you may want to sit down and brace yourself.
Starting with the year of the "gun free school zone" and going til the present, there have been 37 shootings. In 18 years. That's right at 2 shootings per year that shouldn't be happening inside this bubble of safety we've supposedly cast around our younger generation. What hasn't been realized is we've essentially cloaked our little ones in the Emperor's New Clothes.
So, what to do after the laws aren't obeyed and shootings increase? Well, restrict the guns even more. The Clinton administration did just that when they signed in to law what has become known as the Assault Weapons ban in 1994. Until it expired in 2004, there were 19 school shootings - with maybe one exception (Columbine - and I did say maybe) none of the weapons used in those shootings were banned; furthermore, the gun free zones were still in effect.
It hasn't worked, and it won't. Gun control is a myth. Gun laws, like any other laws, only work for the law-abiding citizen. They mean nothing to a criminal, much less a deranged person hell-bent on destroying others... and themselves.
Note: this is a more fleshed out comment to a post by Jrazz about the Israeli school shooting. As a source, I used the wiki page on school shootings. I generally don't consider them very reliable, but these incidents have been so well documented that the wiki page contains the citations.
posted by misawa at 6:52 PM
1 Comments:
Good summary and conclusion.
I wonder why it is that the government thinks this will work? Why they thought it would work? It appears that some laws are passed with those in mind who will never obey them while the ones who would (due to conviction or moral obligation) see more and more reductions made to their rights.
Who elected these people again? Oh right, it was us.
j razz
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