...with my younger daughter, Kirsty yesterday. We always talk about current events, so of course the subject went on to the awful shootings at the Virginia Tech University.
We talked about the lack of gun control in the U.S. Apparently, one control they have in Virginia is that you are limited to buy only one gun per month! ('Drat, that's only 12 guns a year!' she said sarcastically.)
Kirsty also made the observation that you should only be allowed to carry a gun if you had been shot yourself first.
Although this seemed a tad outrageous, I couldn't really argue with it!
On a more serious note, as I've mentioned before, both my daughters are at University. Just like those poor kids that where gunned down on Monday. My thoughts go out to the parents and families of those students, it doesn't bear thinking about what they must be going through.
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4 comments:
It doesn't really matter what the gun laws are if people want to arm themselves they will.
Guns are not freely available in the UK but we have had similar incidents such as Hungerford & Dunblane. In fact per head of population I reckon there is as much gun crime in the UK as in the US.
In the UK the people carrying out the crime are the only one's armed whereas in the US victims could be armed creating a sort of deterrent.
Mentally unstable people that commit this sort of crime are very difficult to stop.
You are correct our thoughts should go out to the families.
I agree there's not a lot you can do to stop someone who has so seriously lost the plot like this guy had.
Although we have so much in common with the US, so much is very different. I think most people here just cant get their heads around the way the US people defend their right to bare arms so much. But if you look at the history of the 2 countries it isn't so surprising at all. The first settlers to the US needed firearms for protection and hunting for food, in a mostly wild environment, and they had the option of course. I also think they have a distrust of government in many ways, and so are fiercely independent.
I live in the midwest. I learned to shoot a gun by age 6. =0)
Being able to own a gun is very, very important to people here. I can't say 100% why, but I do think it goes back to the way we were raised and defending ourselves against nature, as well as being able to form a militia if necessary. Oh, and then there is the hunting. Have to remember the hunters =0)
One of my earliest memories of guns was when I found a snake on the road at my dad's farm. I ran back to tell him because I thought it looked really neat (I was probably about 6). Turns out it was a Rattle Snake and if I'd been a more curious child I could have been seriously hurt. Dad shot the snake and taught me how to shoot the next day (so I wouldn't be curious about guns and so I would know how to be safe around them).
I will say this much though, I think over my lifetime I have seen a dramatic improvement in firearm safety. There are a lot more courses taught on how to keep safe and I think people are doing a much better job of locking their guns up. Which makes me hopeful that things will continue to get better.
However, if how quickly guns can be bought alarms you...hehe...then the fact that several states have now passed legislation called Conceal and Carry Laws should really frighten you. Basically, the law makes it okay, with a permit, to carry concealed weapons. Yikes!
Thanks for visiting vegasgirl and sharing your experiences. I think I was right when I said the Americans and British have many things in common but there are just as many differences! :)
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