Very Heavy -(Venting)

[steve-o]

Ok I'm going to get serious for a bit (but only a little while) at the risk of bringing you-all down..
I'm presently at work- about 10 miles from Virginia Tech. My wife taught there, I used to work in their corporate research center, my stepson works there presently.
I guess most of you have heard the news.
I can see someone taking their own life -"goodbye cruel world" and all that stuff but it really pisses me off when they have to take 32 people with them. What's the fucking point? I guess this is hitting close to home--a lot worse is going on over in the car-bombing war zone over where the US troops are and shouldn't be. My stepson is ok thank God.
Hopefully nobody you'all know was at Tech yesterday and got hurt or worse.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Everybody here is going on with life as if nothing happened, except for the services at 2:00. Life goes on...The undauntible human spirit.. Good for us, I suppose..
It was really a hell of a shock though-

[Jem]

Steve-o

My thoughts, and i'm sure the thoughts of all the members of this Forum are with all you folks out there. This is a terribly tragic incident carried out by a callous coward for which there is no excuse.

Words can in no way help to comfort what the families, friends and local communities must be feeling at this terrible time or what you will have to do to come to terms with this horrific incident in the long term. We can only say, in the hope that it's some small consolation, that we are thinking about you all.

I've being involved in precision target shooting in the UK for many years and as such I understand that the NRA in the States is an incredibly strong political force. I was at the Shot Show in Las Vegas a couple of years ago and was in a state of disbelief for quite some time about how easy it is to hold handguns over there, to say nothing of the calibres allowed etc.

I guess the repercussions of this tragic event will rock it's way right through the political foundations of your country, but the question is, will anything change? I don't have enough details about the facts to be able to comment further on this, but hopefully, eventually all the people touched by this tragedy will be able to start rebuilding their lives and try to make some sense out of it all.

I guess there's loads more I would like to say, but i'm right out of words for now.

God bless you all.

Jem

Ok I'm going to get serious for a bit (but only a little while) at the risk of bringing you-all down..
I'm presently at work- about 10 miles from Virginia Tech. My wife taught there, I used to work in their corporate research center, my stepson works there presently.
I guess most of you have heard the news.
I can see someone taking their own life -"goodbye cruel world" and all that stuff but it really pisses me off when they have to take 32 people with them. What's the fucking point? I guess this is hitting close to home--a lot worse is going on over in the car-bombing war zone over where the US troops are and shouldn't be. My stepson is ok thank God.
Hopefully nobody you'all know was at Tech yesterday and got hurt or worse.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Everybody here is going on with life as if nothing happened, except for the services at 2:00. Life goes on...The undauntible human spirit.. Good for us, I suppose..
It was really a hell of a shock though-

[dave]

Lets hope gun laws get tightened up after this.

[Astroguy]

Lets hope gun laws get tightened up after this.

I am not going to get into a debate about gun laws but unless you took away all the guns which is impossible laws will do nothing but un arm the lawful people.

[LaserLover]

Sorry to hear about another human tragedy but until the US changes the constitution and tightens up the guns laws this kinda thing will continue to happen.
Ever see the documentary movie by Micheal Moore entitled " Bowling for Columbo "
He made some very good points in that movie and really pissed off "Moses"
Charlton Heston is a gun loving lunatic.

Nuf Said

[buffo]

Actually the movie is called "Bowling for Columbine", and paints everyone in the midwest as a bunch of gun-toting idiots. (In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.) The movie's original premise (gun control) is reduced to a farce by Michael Moore's heavy handed treatment. But that's food for a whole 'nother topic that doesn't have anything to do with lasers.

I'm with Fred on this one. I don't feel like debating gun laws - especially here. But gun control would not have stopped Columbine, and it would not have stopped the Virginia Tech tragedy either.

And for the record, while I agree that Charlton Heston is a gun-toting lunatic, I'm glad he's out there fighting for my right to own a firearm - even though I don't own one. I may want one some day. I'm also glad that the folks that pushed the Brady bill through are out there fighting for tighter gun control. They keep the industry honest.

One thing I've learned is that you need those passionate people that argue on the fringe of *BOTH* sides of a debate. They protect the middle, which is where I'm at. (In fact, you might say that they help define the middle.) And the middle is really where the bulk of society wants to be anyway.

Adam

[clandestiny]

I'm with Fred

clandestiny

[pbolger]

[QUOTE=guns don't kill people, people kill people.[/QUOTE]

Therefore the US has a higher proportion of homicidal maniacs than other countries...

Sorry for being flippant, but you can't deny that a gun is a pretty efficient tool if you decide to go out and kill people - and a gun has no other use.

I'd rather face a homicidal maniac armed with a box-cutter - unarmed - than face one armed with an M-60 - even if I had one myself.

I'm in Australia. We had a massacre in 1996 which was carried out with a semi-automatic rifle (35 dead). These guns were banned straight afterwards, and we haven't had anything similar since.

That's not to say that we won't have something similar again, but the Port Arthur massacre would have most probably been prevented if Martin Bryant hadn't been able to legally buy the gun he used. He was (and is still, in prison) an antisocial misfit who had no friends, never mind criminal underworld contacts.

[steve-o]

Thanks you all for your thoughts.
I'm not for gun control, I do believe that a personal profile to do with mental soundness and state of mind (psychological background check) should be in order as part of buying a gun, but that would probably violate some part of our Constitution.
For those of you in other countries that didn't hear, a guy had 2 pistols and opened fire on people on a college campus- 33 dead and over 20 injured.
http://www.cnn.com/