If I Only Had a Gun

[MountainDon]

Nrxt week, April 10/09, on ABC's 20/20 they're having a report titled "If I Only Had a Gun"

Might be worth watching to see what their twist is.

[tesa]

sung to the tune from the wizard of oz, "if i only had a brain??"

tesa

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Lately it seems like there have been a lot of shootings, and seems to me that the media is making a big deal out of the fact that these were "normal" people and "typical" gun owners, legally owning the guns, and they just lost it.  There have been a few around here that the reporters have said were the result of the gun owner "fearing the government was going to take their guns" etc.  I don't know, but get the feeling that they're trying to say that all gun owners are potentially nutjobs and therefore we should outlaw guns.  There was recently a police involved shooting in OKC, and the man fired on police, who returned fire and killed him.  My cousin was one of the two officers who returned fire...he keeps telling us not to believe all we hear concerning it on the news, as the man was not supposed to even have the gun.  He is now on mandatory leave for something like three months (required for officers involved in the shooting, and they have to go through counseling, etc., before they can go back to work.)  I'd be interested on seeing the mainstream media's take on stuff... locally, there was  PBS program called Oklahoma's Gun Culture, and I was very pleasantly surprised at how positive it was...most of the filming took place inside H&M Gun Range in the city, and they talked to folks from all walks of life with concealed carry permits and those who were avid marksmen, etc.  Very interesting.

[pagan]

Are the numbers of shootings actually going up, or is this issue simply getting more air time making it appear that gun violence is increasing?

[poppy]

I don't know that shootings in general are up, but according to today's paper (Cincinnati Enquirer), mass murder is up over the last month.

Close to 30 deaths in March and over 20 so far this month, a total of 53 dead in less than a month.

It will be interesting to see what 20/20 does with it.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

P.C. and Poppy, that's kind of my question too...are there really more shootings or is it just that the economy is so depressing that they'd rather give airtime to murders?   It does seem like there have been a lot lately, but then again, maybe it is just because they're getting more air time. And there have been a lot of mass murders lately, but they're all over the world, not just in the US.

[pagan]

It's kind of like an airplane crash. Far more people die in automobile crashes every year but when a couple of hundred people die at the same time in a plane crash it's big news. I almost suspect these mass murder/suicides are similar. It gets a lot of airtime because a bunch of people die at the same time.

[tesa]

i'm very confussed about guns

i grew up with every man in the family drivin' a ford with two rifles in the gunracks

my daddy hunted every year to feed his family

so did my cousins, and uncles

but i think times are different, maby, too many people have guns in the big city, too many situations
where folks don't think, they just get pissed off and go fetch their guns.

cut someone off on the highway  bang bang

your girlfriend doesn't want to see you anymore  bang bang

and these crazy folks who shoot their babies??

what the hell??

if you wanna take your own life, fine, do it, but to kill your own children??

someone make me understand

i'm not sure what the answer is, how can we control so many guns on the streets, in the hands of
criminals, and folks who need "help", but yet allow guns in the hands of responsible people

and hey, pagancelt, i'm paganhindu  LOL

blessed be

tesa

[ScottA]

tesa if they didn't have guns they'd use bricks, broken bottles and sticks. Folks would still be just as dead.

[peternap]

Tesa.....think!
Don't be like those brainless Brady Bimbos. You've got too much on the ball for that!

The gun can't walk or think or pick a target or fire itself. It is a tool, just like a hammer or screwdriver (a favorite weapon in places like New York City).

It has to be wielded by a human. The human is the good or bad item. The gun is irrelevant. If it wasn't a gun, it would be something else. Don't blame the tool, blame the sick SOB pulling the trigger.

[tesa]

peternap, your so right. guns don't kill people, people kill people

we don't own any, daniel has a big compound bow, and isnt' afraid to use it

on the other hand, i can't even pick the thing up its so big, no way could
i pull it back

my mother has a wee pistol, one of those tiny fits in the palm of your hand guns

i hate that thing, its so little, i'm afraid one day she's
gonna accidently shoot herself in the foot

i wish my father whould have given me one of his rifles, not that i'd know how to use
it, but he's passed away now, and i wish i had one. i don't have too many things from him, and he
gave his guns to the boys in the family, i never really thought i'd want one, but i have such fond
memories of him on cold november mornings, going off to hunt with his brothers

tesa

[pagan]

If they don't have a gun, they'll just drive them into a lake. There was a serial killer in England who used a screwdriver and hammer to murder his victims.

tesa,

PaganHindu, pretty cool.