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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Guns Don't Kill People

Posted by on Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 2:10 PM

Again at Virginia Tech:

Two people, including a Virginia Tech police officer, were dead after a shooting incident on Virginia Tech's campus in Blacksburg on Thursday, the university said.

 

Comments (18) RSS

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Will in Seattle 1
This is why the 99 percent outgun the cops, actually.

Very sad.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on December 8, 2011 at 2:20 PM
T 2
Waitaminute...they *were* dead??? THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE HAS BEGUN!!!!!
Posted by T on December 8, 2011 at 2:28 PM
3
If the victims only had guns, they would have been able to protect themselves, of course. . .
Posted by seatackled on December 8, 2011 at 2:28 PM
4
No, people kill people using guns. Please get it straight.
Posted by maddogm13 on December 8, 2011 at 2:32 PM
5
@3 And everyone is much safer when people start blasting away at bad guys!
Posted by maddogm13 on December 8, 2011 at 2:36 PM
Cato the Younger Younger 6
This has something to do with gays getting married or serving openly in the military or adopting. Somehow this is the gays fault.
Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on December 8, 2011 at 2:37 PM
Max Solomon 7
people with guns kill people. with guns. it's been awhile since a mass shooting in the most exceptional nation on earth - we were overdue.
Posted by Max Solomon on December 8, 2011 at 2:39 PM
Will in Seattle 8
Actually, it's the bullets that kill. The guns just enable them.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on December 8, 2011 at 2:43 PM
meanie 9
Token comment on the campus gun ban working well.

follow up note on how this was a murder suicide that killed a cop, that happened near the campus ( or just outside ) being fluffed up by news outlets as Virginia tech related.

A bicyclist was killed by a car in kirkland last night, it was an *accident* cause cars don't kill people either.

maybe this was an accident as well? right? right?
Posted by meanie http://www.spicealley.net on December 8, 2011 at 2:45 PM
Sargon Bighorn 10
I don't know why anyone cares anymore. America allows its citizens to carry and use guns. I shed not one tear.
Posted by Sargon Bighorn on December 8, 2011 at 2:49 PM
11
The Mexican cartels aren't smuggling thousands of guns...the ATF and Department of Justice are.
Posted by Spindles on December 8, 2011 at 3:03 PM
12
@10 this is where i'm at. this is part & parcel of american society. there is no path to change it. attempting to change it only hurts progressive causes further, because a large number of people will never vote for anyone who supports gun controls. we are a violent people who love our guns. time to accept that & move on.
Posted by philosophy school dropout on December 8, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Fifty-Two-Eighty 13
BTW, the second dead guy was the shooter (who killed himself).
Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty http://www.nra.org on December 8, 2011 at 5:54 PM
Dr_Awesome 14
And the first dead guy was a cop. If being armed makes one safer, then being a cop should make one safest, right?
Posted by Dr_Awesome on December 8, 2011 at 6:16 PM
Fifty-Two-Eighty 15
What makes you so sure he was armed? He was campus police. He may not have been.
Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty http://www.nra.org on December 8, 2011 at 7:15 PM
Urgutha Forka 16
Guns aren't the problem... our society ignoring and underfunding mental health care and other vital services to those who need them, along with popular media and politicians instilling fear, distrust, and suspicion in everyone. THAT'S the problem. Guns are just a convenient outlet people use to enact violence that everyone should have seen coming a mile away if they'd only paid attention and actually paid to help prevent.
Posted by Urgutha Forka on December 8, 2011 at 7:40 PM
17
Hurray, another argument over guns started with a crass reiteration of the same bullshit line, cuz we haven't had nearly enough of those! Nevermind bothering with condolences for the dead cop or his family, because hey, who cares about him, right? Nevermind actually trying to figure out how to get rid of the guns in the country, because we have no actual shot at ever doing so and we know it. Let's just be smug about our desire for gun control because that will help.

Fuck me like a goat. 16 comments in and 1 person has the decency to even use the word sad. I for one am deeply sorry that this poor bastard was murdered for doing his job. And anybody who went to the politics of the incident before the toll should be at least mildly ashamed of themselves. This is what passes for liberalism these days? We can get up in arms over some supposedly pregnant woman getting pepper-sprayed and losing a FETUS, and not one word for an actual person who was shot down?

His name was Deriek W. Crous. He had a wife. He had 5 children and step-children. He was an Army vet. Now, unless it comes out that he was a wifebeater or child molester or something, we have a stand-up family guy who was murdered in broad daylight by some psycho with either a grudge or a hard-on for random violence. The fact that it was with a gun matters not one whit to me compared to the simple fact that he's now dead, and 5 kids don't have a dad any more.
Posted by NateMan on December 9, 2011 at 5:55 AM
18
Simple, simple facts:

1) A small percentage of people are fucking nuts and can't be trusted to not kill people if they have guns.

2) The easier it is to get guns, the more people will have guns.

3) The more people have guns, the more fucking nuts people will have guns.

There are additional nuances, of course. Guns convey power, and while they help some fearful people feel more secure, they also make sociopaths feel more powerful. They also make violence more impulsive and a lot easier, and a lot more severe.

For the record, I like guns. I like the way they're machined. I like the way the parts fit together and how the mechanisms work. I like taking them apart and reassembling them. But, I also like antique, wind-up phonographs, of which I own a few. I don't own a gun, and frankly, I don't know who I can trust to own one for an entire lifetime without being responsible for losing it (say, to a burglar or robber) or using it inappropriately.

I agree with the sentiment of the Second Amendment, that tyranny confiscates guns and subjugates its citizens, and that this should be avoided. We've moved way past the late 18th century in so many ways, though. Tanks, gas, Predator drones, flash-bang grenades, electronic surveillance, police body armor, audio ballistic location networks. The list goes on and on. A side-arm doesn't protect you from tyranny anymore, sorry. The "free citizen" lost the arms race long ago.

Try to make democracy work. That might stave off tyranny.

As for guns... There are too many damned people who shouldn't have access to them. Accept that.
Posted by Brooklyn Reader on December 9, 2011 at 7:23 AM

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