Michael Perelman wrote:
> Each senseless act of front page violence is followed up by repressive
> legislation. What do you think will be the followup of the shootings in
>
> Colo.?
>
Reminds me a lot of the Stockton schoolyard massacre a few years back when Clayton Purdy a homeless drifter with a history of psychosis and ties to extreme right organizations opened fire on Asian children killing over 20 I believe. The automatic rifle he used had swastikas engraved on it as was the words "Hezbollah" and "PLO". I don't even want to speculate why people would engage in these kinds of barbaric acts. It does signal something DEEPLY WRONG with American society though. The conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day with this one as they did with the Stockton massacre.
Regarding some of the other posts on guns, a gun gives someone _real_ power not imaginery or symbolic power. If ten people are in a room and one has a gun, that one person can compel the others to do almost anything. Being armed does carry some kind of detente effect I think. For example, if people working in abortion clinics were armed, some nut might be less inclined to walk in there and shoot the place up.The situation is a lot different when you know you might be going out feet first. There is no causal link between gun ownership and crime. In Switzerland ,I believe, every male is required to have a gun yet Switzerland has a low crime rate. Being outgunned does not make that much of a difference in war. History is full of examples of armies that won despite being outgunned. One might think of the USSR vs. the Nazi's or Napoleon at Waterloo, the Cuban, Vietnamese, Nicaraguan, Salvodorean and Yugoslav revolutions. A high ranking Nazi once said to a Swiss official "we are twice your size and have two times the amount of soldiers, we could crush you in a war". The Swiss replied "Well we'll just have to shoot twice."
BTW, isn't Charlton Heston the head of the NRA now?
Sam Pawlett