<< guntoting children of guntoting wacko rightwingers might show up and shoot their kids>>
I'm afraid you've finally pushed one of hotbuttons. The number of incidents related to misuse of guns by non-gang, non-drug using whackos is so small compared to the number of legitimate gun owners or of people of faith, that having you sterotype and pigeonhole people in this way is not only offensive, but dangerous. By your definitions, the Pope would be a right-wing whacko - after all, he believes religion should be the basis for the way you run your life, doesn't believe in abortion, etc. However, I doubt you would consider him a gun-toting whacko right-winger. Or are you saying only American right-wingers become whacko? This may also come as a shock to you, but not all NRA members are right-wing and not all right-wingers are NRA members. Not all gun owners are right-wing, and not all criminals are right-wing. This may REALLY come as shock to you, but very few young children actually have reasoned political views. The children of left-wing whacko PETA members or Earth-Firsters don't necessarily run around spiking trees or freeing animals.
Children with emotional problems (they torture small animals, for instance) generally exhibit the problems in obvious ways long before they commit violent crimes against people. We need a way to recognize those early actions and develop ways to deal with them. To put it another way, far more children die from drowning in 5 gallon buckets than die from schoolyard shootings, but I doubt you are advocating the ban of those buckets.
This country has guns since its beginnings (and prior) but gun control never even came into the discussion until after the 1930's. More people were familiar with the use of guns then, and guns were actually more prevalent on a per capita basis. What has changed? Probably the move from rural to urban settings. Also a change in attitudes away from personal responsibility to blaming other people. Maybe even our insistence on immediate gratification and lack of ability to control our impulses. |
