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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (53610)	8/31/1999 1:59:00 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Gun violence is a symptom of a systemic problem in our society. A problem encompassing many elements related to lack of good parenting, law enforcement, criminal justice, a steady diet of violence in movies, television, video games and the hesitation of school systems to to teach moral rights and wrongs. To this I would add a liberal bias toward vilifing the gun instead of the shooter, so that children don't grow up learning that the gun is simply a tool which can be used or misused, but grow up believing it is something evil and anti-social, which makes it both feared and craved. I know very few young boys who aren't at some point in their lives attracted to toy guns, if not to the real thing. When we make guns forbidden fruit (as some friends of mine have tried to do) they simply make them more attractive. I think one of the reasons Switzerland has such low gun violence despite the large number of weapons is that, with every man (every adult?) serving in the military, they have a very realistic understanding of guns and what they can and can't do and should and shouldn't be used for and are trained in gun use and gun safety. Our military, especially since the end of the draft (even though I demonstrated against the draft in the 60s and refused to accept a draft card), I think, speaking in a broad generality, tends to attract those people who are more likely to be attracted to violence and the misuse of weapons. Our military isn't viewed, as I understand it is in Switzerland, as simply a normal part of society, but as a macho minority.