Crazy people have been around for a long time and they do not need firearms to carry out mass casualties. 1927: the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history. The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, USA, on May 18, 1927, which killed 45 people and injured 58. Most of the victims were children in second to sixth grades attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history. The perpetrator was school board member Andrew Kehoe, who was upset by a property tax that had been levied to fund the construction of the school building. He blamed the additional tax for financial hardships which led to foreclosure proceedings against his farm. These events apparently provoked Kehoe to plan his attack. On the morning of May 18, Kehoe first killed his wife and then set his farm buildings on fire. As fire fighters arrived at the farm, an explosion devastated the north wing of the school building, killing many of the people inside. Kehoe used a detonator to ignite dynamite and hundreds of pounds of pyrotol which he had secretly planted inside the school over the course of many months. As rescuers started gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb inside his shrapnel-filled vehicle, killing himself and the school superintendent, and killing and injuring several others. During the rescue efforts, searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of unexploded dynamite and pyrotol planted throughout the basement of the school's south wing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster
There's the problem - YOUR Canadian media has you brainwashed to believe that guns are everywhere in the US, etc. Their and apparently most of Canada's liberal views are that handguns are bad and have no positive use- therefore, they will only put in print the stories that strenthen their views - and also which by the way - will sell lotsa copy due to their sensationalistic nature. You are - to put it simply - one of the sheeple.....
Actually, on matters relating to the US, I watch your own media. Canada's "sensationalistic" nature?! You no longer know which way is up, do you? (Do your shoulders feel the radiant warmth?)
The US's media is the same - regarding their views on guns, so there's no difference which you watch. My apologizes for assuming that you watched only Canadian media. I never said anything about Canadian media in particular sensationalizing these stories. The STORIES - Cho, Columbine, etc, are sensationalistic by their very nature. Perhaps YOU don't know which way is up? Granted, many of these tragedies could be eliminated if guns of all types were harder to acquire. And it will be a never-ending debate on where to draw the line. But the media - on both sides of the border and across either oceans- will NEVER report a story where a positive use of a gun for protection/stopping a violent crime from happening in the first place because ...... there's no story there, no sensationalistic happenings, and therefore no headlines, no way to sell copy. AND it goes against their political views...... I have a positive story to tell - my sister kept herself from being mugged and possibly beaten up, raped, who knows.... by simply pulling her .38 from her purse and holding it down alongside her leg. Stories like that will never be reported - you see the difference? I think you're the one with his head in his nether regions if you don't admit both views have their validity. And the sheeple, the non-thinkers, wherever they reside, will just go with whatever the latest opinion they see on the tube....
Perhaps there are far fewer "positive" gun stories to tell. Surely you know the old saw that one definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome. Look at the level of gun crimes in your country. For some reason, your rampant gun culture does not seem to be solving your growing problem. Evidently, far too many people want to be gun-toting rugged individualists and they have the legal right to do so. You guys keep this up and, I'm not kidding, you will see yourselves descending into a third world lifestyle. It's already present in your gang-infested neighborhoods. Just let osmosis do its work, slowly but surely. I'm not suggesting that the US is the only first world country facing such problems, however, it seems to be among the worst and yet you guys are wearing your Clueless badges proudly.
