Omaha, Nebraska is a big town that acts like a small town. It is in the middle of "small town America." I've been there only a few times because my grandparents live there, but I remember thinking how it felt like a small town, but it was big (about a million people). Yesterday tragedy struck the city, which I'm sure most of you have at least heard about. Here is an article about the guy who killed 8 other people in the mall. Here is some articles that cover the whole story really well. My understanding is that he stole his father in-law's ak-47 assault rifle and used that in the killings. So this is different than a lot of other teenager killer profiles because he had not obtained a gun legally. In some ways this is worse. Now we can't blame the system for how he was able to get a gun, we have to blame his step dad because he didn't hide it well enough. That doesn't seem quite fair.
I've never been one to get into the controversial debate about gun rights. I've never shot a gun (that doesn't make me a woman) and I don't plan on ever owning one. I can understand why some feel they have the right to own one. At the same time I wonder how many times we have to see headlines like those in Omaha. The person who wants to be able to have guns can't account for psychopaths like Robert Hawkins and his ability to get a gun legally or not. That is the problem with guns: they always end up in the wrong hands. They protect us and kill us. I don't have a solution to this.
Do you?
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Omaha
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2 comments:
Do you think things would have turned out differently if a private citizen, a gun owner that was trained and competent, was at the mall at his point of arrival? What if there was somebody there who did own a gun and did know how to use it? I think he would have been stopped. Of course sadly that did not happen. Could that be a potential scenario for proper gun ownership?
I would say that if *more* people owned guns we would be safer. You are correct in stating that they seem to end up in the wrong hands. I think we should push for them to end up in the right hands.
As an aside, I played Halo 3 that night with a guy that was from that city and had been at the mall earlier that day. Scary.
Just creating a conversation. I really don't have answer to this. I don't think there is a perfect answer. There is no way to keep gun owners happy or keep them out of the wrong hands. Prohibition didn't work and making guns illegal wouldn't work either.
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