Quote:
Originally Posted by Icky Thump
But that ain't America. We'd rather have our "freedom" at the cost of several dozen young lives. From an editorial in the NYT by a guy who's kid was killed in a school shooting:
>>In the wake of Galen’s murder, I wrote a book about the shooting. In it I suggested that we view gun crime as a public health issue, much the same as smoking or pesticides. I spent a number of years attending rallies, signing petitions, writing letters and making speeches, but eventually I gave up. Gun control, such a live issue in the “early” days of school shootings, inexplicably became a third-rail issue for politicians.
I came to realize that, in essence, this is the way we in America want things to be. We want our freedom, and we want our firearms, and if we have to endure the occasional school shooting, so be it.
I will note that to get into the real important places: Congress, Federal Courthouses and planes, you DO have to go through a metal detector.
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He's right. Horrific as they may be, these killings are statistically insignificant and arguably do not warrant a removal of a constitutional right. But you aren't ever going to hear anyone argue something so icy. We instead wait until the raw emotion abates, then do nothing for exactly the reason this Oped describes.
And when we do do something, as with the Patriot Act response to 9/11, it's brutal overkill and worse than the thing it sought to avoid.
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