As much as I can I try to keep an open mind in this crazy country. I can handle being mistaken for an Australian, the cab drivers who neither speak English nor know where they're going, even dogs dressed as humans, all these I can accept; but some things I can't ever get my head around and don't think I ever will. It's exactly a week ago since the shootings at Virginia Tech, 32 people killed by a student, and in the inevitable fallout of this incident the hot topic of gun control has once more been debated across the airwaves. It's an argument I have little comprehension of beyond the premise that guns kill, we have no need for them in our day to day lives, therefore people shouldn't have them. Quote that one line here though and a large group of Americans will come back with the words, "Ah, but the Second Amendment states that we have the right to bear arms."
And it's at this point that the great debate begins.
There are plenty of places you can follow that discussion, where people today try to defend a right that was decreed in 1791 in a country operating under totally different conditions. I'm not going to get into that can of worms here. This space is generally kept blog-lite. The only reason that I've touched on the subject at all is that I witnessed a piece of madness in the whole gun ownership argument this week. A friend watching CNN in London couldn't believe his ears when a guest on the station actually suggested that the incident at Virginia Tech would never have happened if the teachers were armed. So shocked was my friend that he chose to text me at 6am to tell me. I put it down to a kook on the airwaves until I turned on the news a little later to hear exactly the same theory being put forward. Hopping around the channels only unearthed more such supporters of this idea and apparently it's not a new argument either, it's been raging for years! (As has bad broadcast news evidently...)
Arm the teachers? ARM THE TEACHERS?? GUNS IN SCHOOL? The little statement at the top of this page reads, "Two countries divided by a common language", I'm thinking of revising that to "Two countries divided by common sense." When DEA agents can't handle their weapons properly what hope is there for teachers?
If ever there was a case for not seeing the wood for the trees this is it. Don't solve the problem by removing the root cause, no, let's throw more guns at it instead!
Anyway, if a guy in heels, make-up and a dress can see where the problem lies then maybe it's about time that the serious people did too.
And it's at this point that the great debate begins.
There are plenty of places you can follow that discussion, where people today try to defend a right that was decreed in 1791 in a country operating under totally different conditions. I'm not going to get into that can of worms here. This space is generally kept blog-lite. The only reason that I've touched on the subject at all is that I witnessed a piece of madness in the whole gun ownership argument this week. A friend watching CNN in London couldn't believe his ears when a guest on the station actually suggested that the incident at Virginia Tech would never have happened if the teachers were armed. So shocked was my friend that he chose to text me at 6am to tell me. I put it down to a kook on the airwaves until I turned on the news a little later to hear exactly the same theory being put forward. Hopping around the channels only unearthed more such supporters of this idea and apparently it's not a new argument either, it's been raging for years! (As has bad broadcast news evidently...)
Arm the teachers? ARM THE TEACHERS?? GUNS IN SCHOOL? The little statement at the top of this page reads, "Two countries divided by a common language", I'm thinking of revising that to "Two countries divided by common sense." When DEA agents can't handle their weapons properly what hope is there for teachers?
If ever there was a case for not seeing the wood for the trees this is it. Don't solve the problem by removing the root cause, no, let's throw more guns at it instead!
Anyway, if a guy in heels, make-up and a dress can see where the problem lies then maybe it's about time that the serious people did too.
2 comments:
"funny ol' world, innit" ... name the film and I'll buy you a kevlar vest.
Haven't got the foggiest. Oh well, not to worry. Worse things happen at sea, you know.
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