Re: Please read! Re: columbine
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Thu, 29 Apr 1999 12:24:28 +1000
Thor Cameron wrote:
> My brother also committed suicide. He was 17. shot himself in the
> temple.
> Now, I'm no NRA member, in fact, I'm proud to say that I've never
> fired a gun. I would like 99% of them gone.
> However, taking guns away from people didn't stop the suicides who
> gassed themselves, slit their wrists, hung themselves, etc.
> Nor was murder invented with the first bullet.
> In short, blaming guns for Columbine or suicides ar anything else is
> tantamount to killing the messenger.
Yes, but the issue here is that, like I said, guns have no other function
than to maim or kill. No other reason at all, unlike all the other methods
and implements you mention. Also, the big issue here is one of ease. To die
by any other method is long, agonising and painful. Sitting in a car with
the windows taped up and the gas on requires a lot of premeditation.
Whereas anyone can pick up a gun and aim it at themself - or at someone
else. I'm not saying *all* the people who kill themselves with handguns
wouldn't if they didn't have access to those guns - but what if the extra
time it took to think it over saved one life, let alone many - then it
would be worth it. By the same token, I cannot imagine the Columine killers
doing their job with such efficiency with anything other than a gun.
P.S. to Sarah and Thor - all my sympathy goes out to anyone who is an
indirect victim of suicide. My uncle was another statistic, though the fact
that we were only told when we were teenagers says a lot about the stigma
attached to this problem by society.
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
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