Bob’s post about guns reminded me of something I ran across last week…
Trying to figure out how on Earth that guy managed to kill 32 people and wound many others without
anybody stopping him (a subject I will come back to because it still puzzles me; I’ve put together some notes on it) caused me to pore through news stories in the first day or so, looking to find out what he was armed with. The fact that he did not have an automatic weapon made me all the more curious.
The Wall Street Journal told me over breakfast last Wednesday that he had some sort of Glock 9mm — the AP says it was a Glock 19 — and a Walther P22, so I looked those up on my PDA. And I gotta tell ya, I was really touched by what I found.
Of all the outpourings of sympathy from across the country, what could have been more heartwarming, more comforting, than this, posted at GlockWorld.com?
TGSCOM, Inc is appalled by the events at the Virginia Tech campus on April 16th, 2007 and we hope that you will join us in thoughts and prayers to bring some comfort to the families of the victims. We advocate the responsible and legal use of firearms and are saddened that there are some who will pick up a firearm with the intention of harming an innocent human being. A fund has been set in place at Virginia Tech to help the families of the victims of this unthinkable crime. Donate here.
How about them guys at GlockWorld.com, huh? Not only do they "buy and sell Glock (TM) and Glock (TM) accessories at some of the lowest prices on the web," but they have feelings, too. If I ever buy a Glock,
I’m going to these fellas. By contrast, the actual, official Web site of Glock Gesellschaft mbH seems cold, unfriendly. Not to cast aspersions, but kind of Teutonic, you might say. Maybe that’s why the U.S. Army went with the Italians; I don’t know. (Some enthusiasts still advocate for Glock, while there are reports that some Defense types talk about going back to the old .45, so it’s all in flux.)
I didn’t get any warm fuzzies from Walther, either. I’m sure they make fine pistols, though. But their PR needs work.
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Obviously, you haven’t been reading the VT thread. It’s another failing of liberalism and our public schools.
We need to arm our teachers and students plus drill sixth graders in small squad tactics.
Why? Well, the Israelis do it and we have to be prepared for all the collateral gun violence when we encourage our society to be an armed free-for-all. Settling frat rumbles with Glocks and releasing road rage with a spray of bullets is a small price to pay for guarding our individual liberties from the gubmint.
If you buy any firearm over the Internet or newspaper advertisement, it has to be shipped to a retailer licensed by the ATF, and the purchaser must fill out paperwork for state and federal background checks and waiting periods.
This killer at VA Tech would have been denied purchase from 1988 through 2006 under Virginia’s system, but a privacy law took effect in 2006 which shielded his court-ordered incarceration in a state psychiatric center from being transmitted to the NCIS database.
In previous generation, not brainwashed by media and schools to fear gunmen and to submit to violence, this unskilled killer would have been rushed by students while he spent 90 seconds trying to reload one of his magazines with fresh cartridges.
Moderate Guy, I find it disgusting that you would blame the victims for this horrible tragedy.
You know quite well that I am not even criticizing the victims, much less blaming them. I suspect such a prevarication on your part stems from a strong desire to comment on the shootings matched by a weak ability to do so.
I do blame liberals, progressives, socialists, and other social weaklings who enabled this killer.
Terrorists seek soft targets filled with unarmed, young, old, and undisciplined people. Modern liberal policies have created many such places, and shielded the criminally insane from the stigma of being included in the police databases, as required by BATF Form 4473, which asks if the prospective firearms purchaser has ever been judged mentally ill or defective and bound by a court order.
Liberals are in control of states and nations with LOW murder rates. It’s the gun nuts who allow easy access to deadly firearms and the results are predictable, mayhem across this great nation. As with virtually every issue those places with liberals in charge do much better than their conservative counterparts. Guns don’t kill people, conservatives do.
Moderate Guy, don’t you neo-cons have anything more origianl than to constantly play the terrorist card. It’s all about fear and control with you idiots on the right. Frankly it’s not selling well anymore. The American public is starting to recognize how the fear driven policies of the right have done nothing to make us safe but have only driven the country backwards for 6 looooong years. I’m sick and tired of neo-cons constantly politicizing every tragedy that occurs. If you want a co-conspirator in the VT disaster just look in the mirror.
How can disarming the people reduce crime?
The laboratories for liberalism are Washington, DC, Detroit, NY City, Boston, Baltimore – where good citizens are disarmed, thugs own the streets, and the ruling class has bodyguards.
Crime is low where the people are civilized – Northern Europe and its colonies. Crime is high where the people have not been civilized, which is most of the world, and the ghettos in Europe and America populated by these savages.
Since England has disarmed its cities in the last 15 years, its violent crime rates have risen over 400%, surpassing New York City. Crime in African cities is one notch below the violence in Baghdad.
That’s why the Founders designed America as a weak federal system, so the states could experiment. Successful measures, like the instant background checks developed in Virginia and South Carolina, could be adopted by all the states and the federal authorities. Failures like gun confiscation in the big cities controlled by liberals can be avoided by intelligent voters and political leaders.
MG writes:
“Crime is low where the people are civilized”.
Is that why the South Carolina crime rate is so high?
Yes, that is true of crime rates EVERYWHERE. The vast majority of violent crimes committed in SC, the USA, or Europe are by very low-class, low-intellect native people, or those from relatively primitive societies who have settled there without assimilating the superior culture of restraint and manners. Just look at the racial and demographic makeup of the criminals. This VA Tech killer is a good example – his chosen culture was violent fantasies of Korean cinema and US video games, rather than the civilizing influences of church, Scouting, and the VA ROTC cadet system.
As a former Boy Scout I can tell you for a fact that organization has it’s share of violence issues. It’s sort of a quasi-military organization and hazing was common. And what exactly does the VA ROTC teach? It’s a military organization that focuses on killing. As for church, read your old testament some time if you really want to learn about violence. The truly peace-loving organizations in this country disdain violence against everyone and even animals. Maybe you should attend a PETA meeting or a green peace rally and see what a real peace organization is all about.
Any peace-loving organization which teaches submission to thugs is a farce and a fraud.
Having attended college under the cadet system, I know that with rifles in the rooms of over 100 colleges, there were never any incidents of horsing around, much less of using them to threaten the peace.
The Boy Scouts, cadet corps, ROTC and military basic training are about building men through building character. Boys have rough edges on them that are best rubbed off by working together. Letting misfits isolate themselves will only make them worse. The feminization movement has not reduced violence, but only made boys less able to manage their aggression and grow up.
GlockWorld.com does not “Buy & Sell Guns” they just sell guns, the trade of used firearms is dishonest.