By Antonio D. French
Filed Monday, April 16, 2007 at 11:59 PM
One day after the National Rifle Association, the nation's leading gun lobby, ended its annual conference here in St. Louis, the eyes of the world are on the State of Virginia, where a man armed with a gun murdered more than 30 people today.
After a week of pro-gun press releases pandering to the NRA crowd, Governor Matt Blunt today issued an executive order for all flags at state facilities will be flown at half-staff for the Virginia Tech victims and their loved ones.
"Melanie and I extend our thoughts and prayers to all those who lost a loved one in this senseless tragedy and to everyone at Virginia Tech," said Blunt. "I ask Missourians to join me in praying for those who lost a family member or friend in this terrible act."
Just last week the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 257 which ensures that no Missourian should be denied "possession, transfer, sale, transportation, storage, display, or use of firearms or ammunition during an emergency."
10 Comments:
I'm speculating that the young man was feeling helpless and hopeless and that, like Columbine, he gave warning signs to those around him.
It's shocking but not surprising given that we live in a culture that normalizes violence and is full of control freaks. There is also a dearth of love and compassion for people who are unknown and/or different (as evidenced by many conservative diatribes posted on other threads here). In addition, ordinary people spend so much time texting and IM-ing each other that even if someone were face to face with this troubled student, they wouldn't be able to see it in his expression and hear it in his tone.
4/17/2007 1:50 PM
Snead, I'm sure by now you've heard about the papers the student wrote and the many urgings he received to get help.
But what do you do when the person refuses to get help? One need only look at the homeless around you. Most are there not by choice, but there are some that are there simply because they refuse to help themselves.
Add some of the loosest gun laws in the country to hopelessness...well, I think it was just a long fuse that was lit.
Banning gun ownership isn't the answer, but neither is what they have in w. Virgina or what we have here with legistaors overturning the voter's wishes.
4/18/2007 10:14 AM
Snead, you incredibly pompous ass. There is no way to connect the dots between this tragedy and the state taking over the school district. The minute that you come down out of your ivory tower and sniff the oxygen at ground level; you will realize this.
4/18/2007 1:26 PM
I didn't write anything about SLPS or gun control. I'm suggesting that even if people did care they wouldn't know what to look for or what to make of it if they saw it.
Trouble, thanks for making my point more clear. But, since you brought it up, I think that people can only be bullied, controlled and neglected so long before someone gets hurt. I think that SLPS students and their families are going to suffer if Slay, Blunt and Co. get their way.
Morris, I've read that he had been involuntarily hospitalized. As is common with mangled care these days, he was probably discharged too soon and without a discharge plan.
The school can consider themselves blameless until you consider that an intervention might have included expulsion for stalking unless he was getting help. Students are placed on probation routinely in schools.
4/19/2007 8:46 AM
==There is also a dearth of love and compassion for people who are unknown and/or different
(as evidenced by many conservative diatribes posted on other threads here)==
Now you are being too cryptic.
No apology extended.
4/19/2007 10:42 AM
TRouble said...4/19/2007 10:42 AM
Now you are being too cryptic.
No apology extended.
Which part of what I wrote is too cryptic? We might be able to communicate better and come to an understanding if you asked questions for clarification.
You did effectively demonstrate my point: I wrote something you didn't understand or didn't like and your response was an attack on me personally rather than on what I said. In fact, there was very little in your response that is connected to my 4/17/07 post.
Also, I don't remember asking for an apology.
4/20/2007 8:40 AM
If I am wrong, I will always apologize.
I see your post as a sideways swipe at those that disagree with you. You have concentrated your postings on the state take over of the school district. Those that disagree with you, are listed in your posting as a cause (maybe not THE cause) of the great pain and suffering, as relating to, one man's killing spree. In my book, that makes you a great pompous ass.
Therefore, no apology.
4/20/2007 12:28 PM
TRouble said... 4/20/2007 12:28 PM
"If I am wrong, I will always apologize.
I see your post as a sideways swipe at those that disagree with you. You have concentrated your postings on the state take over of the school district. Those that disagree with you, are listed in your posting as a cause (maybe not THE cause) of the great pain and suffering, as relating to, one man's killing spree. In my book, that makes you a great pompous ass.
Therefore, no apology."
This is all conjecture and assumption.
It also appears to be a little distorted. How can I take a "sideways swipe" at people who disagree when no one had posted yet?
Contrary to what you state, I have in fact posted on other threads, here and in other forums that didn't have to do with SLPS.
Also contrary to what you state, when I gave feedback to another blogger that I thought their posted statements were "cold hearted", it was my opinion. The blogger in question reacted rather matter of factly compared to you, a third party. My opinion still stands, that people who are cold hearted toward others who are different or unknown has an adverse effect on all of us. As another example, last week I witnessed someone in a nice pickup at a stop light mocking and degrading a guy who was holding a cardboard sign asking for help of some sort. It was a sickening display.
My previous response to you is that instead of refuting my opinion with your own observation of how people react to those different, you easily form an opinion about me as a person. Someone who is unknown to you outside of a few posts.
Again, instead of opposing my ideas with something of your own that is convincing, you resort to a simple judgement of me as a person.
How sad. And, you are wrong about me.
4/21/2007 9:59 AM
Next question then. How much money did you give to the gent with the cardboard sign? Any?
As long as you are not willing to admit that you are trying to pin the guilt of one man's killing spree on those that you disagree with... Well, that is sad.
4/22/2007 8:57 PM
TRouble,
It is a societal problem. I thought I was pretty clear about that. In order to defend that opinion I have to give personal observations of people around me. So, no I'm pinning the shootings on any one person or group. Having said that, each of us would do a service to society as a whole if self-examine. We need to find out how we might be enabling such disparity that leads to the isolation of those who desperately need contact with others.
4/25/2007 7:47 AM
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