The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #10923   Message #78359
Posted By: Roger in Baltimore
14-May-99 - 07:52 AM
Thread Name: Senate knuckles under to the NRA
Subject: RE: Senate knuckles under to the NRA
I beg to differ. Although "all of the guns" may have been sold at one time in gun shows (as one news report has it), a law requiring a waiting period and a background check would not have saved one life. These demented teens had been planning for over a year. The people who bought the guns would have passed both the check and the waiting period. So why pass the law?

Rick notes they have "tougher" gun control in Canada and there were still "copycat" events there.

The idea that we can legislate ourselves into some type of perfect Nirvana where no wrong, evil or injustice occurs is a fantasy of our imagination. We can imagine it, but it can never happen. Certainly it is something devoutly to be wished for, but in reality, there is evil in the world and we just have to accept that at times it gets the upper hand (usually not for long). We can never erase evil.

The killers of Colorado broke enough laws to have them locked up for a very long time. They knew they were breaking the laws. They must have known they had a high likelihood of being caught. Yet, they still planned the event. This was not impulsive. It was thought through, maybe not well, but thought through.

Passing more laws will only make more of us criminals and put more of us in danger of punishment from the state. So, be wary of calling for more laws as a reaction to this tragedy, especially ones that would have had no impact on the outcome except to add 10 years to the multiple life sentences that these young men are likely to serve.

Just had to say that. Getting conservative and crotchety in my old age.

Roger in Baltimore