Stirring up trouble

[davidn]

List of things to blame for yesterday

• Computer games


• Virginia Tech University


• Television


• Koreans


• Marijuana


• Rap


• Microsoft


• Computer games


• Immigrants


• Alcohol


• Kim Jong Il


• Radiation


• Wal-Mart


• Fred Durst


• Resident aliens


• Gremlins


• Canada


• Grand Theft Auto


• Marilyn Manson


• PMS


• Fridge magnets


• Computer games

List of things definitely not to blame for yesterday

• The free availability of lethal weapons to the people of a country that doesn't trust its citizens to handle fireworks

I should add (before this entry causes too much trouble) that I honestly don't believe that guns should be banned in America. They're now too ingrained into the society, and outlawing them would make sure that only the criminals could get their hands on them anyway. Nor do I really think that the availability of guns itself was the cause of this. Rather, it was the way that society allowed him to get this mental without ever noticing.

But to be logical about it, the gun probably helped.

Comments

[jenny0.livejournal.com]

Re: availability of guns/gun culture in the US -- Canada actually has a higher number of guns per capita than the US does. "You can't have fireworks, which are designed to amuse, but you CAN have a gun, which has no purpose other than killing" is still pretty stupid, but availability isn't the only issue.

That said, I totally agree that it's unbelievable that people are dragging out computer games and rap music as the culprits YET AGAIN. How about a government that deals with countries that annoy it by invading them? I mean, why bother working your problems out in a reasonable way when you can just blow things up and kill people? I wonder if that could have had an effect on people like this student.

[plette.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's not true. Canada has about 1 million (legal) handguns (handgun ownership in Canada is restricted to police, members of gun clubs, and collectors) whereas the the US has about 76 million (legal) handguns. Then of course there are various semi-automatic weapons which are illegal in Canada but not the US. Not sure how things like hunting rifles would affect the total gun per capita numbers, but those are seldom used on shooting rampages.

Of course illegally obtained weapons aren't factored into these stats, but they tend to parallel them.

Oh, and the murder rate in Canada and the US is roughly the same overall....but the murder rate using handguns is 14 times higher in the US than Canada. But I'm sure the fact that handguns are fairly easily legally obtainable has nothing to do with that...

[jenny0.livejournal.com]

I think the figures that I read took total gun ownership, not just handguns, into account (and I don't think it's surprising that Canada would have more guns owned for hunting), so that would bump the figures up.

I think what you mentioned about the restriction of handguns and automatic guns in Canada is such a good idea - it means people would be less likely to immediately think of, and have access to, guns as a method of problem-solving.