[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Tim Murphy

Of course if some of the boys at Virginia Tech had been carrying, the killer would have been dropped in his tracks. But what about the school kids on that island in Norway? Or the kids in Canada? Or Scotland? Or Tasmania? Or Finland or Russia? I just don't know what to say."

Unbelievable! "The solution to gun violence is more guns!" ? You may not know what to say, but keeping yourself from saying something like that may be a good idea. Or at least refrain from saying such things while people are mourning. You're an adult, get a filter, for goodness sake.

I do know what to say. There is no rational reason for a citizen of a civilized nation to own a weapon like this:



Seriously, no reason at all. It only has one purpose. And yet, here we are, because of the NRA and its supporters, mourning once again. James is exactly the age of some of those children. I promise you, if I hear any man saying his 'constitutional right' is more important than James' life, I will have strong and unpleasant words to say.

Peace to you and yours,

Bill

[Janice D. Soderling]

Sorry, Tim, if you are feeling ganged up on, but who is going to define good and evil? It wasn't long ago that Reagan was blathering about the evil empire and Bush about the axis of evil. Evil is usually a religiously defined epithet.

If you ask the folks on the other side, any other side, they know who they find evil. So what we need is not a "feeling" of what is good and what is evil, but a moral yardstick that measures everyone by the same rule and whose goal is to create a safe, healthy, no-poverty society. I'd like to see more kids getting access to education and fewer to guns.

About your poem. Two things I know. 1) Governor Parry (sic) had an agenda that concealed more than weapons. 2.) It is still not allowed to put up poems at GT, neither good ones or poor ones.

PS. Ed, It's a big hoss.

[Tim Murphy]

If you want to be famous, go kill 77 children: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik

Bill, I do not own an assault weapon. I have only hunting guns, four of them. But I have no problem with guys who own AK 47's or M 16's. They are not automatic weapons; in the US they are semi-automatic weapons, and I weary of you idiots who do not know the difference. If you want to oppose the second Amendment, at least take the time to learn the difference. I hope your house is as well protected as mine.

[Gregory Dowling]

It's good to hear some sensible opinions from America here. I'm afraid that most of the rest of the world thinks that America is just insane on this issue.

[Tim Murphy]

Janice, I'll remove the poem.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Not famous, the word is infamous. As far as I'm concerned the difference between a semi-automatic and an automatic weapon is more one of degree than kind. What law-abiding citizen needs either?

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Tim Murphy

and I weary of you idiots who do not know the difference.

Tim,

I'm not going to fight about this. The solution to violence is not more violence, linguistic or otherwise. Nor will I fall back on name calling, or fall into some back and forth, claim and counter-claim loop. Like someone said, 'there is no way to peace, peace is the way.' But I would like to invite you to contemplate Romans 3:13-17 in this context, in the hope such contemplation may smooth intemperate speech.

Peace, again, to you and yours,

Bill

[ChrisGeorge]

Originally Posted by Tim Murphy

Oh come off your Swedish horse, Janice. Right-to-carry states are way below gun control states in homicide. An inconvenient fact. The most inconvenient fact is that anyone can get a gun, anywhere. And who needs a gun? OJ Simpson managed mayhem with a butcher knife.

I read one reaction this morning urging that all teachers take firearms training and lock a gun in the desk. I prefer stationing a police officer at the door of my school. I do not carry my pistol to class.

Hi Tim

You are not going to like this but here it is. Are you still going to say that the United States doesn't have a problem?

I am not a died-in-the-wool liberal who wants strict gun laws that will take away the guns of hunters or others who legitimately wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights safely. I just wish there might be some middle way whereby those who want to bear their firearms in a legitimate way will find a way to allow the rest of the law abiding citizenry of the United States to live safely.

Or could it just be too late?

Best regards

Chris

[Cally Conan-Davies]

This is worth reading—the Australian experience of gun control following the Port Arthur massacre.

[John Riley]

Another attempted mass killing today. It looks like it's going to be a long Holiday Season.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...bama-hospital/