Shoot the Messenger

Several months ago, I wrote this blog in response to the recent shootings at Virgina Tech. I knew at the time it was my emotional response to a tremendous, national tragedy. I didn’t expect everyone to agree with me; in fact I know there are some members of my family and close, close friends that don’t agree with me. But I was a bit surprised some time later to receive a response from someone I am guessing just happened across my blog and chose to share their viewpoint – that I was wrong, “plain wrong". I immediately sat down and wrote a long, very long, response. However, my kids pointed out to me that this was a family blog and that it wouldn’t remain so, if I kept in all the f-bombs and profane name calling. So then I thought better of it and didn’t publish the entry. I thought about it again this week when I heard about a shooting at a school in Delaware. Then I got to thinking, why is it that I shouldn’t speak my mind about what my “commenter” said. Why should I have to censor myself? I don’t! So here goes albeit without all the f-bombs and other name calling (mostly). Indulge me or come back another time, it is definitely your choice.



Anonymous:

Where to begin?

First, the presence of gun ownership didn’t stop a crime “millions” (your number, not mine) of times any year. Mathematically that just isn’t possible. If you assume that it happened millions as you say, using 2 million times (you used a plural so it must be more than 1, I used 2 but I could have just as easily used 1.25 or 1.5 or even 1.75, all plurals) that would be over 5,475 instances per day. Are you saying that television news isn’t reporting a phenomenon that occurs 5000 times per day? I just don’t believe that but let’s say it is true. Could you blame them? There would be no time to report anything else if they spent entire newscasts reporting the kind of activity you claim happens every day at the volume you claim. Also I would think the kind of story you are talking about, a “good over evil” kind of theme, would be eaten up by the news agencies. Especially in the current climate. “We aren’t going to let the bad guys get us down” kind of mentality.

Secondly, in not one of the instances reported on the website you cited was a crime “prevented”. The crimes had already happened; the appearance of the gun by the civilian just added a new dimension to the already occurring criminal activity. It didn’t stop the crime from happening. The criminals in each case didn’t turn tail and run, most of them were killed. What the civilians did was take the law into their own hands and prevent the criminal justice system from doing its job. Having systems in place to deal with criminal activity is what separates us from the animals, that and the ability to accessorize. In addition, the interjection of guns in this kind of case could just as easily have led to the killing of the civilian or an innocent passerby. How heroic.

This website cites several of these “civilian pulls gun on criminal” stories which it claims were not reported on by the press. I looked up several of them and they were reported in the mainstream media. Certainly you don’t claim that the Baltimore Sun is a fringe publication? Not carried on the national television news? Maybe so but perhaps there is a reason for that. I come from California, close to a city that has loads of criminal activity, murders several times a week. I often heard about these types of cases on the television news or in one of the two different newspapers I read every day. I doubt you heard about any of those specific crimes in your neck of the woods in Texas. Not because they weren’t reported, they just were reported as local news because most of these types of crimes are only of interest to the people in the local area.

Incredibly, the website you refer to tries to bolster its case for a media conspiracy by pointing to decisions made by the television news networks not to air people jumping from the World Trade Center after September 11. It claims that the decision not to show people jumping to their deaths prevented the public from knowing the entire story and somehow lessened the resolve of the American people in the war against the terrorists. Those news agencies did report that people jumped out of the buildings, they chose not to show film of people doing it. That is quite different than not reporting the story at all. I don’t need to see the film to know it happened. I have personal knowledge that it did happen. We all knew it happened, in fact several of the main stream media print outlets did print pictures. I recall several very disturbing pictures in Newseek and Time. I am sure there were others. Perhaps you only get your news from television - broaden your horizons and you might be surprised at what you read.

Additionally, I am not going to comment on your remark about the origin of gun control laws. It is just stupid and trying to bait me into a much different discussion. Actually by including that little tidbit, it gives me a clearer picture of who you actually are and the type of person you are. Pathetic.

Finally, my blog is a place where I recount the happenings of our lives in London and sometimes offer my opinion. It is not political or supposed to be controversial. I am probably as narrow minded on my side of this issue as you are feeble brained on your side. I never said that there were never any instances of citizens protecting themselves with weapons in the face of a criminal activity - that would be a ludicrous statement. What I said was that there weren't an abundance of those stories and I stand by that. When I wrote that entry I wondered how long it would be before someone would put forth the exact arguments you direct me to. I just didn’t realize it would take more than 4 months. What happened? Did you need help with the big words?





Whew!!!! Okay I am done now. (Taking deep breaths) For my regular visitors, thank you for your patience while I indulged myself. And for bonus points, name the movie that gave us the quote: “The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.”