Thanks all for this spirited discussion.
No doubt the good Dr. has his heart in the right place. However I must weigh in on several points:
Countries that are awash in firearms are also plagued by firearm related injuries.
Not exactly. This does not take into account many third world nations where waring factions battle each other year after year.
Everyone looks at and interprets the data to support their point of view. My point of view is that having this many guns around makes us all less safe, not safer……It's interesting- everyone complains about the fact that we have too many lawyers around (til they need one, anyway) and a lot of folks think that having fewer lawyers around would reduce the number of lawsuits. This line of reasoning doesn't seem to apply to guns, though.
The effects of legal guns are not about interpreting data anymore. The hard evidence points to the fact that fewer crimes are committed where the law abiding citizen is allowed to bear arms.
(I know a few lawyers I’d like to shoot). However this is comparing apples to oranges. In our world of “laws” unfortunately the lawyers have the upper hand in making the laws (and also have some of the most powerful lobbiest in Washington). Sadly “Tort Reform” failed a few years back and we continue to live with our horrendous system of law suite “self perpetuation”.
I too am shocked over what happened last Monday. I used to travel to Blacksburg, VA. My heart and condolences goes out to the families and friends who lost loved ones in this tradgic incident.
Yes to some degree “counciling” can be a “feel-good” politically correct band aid to those affected, but it can also be necessary to those severly affected. The real problem is how do you reach those who are truely socialpathicly disturbed and who generally refuse to get help or acknowledge that they have a problem.
“The gun control movement in this country should never be taken seriously until the they tell us just how they plan to get the guns out of the hands of the criminals.” Neal Boortz.