WHAT???? Canada's sensationalist media? Are you joking? This is coming from an American? I will guess that you've never watched a Canadian news broadcast. During the Vermont tragedy, the CBC refused to broadcast repeated images of the killer and the phone video and stills of the events. There was a big debate about it on national radio here this past Sunday. Most agreed that we don't want or certainly need to see these things repeatedly. Compare and contrast that to your news services. Sorry Haroki, but that's just absurd. Countries with gun control have way less gun violence per capita than the U.S. The problem isn't a sensationalist media which is brainwashing us poor Canadian sheeple. There are plenty of links to the U.S. DOJ numbers in this thread - I suggest you click on a few of them. Your fellow 2nd Amendment advocates here are positing a bunch of other theories to explain the levels of gun violence in the U.S. But none of them has ever tried to claim that there is no problem and that it is non-US media that are lying about these levels. I have asked repeatedly for some indication of how many times a civilian uses a gun to protect him or herself from violence, since this is one of the foundations of the gun lobby's claims re: free access to guns - we need to be able to defend ourselves. My guess is that out of the 10,000+ gun deaths in the U.S in 2004, some infinitesimally small number were attributable to this type of self-defense. Unfortunately, I will again have to include a disclaimer - I am not necessarily for the complete abolishment of private gun ownership, or even private handgun ownership. This kid walked into a gun shop and purchased a gun then did it again a month later. He was a red-flag case if there ever was one. There needs to be a way to make sure that after the diagnoses he had, he is not EVER able to walk into a gun shop and buy a gun. That is it. Period. That's the kind of gun control I am talking about - common sense gun control that even 2nd Amendment guys (the rational ones) would agree on.
I understand your point of view. In fact, I agree that the US is becoming more third world. Of course, so is Canada. But we connect the dots differently. If I am going to live in a country that is increasingly third world and polarized, don't you think I would value having the ability to defend myself, my property and my loved ones even more? It's easy to say, well, get control of the gangs and inner city violence. For a lot of reasons, mostly due to the fact that these cities tend to be governed by liberals, that hasn't happened and it isn't likely to happen. For your information, it's illegal in the US for the military to be used for domestic law enforcement. It's a basic rpinciple designed to prevent oppression. National Guard units can be called out for emergencies, but their use is also restricted in law enforcement.
Let's try this again in "traderspeak." Laws are to a legal system what rules are to a trading system. To work properly, the laws/rules need to be cohesive. I am genuinely pleased that your sister was able to stave off an assault, but let us not take this fortunate outcome in isolation. Let's put it into perspective. Say you had a trading system that managed to yield good results, except that it caught a few notable bad trades. You could possibly introduce a few rules to the system that would have prevented the unfortunate outcome. However, say that those additional rules now resulted in a whole bunch of other trades being compromised to the detriment of your overall performance. Can you see how rules that prevent a few isolated trades but caused substantial havoc in your overall performance may not be in your best interest?
Then someone should tell the taxpayers living in the gang-infested inner cities that they are being "protected" from oppression with their tax dollars. I'm just thinking "out loud" here, but perhaps a state of emergency should be declared and the matter dealt with resolutely. Of course it is easier said than done, but NOTHING is getting done. Yes, Canada has its share of problems and its laws are far too lenient. No one is blameless. But we're talking about you guys here. As for your second amendment, let's put it into perspective. Your constitution was drawn up at a time when the US was the equivalent of a third world country. If I am not mistaken, slavery also found its way into your constitution. But as your country grew up, it got smarter on the slavery issue. As for the second amendment, you guys are no longer a third world country (for now). You're in the big league. Hell, you ARE the big league. Time to take off the training wheels.
Here's the bottom line T-Dog, gun control is ineffectual. Some of America's most violent cities ALREADY have handgun prohibition. Chicago has banned guns since the early 90's and yet still routinely has 600 murders a year. Jamaica has strict gun control. Enough said. I've owned a gun (or two) for years but rarely carry it on my person. Twice though by faking possession of a gun (the old prone index finger in the pocket ruse) I've avoided armed robbery attempts. Once while unarmed I was carjacked by two gunmen. Scary shit. There's no penalty that will persuade criminals to stop being criminals. If capital punishment doesn't deter how the hell is a fine or a few months in jail for mere possession going to deter? As AA says, why in this day and age would anyone in their right mind disarm. Maybe in 1920's Des Moines but in 2007 Miami? I don't think so. Down here people frequently ward off attackers. Not the best promo for the NRA but just last month a gang in Palm Beach County raided a card game and killed three people. The card players began shooting back and wounded two of the assailants. They were arrested only because they had to seek medical treatment. Police said that without the rebuttal gun fire the robbers would have killed everyone at the game.