heartbreakingly tragic

How else can you describe what happened at Virginia Tech?

My mind keeps going back to Columbine, to those Amish girls being led like sheeps to slaughter. I know there will be a lot of “It’s not guns that kill people, it’s people that kill people” from the media, the gun lobby, the White House. I know that many will try to blame it on video games, on violence in movies and on television.

Nonetheless, the reality is that those students would still be alive if not for guns.

BTW, if you haven’t seen the film Bowling for Columbine, now would be a good time to aquaint yourself with it. I know Michael Moore stacks the deck for the sake of his argument (but it’s an argument I agree with). One example: Moore’s supposition that Canadians don’t lock their doors because they have such little crime — it’s hilarious in the film, but clearly exaggerated for artistic effect.

Nonetheless, Bowling for Columbine is well worth seeing. It shows the absurdity of our hyper-armed society and how it leads to tragedies — such as what happened in Virginia.

Click here to read an editorial in the NY Times regarding this story. It reiterates the point that the lessons of Columbine have not been learned.

ETA: Here’s a short excerpt from the latest update from the NY Times, which details Virginia’s lax gun control measures:

Virginia imposes few restrictions on the purchase of handguns and no requirement for any kind of licensing or training. The state does limit handgun purchases to one per month to discourage bulk buying and resale, state officials said.

Once a person had passed the required background check, state law requires that law enforcement officers issue a concealed carry permit to anyone who applies. However, no regulations and no background checks are required for purchase of weapons at a Virginia gun show.

“Virginia’s gun laws are some of the weakest state laws in the country,” said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “And where there have been attempts to make some changes, a backdoor always opens to get around the changes, like the easy access at gun shows.”

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