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Wheelz 
"FWFR%u2019ing like it%u2019s 1999"
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 Posted - 02/15/2008 : 14:54:42
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As a former NIU student who spent many a class hour in Cole 101, I am quite shaken by this latest campus shooting incident.
While there's nothing anyone can do or say to make sense of it, my heart goes out to all of the current students and their families. |
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Whippersnapper. 
"A fourword thinking guy."
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Posted - 02/15/2008 : 15:48:58
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Sorry to heart about yet another campus massacre, but there is something people can try to do about it, which is to reduce the availability of guns in the US.
There is obviously a pattern of students in US universities and schools going gaga and mass-murdering their fellow students and/or teachers.
There's no reason to believe this is going to stop by itself, so either make it much harder for people to obtain guns or accept that another handful of young people will be gunned down every month or so. That's your choice. As long as Americans are prepared to equate the right to form an C18th militia to the right of individuals to obtain potentially lethal weaponry today then, frankly, what do you expect?
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RockGolf 
"1500+ reviews. 1 joke."
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Posted - 02/15/2008 : 18:53:53
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Have to say I kinda agree with Whippersnapper. When some press agency last year listed the Virginia Tech massacre as the year's most important news story, I just rolled my eyes.
Undoubtedly tragic, but really outside of the lives of the people directly affected, it's not in any meaningful sense important. Is it the first time such a thing has happened? No. Clearly based on NIU, it's not the last. Will it have any effect on the political landscape? Sadly, very sadly, no. Americans will continue to allow whackjobs to get access to automatic weapons that have no possible use other than to kill the maximum number of people in the shortest possible time. And no one, absolutely no one, is able to do a God Damn thing about it.
And America will continue to shake it's head and ask why these terrible massacres happen. The answer is because you allow it.
You can start flaming me now. |
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 02/15/2008 : 19:14:31
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quote:
Originally posted by R o � k G 0 1 f
Have to say I kinda agree with Whippersnapper. When some press agency last year listed the Virginia Tech massacre as the year's most important news story, I just rolled my eyes.
Undoubtedly tragic, but really outside of the lives of the people directly affected, it's not in any meaningful sense important. Is it the first time such a thing has happened? No. Clearly based on NIU, it's not the last. Will it have any effect on the political landscape? Sadly, very sadly, no. Americans will continue to allow whackjobs to get access to automatic weapons that have no possible use other than to kill the maximum number of people in the shortest possible time. And no one, absolutely no one, is able to do a God Damn thing about it.
And America will continue to shake it's head and ask why these terrible massacres happen. The answer is because you allow it.
You can start flaming me now.
And here you havc the precise message of No Country For Old Men!
Oh, yeah ... with a slight clue as what MIGHT be done. <hopeful smilie>
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Edited by - BaftaBaby on 02/15/2008 19:15:30 |
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Wheelz
"FWFR%u2019ing like it%u2019s 1999"
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Posted - 02/15/2008 : 19:46:33
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I can't say I disagree with any of these observations...
There's a shitload wrong with the gun laws in this country, and it's not likely to get better anytime soon with the ridiculous influence gun lobbyists have over our politicians. There's a very serious debate to be had over it, but that's not why I started this thread.
To clarify my original post -- There you are, just a kid sitting in class, minding your own business, and out of nowhere you've been shot for no good reason. That's what's senseless, and because I used to sit there in that very same room a few years ago, I'm emotionally attached to this story. I just wanted to put in writing somewhere that I feel deeply for all those affected.
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ChocolateLady 
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 02/16/2008 : 08:27:25
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My heart goes out to you, Wheelz - I know exactly how you're feeling. This is a tragic event and all we can do is express our sympathy - both to you and everyone who was both directly and indirectly injured by this.
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turrell
"Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhh "
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Posted - 02/16/2008 : 16:21:56
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It is a fact that countries with fewer guns have fewer gun related violence.
Unfortunately in the US, guns have been around for so long that even if no guns were produced for ten years we would still have hundreds of million guns on the streets. I know these guns were purchased legally but its not likely to reverse itself at this point in our history by banning guns.
This is not a pro gun statement, mind you, just a sad statement of facts. |
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duh
"catpurrs"
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Posted - 02/16/2008 : 18:22:16
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As there are a number of recreational target shooters in my family who are very fine people, I am not one to jump on the 'outlaw gun ownership' bandwagon.
It would seem to me that if such a disturbed person could not get their hands on firearms, that they might use another weapon such as automobiles, fires, explosives or lethal gases.
I think it would be better if each of us were to become our brother's keeper, even if only to become more attentive and aware of each other in a kind and friendly way. |
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Northern Illinois University
