[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'I')nstead of finally starting the debate about tighter gun laws, as mature people do, they start talking about handing out guns to teachers so they can defend their pupils.

[venky]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'I')nstead of finally starting the debate about tighter gun laws, as mature people do, they start talking about handing out guns to teachers so they can defend their pupils.

[Loki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('venky', '
')
Yup I agree, it is polically impossible to achieve gun-control in the US. Just pity the 25000, or so folks who are gonna die from gun violence this year alone (includes suicide)

But mind you, you have a slightly higher chance of dying from a car accident in the US.......

[venky]

Okay leave aside suicide; still is about 12000 deaths a year. (Although without guns, some of those folks who kill themselves might still be alive. A gun is one of the most reliable and easy ways to take your own life, and its possible that hese people would not have killed themselves if they did not have such easy access to a weapon)

12000 though is atleast an order of magnitude higher then in other western societies PER CAPITA if not more. I think the argument can be reasonbly made that if guns were not so widespread, the gun violence in the US would be closer per capita to other Western societies as they are culturally similar.

I wouldn't consider myself an anti-gun nut; I have used my stay in the US to take rifle lessons . And I probably would not support a total ban on gun ownership.........although I think in the US the gun culture is basically nuts; atleast from an outside perspective. I find the debate a bit hilarious to be honest. With folks brought up on a gun culture from birth and Lorenzo on the other hand whose views on 'parasitic and loathsome Anglo-Saxon culture' (if such a thing exists) borders on paranoia.

[dooberheim]

I think a lot of teachers would refuse to carry, but as far as deterrence, even just a few would be enough to make a potential gunman ask the question.

Also, I don't hear about inner city schools with metal detectors being places that get shot up. Perhaps this is another thing that can be done at more rural schools.

We can't disarm America even if there was the political will. There are just too many guns to do that.

DK

[dooberheim]

Another thing you don't hear about is shootings at gun ranges. Here you have a high proportion of "gun nuts", most with multiple weapons, and they are some of the friendliest and most polite places around. Coincidence?

DK

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NEOPO', 'y')es we like to kill each other and yeah I dont know why Aaron would state something like that unless it was a ploy of sorts.

[venky]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')erhaps we should compare stats on attempted murder... by any means. What you'll discover is there is little meaningful difference between US rates & other SIMILAR countries

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('venky', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')erhaps we should compare stats on attempted murder... by any means. What you'll discover is there is little meaningful difference between US rates & other SIMILAR countries

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('venky', 'I') think the argument can be reasonbly made that if guns were not so widespread, the gun violence in the US would be closer per capita to other Western societies as they are culturally similar.

[Cloud9]

Let me get this straight. Lorenzo thinks that more restrictive gun laws will make us safe from some idiot intent on committing suicide by police. As I recall, it is a federal crime to bring a firearm onto any school campus. It is a capital crime in all fifty states to kill a child. In most states a person is incarcerated for attempted suicide. It looks to me as though the current laws have the Amish school shooting pretty well covered. Unfortunately, all the chest beating and all the oratory and all the laws passed did not save one of those little girl’s lives. When are you people going to figure out that you cannot legislate safety?

Forget all the theorizing and for a moment let’s look at a real school. Let’s look at the one I have been teaching in for the last twenty years. Believe it or not, the current battery of laws restricting firearms has made us less safe. The guy who teaches next door to me is a retired air force colonel. He has had plenty of security training. The guy in the next building is a captain in the army reserves; he is an M.P. and has returned from his second tour in Iraq. I think he knows a little bit about security too. One of our guidance counselors is a retired New York policeman. Half a dozen other faculty members are either ex cops or ex military. I have ten years law enforcement experience.

This is Florida; many of us have concealed weapons permits. Those permits are rendered useless by current federal law that prohibits all of us from having firearms even in our vehicles. We have two armed guards on campus. Both are very young police officers. In the event of a catastrophe we could triple the numbers of our security force in a heart beat. Unfortunately, the current law relegates our considerable experience to the side lines. Because the current law disarms us, we can only play the part of victim.

If a shooter comes on campus, I cannot save a child. I cannot even save myself.

[Daculling]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', '
')This is Florida; many of us have concealed weapons permits. Those permits are rendered useless by current federal law that prohibits all of us from having firearms even in our vehicles.

[gego]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', '
')
This is Florida; many of us have concealed weapons permits. Those permits are rendered useless by current federal law that prohibits all of us from having firearms even in our vehicles. We have two armed guards on campus. Both are very young police officers. In the event of a catastrophe we could triple the numbers of our security force in a heart beat. Unfortunately, the current law relegates our considerable experience to the side lines. Because the current law disarms us, we can only play the part of victim.

If a shooter comes on campus, I cannot save a child. I cannot even save myself.

[lorenzo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '
')America's homicide rate is not significantly higher than other similar countries. I assue you I don't need a firearm, or any weapon for that matter, to kill you.

[lorenzo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', 'L')et me get this straight. Lorenzo thinks that more restrictive gun laws will make us safe from some idiot intent on committing suicide by police.

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'S')o let's not even go there. The question is: why are you so obsessed with violence? Why are you not interested in making the USA a less violent place?

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'N')o, it will make sure that schoolchildren don't get executed. You see, a bullet comes out of the barrel of a gun at a speed of 1000 metres per second. You can use it to launch such a projectile from a distance, without physical contact with your victim.
That is why guns are so dangerous. Do you understand this?

[Cloud9]

Lorenzo, I just spent a bit of the summer in Italy, a lovely country, really nice people, but I must confess, some of you Europeans are so smug in your self righteousness. It is because of us that you guys are not speaking German today. Why is it so easy for you to over look the 35 million innocent civilians your more civilized states wiped out in the last two world wars? In the last war, you killed nearly all of your Jews and Gypsies. In hindsight, maybe we should have let the Russians have you. Better yet, I couldn’t help but notice that you are being colonized by North Africa. Maybe we won’t step up to the plate this time. If we violent Americans decide to stay out of the mix, you might want to check out the local bazaar. I think they have a sale going on for prayer rugs.

Consider this, at our current rate of freewheeling privately funded homicide, we will have to continue to murder innocents through the next two or three centuries before we can even come close to the record set at Auschwich.

[Loki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gego', '
')
I absolutely believe that the anit gun crowd has emotional and logical problems. I think that their fear of guns has a lot to do with their fear of their own agressive feelings, coupled with feelings of inadequacy in dealing with agression from others. Rather than face the reality that some people have uncontrolled agression, they choose to focus on the tools that these people may select, thinking that this will make abberant behavior disappear and bring about safety. Really the antigun crowd are cowards, because they are trying to eliminate violence by hiding violence itself, rather than face it.

[lorenzo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', 'y')ou Europeans are so smug in your self righteousness