Tragedy in Virginia
I usually do not do posts on news outside of Santa Barbara County but today's tragic news uncovers wounds locally that may have just begun to heal....
CNN has some good coverage and video of what happened today. I am sure I speak for all of us in extending our sympathies to the families of the fallen.
CNN has some good coverage and video of what happened today. I am sure I speak for all of us in extending our sympathies to the families of the fallen.
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 4/16/2007 08:41:00 PM
Our Community Guidelines ask that you use the Blogger/Open ID login or the
more private Name/URL option when making comments. Comments using "Anonymous" will not be published. For more info, see choosing an identity.
9 Comments:
It truly is horrifying.
However, the saddest part of it all is on an average, 33 people die in Iraqi every other day. And we seem immune to the pain of those lives lost.
Any life lost in a horrific act is heartbreaking news but it seems to make all the difference when one incident happens to "us" and the other happens to "them."
My question is how come people can't buy medication for post nasal drip without having to show i.d. and having your name go onto a national database and yet, in some states, one can walk in a purchase a gun with no waiting period, no i.d. and no tracking.
Oh...I forgot. Meth makers don't have the lobbying arm that the NRA has.
Cookie Jill,
I think the answer is that post-nasal drip medication is not guaranteed protection under the Constitution.
Fortunately or unfortunately, that's the way the cookie crumbles in the US.
There is no local soul searching at all... particularly concerning Nicolas Markowitz, and all the locals who knew what was going on then. No soul searching about Jennifer San Marco. Kendra Payne's killer got off nearly scot free, and we'll see what happens with Jake Boysel.
Smug Santa Barbarans can't step outside their lotus eating to perceive that there are a whole lot of awful killings that go on around here, and we just couldn't care less.
Malcolm Robbins is still alive, and you just about never read about Thor Christiansen.
This is not an issue of soul searching. This is an issue of the availability of guns to every wingnut who wants them. There are class issues, alienation issues, and economic issues in Europe but there are not mass shootings there. The difference is that there are gun control laws in Europe. That is the one and only difference. Soul searching will not solve this problem; only legislation to control the ownership of guns will.
There are definitely mass shootings in France... I lived near a village that had one. The global media didn't glom onto it.
Seems to me England has had its share too.
Europe has a much more regulated media.
I do think availability of guns is an issue, but here in Santa Barbara we are in serious denial about our killers.
Kendra Payne, Jake Boysel, and Christopher Finney were not killed by guns.
Firearm homocide rate in U.S. = 3.72/100,000
Germany = 0.22/100,000
France = 0.44/100,000
Belgium = 0.6/100,000
Switzerland = 0.58/100,000
Scotland = 0.19/100,000
Netherlands = 0.36/100,000
Spain = 0.21/100,000
With regared to the firearm homocide rate, Europe is doing something better than we are.
Those statistics are not for mass shootings; most U.S. gun homicides involve one victim.
Mass shootings occur everywhere; Eckermann, you had written that they did not occur in Europe.
I stand corrected. Indeed, mass shootings happen in many places (probably not everywhere). By letting my emotions leak out through my fingertips, accuracy suffered and my point was lost. People in the United States are murdered by firearms at very much higher rates than in European countries. I was unable to find mass shooting statistics, but I would bet that there are more mass shootings in the U.S. than in Europe. I would also agree that the reasons for this are more complex than the mere availability of firearms. However, easy access to firearms is a major contributor to firearm related homocides and suicides.
It seems ABC has a bit to learn about the Internet -- they had a story that the VT killer purchased ammo on eBay. Problem is, you can't buy ammo on eBay....sensationalism? or ignorance....
Post a Comment
<< Home