There's been a shooting in an elementary school in Connecticut this morning. Apparently there are multiple deaths, including kids. The school is for grades k through 4.
Please pray for all of these innocents and for their families. There is such evil in our world.
Please pray for all of these innocents and for their families. There is such evil in our world.
This would never have happened if the teachers had been carrying guns. More guns - not less - is the answer.
ReplyDeleteI knew one of you a**holes would peddle your gun-control crap immediately after this horror.
DeleteWe'll be talking a lot in the next few days, about this atrocity and what made it possible.
For now, show some decency and say a prayer for these kids and their families.
I knew one of you a**holes would peddle your gun-control crap immediately after this horror.
DeleteYou were hoping for it, weren't you?
For now, show some decency and say a prayer for these kids and their families.
There is no decency at all in pretending to communicate with a figment of your imagination. Instead of wasting your time with prayer, better talk to real people or write a letter to your congressperson demanding stricter gun laws.
Don't you think, perhaps, that it is the belief that we are untimately unaccountable that provides impetus to this kind of evil?
DeleteIt you're right, and neither God nor Hell exist, then the shooter no longer exists. He never did or will have to account for what he did.
The widespread acceptance of the belief that we are ultimately unaccountable, and of the belief that there are no objective moral laws, makes evil like this more likely.
If God is dead, then everything is permissible.
'Dont you think, perhaps, that it is the belief that we are ultimately unaccountable that provides impetus to this kind of evil?'.
DeleteShort answer;
No.
Don't you think, perhaps, that it is the belief that we are untimately unaccountable that provides impetus to this kind of evil?
DeleteMaybe sometimes it does. But these kinds of tragedies don't seem to happen more often in places with more unbelievers. The vast majority of people would never do such a thing, regardless of their beliefs.
It you're right, and neither God nor Hell exist, then the shooter no longer exists. He never did or will have to account for what he did.
That's right. So what?
If God is dead, then everything is permissible.
No. Then it's up to humans to take care of each other and prevent this kind of misery. Your God obviously didn't prevent this from happening. What difference would it make if the killer is now burning in hell?
It could make a difference if the next person contemplating mass shooting came to believe that he would burn in hell.
DeleteOr perhaps not. Almost by definition, anyone who does this sort of thing is deranged. Deranged people aren't really going to take much notice of Pascal's Wager. Perhaps their deity is Satan, and they're going to be rewarded in the Afterlife?
DeleteDisarming the victims… | Liberal Logic 101
DeleteI'd noted previously that the newly elected Conservative Prime Minister, John Howard, was faced in 1996 with a massacre of 35 people at a popular family tourist attraction by a deranged male shooter (why is it always males that commit such atrocities? Can anyone think of any case where a female did it?).
ReplyDeleteHis prompt response was to institute the world's strictest gun control laws, including a mandatory gun buy back (funded by a levy on income - higher income earners, including me, paid more), a requirement to safely secure firearms and a banning of legal gun ownership for anyone with a conviction for any violent crime, no matter how minor).
And I noted that I feel completely safe in Australia. There are very few places I'd feel reluctant to enter (the immediate vicinity of rivers in Northern Australia being one - but due to the increasing number of salt water crocodiles).
And Michael immediately commented that I'd be feeling perfectly safe, walking down the street, talking in Japanese, were it not for 'gun crazy Americans (not true, Australia was saved by the Battle of the Coral Sea - thanks to the American navy - and finished off by the Kokoda Track campaign in Papua-New Guinea, an entirely Australian effort).
Tell me; what does lax gun ownership have to do with a well trained militia?
I have no problem with reasonable controls on gun ownership. No one does.
DeleteThe issue is that the liberal approach to gun violence is deeply misquided, and tends to worsen the situation, not improve it.
More gun control is not going to help. There are other approaches-- encouraging responsible gun ownership, providing security in previously "gun-free zones" so that victims are not undefended, incarcerating criminals longer, etc.
None of the effective methods are liberal policies. The primary liberal policy-- gun control-- is worse than ineffective, and encourages gun violence by disarming victims and by leaving them unprotected in gun-free zones.
The fact that the elementary school was a gun-free zone HELPED the shooter.
Michael,
DeleteMost civilized countries take the sensible view; no guns, no gun deaths.
Who is going to pay for the cost of having armed security guards in all the elementary schools in America? Are you then going to turn around and complain when your taxes go up?
Besides that, I wonder how safe young children are going to feel, seeing armed security guards in their school corridors, who would probably be the first target for a deranged gunman. Unless the security guard adopts a policy of 'shoot first, ask questions later'.
Or do you mean that school teachers should be allowed to arm themselves? It would certainly cause teachers to keep their distance from their students, in the fear that one would grab a gun unthinkingly.
We are surrounded by security in all sorts of places-- government offices, airports and transport hubs. Government officials and the rich and famous always have security.
DeleteWhy not our schoolkids?
I point out, again, that there is no evidence whatsoever that, correcting for cultural differences, gun control works. Some societies like Israel and Switzerland have ubiquitious gun owvership (actual assault rifles) with very low gun crime. Other societies have very strict gun control (Mexico) and have horrendous gun violence.
The most dramatic reduction in gun crime in the US in the past century was the reduction in the 1990's, beginning in New York City, that dropped murders by 80%. It was by better policing and longer and more certain incarceration.
Liberals opposed it furiously.
Michael,
DeleteAnd Australia (a country very similar to America demographically, like Canada) has very strict gun laws and a low murder rate. Mexico is a special case. The drug trafficking to fill America's hunger for illicit drugs results in a high crime related murder rate.
The perpetrators tend to kill themselves because they're deranged.
Do you really think its a good idea to have to expose young school children armed with guns? I feel uneasy whenever I see security guards (transporting cash) with holstered guns in Australian shopping centres.