> > I guess by now you all have seen on CNN, or elsewhere, about the 13 year old boy who shot some kids at the Fort Gibson Middle School. Fort Gibson is less than 20 minutes from my house. This is a little too close to home for me. I have 2 kids in school and I don't even want to think of it happening to them. Talk about a shock to hear. Fort Gibson is a very small town, with a population of less than 10,000. If it can happen there, I guess it truly *can* happen anywhere.
> >
> > Drac "Still a bit shocked by the news" imas
>
> I still remeber hearing about Littleton, I have an Unlce with three little girls who lives near there. When is Congress going to wake up and relise guns are far to easy to get in this country. When some one goes nuts in England they go nuts with a knife, you can hurt maybe five people before a cop will get you if all you have is a knife.
>
> Spider-proguncontrol,theNRAisagroupofparanoidgun
> freakswhocaremoreaboutthererighttoshootdeerwith
> automaticweaponsthantheydoabouttheyouthofthis
> nation-Boy

Lest we not overlook the media's role in youth violence. I'm sure all of you have seen the commercials for video games currently on the market. It' seems that more and more, every game is very violent and graphic in nature, even now the timid Mario now has a game in which 'all of your favorite characters get to battle it out with each other'. Not to mention that most every t.v. program and motion picture portray guns as a common occurance. I cannot convey how disturbing it is to see your 2 year old (she's now four) daughter drop her dolly on the floor and exclaim "She got shot." It's simply not right.
There are too many parties responsible for teaching our children that guns and killing are common and socially acceptable. Or at least that's how some are appearently interpretting the messages they receive. And why? What's their motivation? It all boils down to one common denominator: money. Show killing-> sell movie tickets/video games/television time-> make more money.
How backwards is a coutry that shows bloody killing on television, yet nudity is R rated. How is it that as a young kid, you're allowed to pick up a gun, handle it, and get comfortable with it, but you have to reach a certain age before it's okay (notice that I didn't say acceptable) view nudity. And even then it's done in discretion.
The glamorizing of death and guns in the media need to be stopped quickly, or there won't be anyone left to watch them.

I'm moving to Britain, where things are a touch more logical.

Tra "When I was in high school, people would gasp at even the *thought* of someone having a knife at school. -Guns? -never happened" nio