<p>I think the way to honor the millions of victims of gun violence- including these students and families who will never forget this, despite what is on the news next week, is to use this incident as a catalyst for change.</p>
<p>I can understand the thinking that goes behind wanting to arm yourself, but if you carry a weapon, you are always thinking, even subconciously that you might kill someone today.
That seems deadening to me.</p>
<p>I haven’t read this yet- but by all accounts it should be read by everyone who is interested in what it is to be human</p>
<p>Dalai Lama:
""Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us.</p>
<p>When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities, and so on. When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace. And there are ways in which we can consciously work to develop feelings of love and kindness. For some of us, the most effective way to do so is through religious practice. For others it may be non-religious practices. What is important is that we each make a sincere effort to take our responsibility for each other and for the natural environment we live in seriously."</p>
<p>"If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.</p>
<p>If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.</p>
<p>If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.</p>
<p>If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.</p>
<p>If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.</p>
<p>Lao Tzu (570-490 B.C.) "</p>
<p>"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. "–Martin Luther King, Jr.</p>
<p>I love those quotes NSM
It also comes back to education
education brings choices- to people who may feel they have no choice
When we see more opportunity for ourselves and our children- life becomes more precious.</p>
<p>It’s a societal problem, but hardly the worst. The murder rate in the US peaked in 1980, and is now about 40% lower than it was then. The propagation rate of news has increased, however, and we hear about it a lot more. I couldn’t find data for colleges specifically, but a 2005 Department of Justice report does not list murder among collegiate violent crimes. I can only assume that the occurrence rate on colleges has been so low that it wasn’t statistically notable. One probably-questionable source said “one murder on a college campus every ten days.” With nearly eight million college students in the us, 3 murders from the college community a month is a low number – a murder rate about two-thirds fewer than the country as a whole. By comparison, alcohol abuse led to over 1,700 deaths in 2001 on college campuses, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Nearly 700,000 people were assaulted on college campuses by people who had been drinking heavily.</p>
<p>Cold comfort to those who knew someone killed, or to the families, or even to those who care, but I think you’d get a lot more positive effect in colleges by focusing on campus alcohol use than on national gun control.</p>
<p>^^ Not only that, but one can make a bomb, and harm many, many more people in one transaction than any one person can harm with the most sophisticated automatic weapons. And, the ingredients to make a bomb are readily available in various retail locations. And that’s just one example… </p>
<p>Bottom line, someone intent on doing massive harm is going to find a way, regardless of what laws are passed.</p>
<p>More preschoolers are killed by gun violence, than police officers in the line of duty.</p>
<p>Id like to see gun shows shut down, the manufacture of cheap disposable weapons eliminated and removal from private citizens ownership of semi and automatic weapons.</p>
<p>Beer can be served with a nice plate of nachos and it isn’t hurting anyone-
A gun has only one reason for its existence.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the argument that this or that has more effect.
To me that is like saying " well, I had a really nice brioche from Le Fournil yesterday, but that completely went against my " no white flour" agenda, so I might as well bag the whole thing"</p>
<p>I pick my battles- just like with my monetary donations. I can’t possibly donate to every cause that I think is worthy. I doubt even if Bill Gates is able to do that. I choose what things I want to be involved with. I put my time and energy hopefully in a way that keeps me motivated by showing progress occasionally.</p>
<p>Im disappointed that a few are apparently discouraged from similar efforts, because of feelings like * it just isn’t enough*, it must be very frustrating to feel like you aren’t making a difference.</p>
<p>However I do believe that there are many ways we can make a difference- and I am not going to belittle anothers efforts</p>
<p>And yet alcohol kills 500 times more college students than guns do. Sounds like guns aren’t very effective at their only reason for existence. All I’m arguing here is that hardly anyone is good at understanding risk. Compared to a lot of other things, guns just aren’t that dangerous, but they are vivid and sensational. </p>
<p>I find your cavalier dismissal of 1700+ campus alcohol-related deaths per year kind of disquieting. Nachos or not.</p>
<p>Alcohol deaths…generally the kid is killing himself not pouring alcohol down the throats of innocent bystanders. If the shooters in all these instances would just kill themselves it would be somewhat easier to accept.</p>
<p>In honor of both the victims at Blacksburg and the recently lost writer himself, I am reminded of Kurt Vonnegut’s opening to God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater:</p>
<p>“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’"</p>
<p>Longfellow wrote this poem on Christmas, 1864 while nursing his son who had been seriously wounded in a civil war battle.</p>
<p>" I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet the words repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men. </p>
<p>I thought how as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll’d along th’ unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men. </p>
<p>And in despair I bow’d my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”</p>
<p>Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.” </p>
<p>'Til ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men! "</p>
<p>One statistic does not negate the other. Both drugs and guns are bad and together they are disasterous! We may never be able to ban either, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to enforce drinking age laws or eliminate the legal possession of automatic weapons by anyone but the police. We need to find ways to discuss these issues w/o polarizing and insulting each other.</p>
<p>I see no problem in owning a gun. What has to happen is make sure that only people who can legally own a gun can. Now, I know some may say that this kid legally purchased his gun, which is true, however people like this are outliers and they will do what they can whether they can legally purchase firearms or not. If we could eliminate all guns in the US, 100%, i’d be all for it. But we cant, and as long as those who wish to do harm can get a gun, I want the ability to do the same thing in the hopes of defending myself.</p>
<p>I grew up around guns, they were used to hunt. I see the need to hunt deer to curb the population. Deer accidents cause many deaths every year. My Dad and brothers were trained and very careful about how they handled & stored their guns. Unfortunately people like my Dad and brothers are not the issue. I wish that there were a simple anwer to this complex problem.</p>
<p>I agree Sarahsmom, I grew up around guns and am very trained in their use. However I always worry about the person that isn’t trained. The fact of the matter is that there is no 100% win-win solution to this problem.</p>