Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Original post from alternate blog...I'm posting it here because it's sparked a little controversy. I've also posted one of the comments to said entry and my response. Enjoy...and discuss, if you wish.

Guess what, suckers? I have nothing good to say.

Haha...you kept reading! You kept reading!

A few observations:

1. People don't know how to use Evite or Myspace Event Invitations. Apparently, it's very difficult to click "yes" or "no". I'm guessing this is due to that extra click per day being inexplicably painful. Too painful, in fact, to allow someone to know if the people that they've invited to an event worth expending copious amounts of energy creating an internet invitation for what is to be a hella (yes, "hella") good time, will actually be showing up. It's not as if someone hasn't been guilty of not responding to invitations herself...Oh, she has...but now it's something that's affecting someone adversely, and in the name of hyposcrisy, someone's a little perturbed.

2. In light of the Virginia Tech shootings, it's remarkable how soccer moms from the suburbs are suddenly frightened of Ly Chung Ho that lives down the street...who until now made GREAT Asian food, but as of yesterday, "always seemed a little suspicious". Sheesh. Calm the hell down, people. Be sad and all, but don't hate the foreigners, figure out something about our ridiculously lax gun laws. Oh wait...you keep one of those in your little Upper Arlington cookie cutter home right next to your bed with the linens you purchased at full price from the Ralph Lauren store. Guns, that is. Not foreigners. I'm assuming soccer moms don't keep dirty foreigners in their nightstands.

3. What's with people who are completely delusional about their talents. Statement, not question.

4. All of my closest friends are deathly ill. I will take credit for this gladly.

5. I like pancakes.

6. I seriously, seriously, have the cutest dog EVER.The End.

Lost ME Boy
Alrighty Sarah... you do realize that even more stringent gun laws wouldn't have helped in this situation, don't you...or do you really believe what you said? To purchase a pistol, one must go through a seven day waiting period in which a background check can and is completed on the first day. The handgun laws make a person wait seven days, due to fact that a handgun is easy to conceal and a "Wannabe First Time Offender" would have to wait seven days to actually come to their sense before doing antyhing rash.

Now, to purchase any type of firearm, a background check is done before the firearm is sold. If a person has NO criminal record, or record of mental illness, they are sold the firearm. They will not sell a firearm to just anyone.

Now, if Little Johnny So-and-so has "Flipped his wig" and plans on doing soemthing crazy, can anyone truely stop him? If he's never done anything, prior, to prove that he is emotionally unbalanced, the sad answer is...."No".

If little Suzie Sweetheart just got dumped by her boyfriend and is emotionally unbalanced can she easily swerve into the oncoming traffic lane at 60 miles an hour and take out a family of four? Sadly..."Yes". Who could've stopped her? (And don't tell me it's not the same. You can kill plenty of people if you're willing to go down with 'em) Some people are just screwed-up and there isn't much we can do about it if we're not willing to lose a lot of our rights as well.

The real question is.."Why did NO ONE NOTICE that this individual was NOT emotionally balanced BEFORE all this happened?" Did his parents have NO CLUE? Friends, other family members, etc., etc. THAT'S WHAT IS CRAZY. Not one person knew ANYTHING in regards to the "Shooter's" state of mind. He was that detached from the world?

We live in a selfish society. It's all about "Getting mine", "What I want", etc. Taking away our rights will not change how people in today's society are treating , or not treating each other. Why don't we go there first.
Posted by Lost ME Boy on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 7:36 PM

Sarah

Right...it's the old, "Guns don't kill people...I do." Perfect.

I am guessing, however, that the death toll would have been a little lower had he used a knife. And, since we seem to be having some confusion, I'm talking about something small...not a light sabre, which we all know can kill masses of people, especially when combined with Jedi Mind Trick.

Here's the thing. Europeans are flabbergasted right now about America's obssesion with firearms. In Britain last year, only 46 deaths were because of guns. Forty six. In one YEAR. If I do my calculations correctly, our little Virginia Tech boy did 69% of that damage in just two hours. Here in Columbus, a small child was killed today due to a gun going off accidentally. Sure, people can kill people in any old way, but there aren't many weapons out there that can do the mass (and accidental...not too many people mistakenly slice their jugular while dicing onions) destruction that a gun can. I'm not saying people shouldn't have the right to purchase guns, but seven days and some paperwork is not a stringent enough precaution.

I'm not discounting your notion that somebody should have caught that What's-His-Face was unbalanced long before anything awful happened. You're absolutely right on that count. It's one more instance of our society marginalizing those in serious need of help. But the gun thing...maybe it's because you're from Kentucky?

That was a JOKE. Don't shoot me

5 comments:

Professor P said...

Guns don't kill people. Sam Peckinpah does.

Actually, I have no problem with gun laws. It's the bullets that need to be regulated. And I'm actually about half-serious about that one.

Guns are the cross to bear for a society born of revolution. Modern day politics isn't helping any. As much as it pains me to say it...and it does, quite a lot, actually...the NRA does have a minor point. We can license and restrict guns until we're blue in the face, but that will do nothing more than keep the business underground. Only the black hats will have them -- and then things get interesting. And not in a good way.

Hell, it's bad enough our police get routinely outgunned by 14 year olds carrying the latest in street howitzer technology.

As a faithful citizen of this country, I hold dear the right to keep and bear arms. However, I also have the common sense to know that I should not own a firearm, and so I freely choose NOT to possess one. I know enough about guns to be educated regarding their purpose and their use, and I was a very good shot; Uncle Sam said I was. Still, I'm not comfortable with having a firearm in my house...yet. If I ever move next to a South Korean dry cleaners, I'll think twice about that.

Should I have the right to own a firearm? Yes. Should I have the right to purchase a death-dealing MAC-10 that spits out about 450 rounds a minute in 30 round clips, with the removable trigger guard and serial numbers filed down? Uh, don't think so. Man, what would you use that for? That's one really Rambo'd-up deer, don'tcha think? Anything that's still alive after 30 rounds has been put into it is tougher than it has any right to be.

The problem with my argument is that this kid took out 32 people with two PISTOLS. Sort of blows my argument out of the water. So, I can request a collorary to this rule: how about no handguns to crazy legal immigrants? Is that good enough?

The next sound you hear is that of society, realizing that we've got a LONG way to go to return to the realm of the 'functional'.

Anonymous said...

One can only assume that you are refering to yourself with number three.

The Naked Redhead said...

Well, yes. I was referring to myself. Mostly with how talented I feel I am at straightening my hair. It still stays pretty wirey, no matter how hard I try.

Point 3, sub-note a was going to be, "What's with people who are delusional about how snarky they are when they post witty ANONYMOUS comments." Nice. Very classy.

Oh wait, I'm not insulted, because I'm delusional about how awesome I am to begin with, so of course, you couldn't possibly be serious. Wow. I feel better now.

Ben said...

Hahaha! Too funny!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sarah!
As someone who grew up in a hunting family (well, OK a family that likes to shoot Faygo cans off a fence post and belong to the NRA) I would really love to know how these kids get ahold of these guns!! I mean, even as a 27 year old I wouldn't be able to get my hands on a gun owned by anyone in my family. There are 6 locks and some code that only my Dad knows. And even if you get in there the bullets are...well, no one knows where they are...except Dad!
-Emily
I also like pancakes!
Mmmmmm...Faygo!