Open Discussion: 2nd Amendment

While I'm still waiting to hear that the shooter was a 'Christian' (even moreso now that we've learned he's from South Korea which has a huge Christian Fellowship) especially since some details of the shooters note has been released... terms like "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans". While I'm still waiting on that score, what initially escaped me was the inevitable assault on the 2nd Amendment. BenT was first in my ear with that, but it seems the Drive-By's and their adherents are all putting forth a renewed assault on our right to keep and bear arms. A whole host of people out there, including Rosie, are talking about more gun control. So the question I'd like to ponder and open up for discussion is this:


Could stricter gun control REALLY have prevented the Virginia Tech massacre, assuming Cho Seung-Hui was a man determined to kill?

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I'll begin by saying-- No, I do not believe stricter gun control in this nation would have prevented a determined Cho Seung-Hui from acquiring weapons and ammunition to attack a college campus, and commit wholesale slaughter upon members of its students and faculty.

Just look at Japan, which has perhaps the strictest gun control in the world. Shootings are almost unheard of in Japan, yet just yesterday the Mayor of the city of Nagasaki was gunned down by a member of a "criminal" organization.

From the Associated Press...

TOKYO — The mayor of the Japanese city of Nagasaki was shot to death in a brazen attack Tuesday by an organized crime chief apparently enraged that the city refused to compensate him after his car was damaged at a public works construction site, news agencies reported.

The shooting was rare in a country where handguns are strictly banned and only four politicians are known to have been killed since the Second World War.

Mayor Iccho Ito, 61, was shot twice in the back at point-blank range outside a train station Tuesday evening, Nagasaki police official Rumi Tsujimoto said.

One of the bullets struck the mayor’s heart and he went into cardiac arrest, according to Nagasaki University Hospital spokesman Kenzo Kusano. Kyodo News agency and national broadcaster NHK said Ito died of his wounds early Wednesday.

Tetsuya Shiroo, a senior member of Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest organized crime syndicate, was wrestled to the ground by officers after the attack and arrested for attempted murder, police said.

What's equally crazy (to my mind) is the idea that limiting the magazine capacity gun owners are allowed possess. Even had Cho Seung-Hui been so constrained, the very fact that he was wearing a vest loaded with ammunition and additional clips should clearly illustrate that here was a man who was determined to use as much ammo, and kill as many debauched and deceitful charlatans as he could.

Limiting the round capacity of clips for gun owners puts the gun owner at a disadvantage when, say, three armed men break into his house at night, forcing the home owner to protect his family and fight off three attackers, who are similarly armed, with an 8 or 9 round clip.

No one in their right mind advocates private citizens owning uzi's or high-powered sniper rifles... or cannons. But to preserve the 2nd Amendment, which recognizes the need for an armed citizenry, we must not curtail, to the point of making void, the American citizen's right to keep and bear arms.

Let's look at Japan again. Very few citizens own a hand gun, and they are almost all in law-enforcement. Law-abiding citizens are not allowed to own firearms. But that didn't stop a member of an organized-crime syndicate from acquiring one and using it. If gun's were severly restricted in this nation, does anyone honestly believe that law abiding citizens would be any safer from the criminal elements? Does anyone honestly believe criminals and gang-bangers would turn in their guns and revert to rocks, clubs and knives should hand-guns be outlawed?

Virginia Tech's no-gun policy is partly responsible for the number of deaths on the Virgina Tech campus yesterday. All it would have taken was one or two deaths before some life-loving student or teacher drew down on Mr. Cho and saved perhaps a score of lives. That's pure speculation, sure, but anyone who wishes to argue that legal gun owners are not trained in their use is way off the mark. 80% or more of gun owners know how to use their weapons.

I don't know what the answer to curbing gun violence is, but I know we can't do away with the 2nd Amendment. The answer lies somewhere between strict control and complete anarchy, for it's clear our present system has flaws. But the banning of guns and limiting the size of clips is not the answer. Especially in light of the fact that all this talk is occurring while emotions are very high. There needs to be time for healing and rational consideration of the events, and possible remedies to preventing such an occurrence again-- which, realistically speaking, is impossible short of complete confiscation, ionvolving door to door searches, and strict searches of every import container, parcel of mail, as well as closing the borders, both north AND south. Even then there's no guarantee.

Remember, the two greatest instances of mass murder on American soil were perpetrated by the use of fertilizer, fuel oil, box cutters, and passenger jets-- Oklahoma City and 9.11. NOT handguns. Let's all take a deep breath and think before we act.

That's my peace... what's yours?