[plug] What do you school-age members think of SlashDot'sHellMouth articles?

[John Summerfield]

> My father, who is in his 60's, was raised with guns.  Of course, he was also 
> free to roam the woods and was not stuck in the city, didn't grow up on telev
> ision and media stress.
> 
> I still don't think the guns are the problem.  They are just tools, to be use
> d or misused.  It's very tres-chic liberal bunny hugger to blame the guns.   

I agree guns aren't the problem: the problem is the availability of guns.

> 
> Also, it would be nearly impossible to remove guns from American society.  It
> 's actually part of our constitution that an individual has a right them.  So

As I recall, the term is "right to bear arms." The problem seems to me the 
interpretation of that phrase. It would not surprise me if it was intended 
to mean that everyone is entitled to take part in the defence of the 
nation. It doesn't seem reasonable to me that everyone is entitled to go 
bunnyhunting with AK47s and such. Makes the bunnies entirely unsuitable 
for the table.


>  since it's not likely that guns will be banned, or unavailable to kids, mayb
> e better to approach the problem from another angle.  
> 
> Maybe simple stress management training.  Maybe cultural awareness and respon
> sibility.  Most Americans don't particularly value education.  Most feel that
>  if a kid goes off, it's not *our* issue, it's the family's.  I look around t
> oday and notice that it's easy to spot troubled kids when they are as young a
> s 6 or 7.  It's harder to devote time and energy to prevent future problems. 

Even if you educate today's six-year-olds (and get them all educated), it 
will still take best part of a hundred years to get it out of the system. 
Until somone succeeds in nailing some responsibility on the NRA and gets 
the American nation to understand that violent people with big guns do 
lots more damage than those with peashooters and baseball bats AND to want 
change, then nothing will change.


-- 
Cheers
John Summerfield
http://os2.ami.com.au/os2/ for OS/2 support.
Configuration, networking, combined IBM ftpsites index.