New York Times Apr. 3, 2005 12:00 AM
Paul Bucher, the district attorney for the Wisconsin county where a man
opened fire in a church service last month, killing seven people and himself, has one answer to the deadly mass shootings around the country
in recent weeks: more guns.
"The problems aren't the guns, it's the guns in the wrong hands," said Bucher, a Republican who recently announced his candidacy for Wisconsin
attorney general. "We need to put more guns in the hands of law-abiding
citizens. Whether having that would have changed what happened is all speculation, but it would level the playing field. If the person you're
fighting has a gun and all you have is your fists, you lose." ********************************
Michael Moore makes the point in his "Bowling for Columbine" that Canada has a per capita gun-ownership ratio equal to America's. Yet, the Canadians don't go around using their "equalizers" like the Americans do. Now, why would that be?
I think Moore puts his finger on the answer when he hints that Canadians have health care and a safety net which they can more or less depend on. The Americans have a culture which lauds a kind of narrow individualism, the kind which is promoted by the likes of the Republican DA quoted above. On top of this, the Americans in say, Detroit, don't have the safety net/national medical care as the Candadians across the river in Windsor do. Thus, Moore walks from house to house in Windsor checking to see whether it's true that these Canadians leave their homes unlocked. Do they feel more secure than say the people of Detroit?
They DO! He goes from unlocked door to unlocked door.
So, more guns in the right hands as the Wisconsin DA suggests?
Yes.
How do you get guns into the "right hands". Provide a leftist safety net to the society as a whole?
I'd say so. Sound more effective to me than the Detroit solution : provide more armed cops on the streets to keep people imbued with rightist, social-darwinistic fantasies from using their "equalizers".
Stop promoting the notion (from whatever official authoritative source) that narrow individualism is the way to promote human freedom from the "fear your neighbour", indeed, your own family members syndrome?
Methinks, the answer to that one is yes.
Best, Mike B)
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