> > > > 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
>
> I have to agree with you. While I also agree with Spider-Boy that the NRA is a bit over zealous about who and what they are defending, I also believe that they are not the only ones to blame. I own guns. Plain and simple. I like my rifles, and I can use them well. But I am also safe with them. My son and daughter both know what they can do, and when not in use they CAN NOT get to them. The NRA protects the freedom of keeping and bearing arms, but the arms the fore fathers meant to protect were slow, single shot, load once every 30-45 seconds rifles. Not 9mm hand guns and sub machine guns and the like. The weapons they talked about were meant to kill food and protect families when absolutely necessary. These guns the NRA protect are, more often then not, manufactured for the sole purpose of being able to kill human beings.
>
> Now I will admit that I appreciate the NRA for keeping my right to hunt as I please open. But I do not support them to the point that I will rally with them when they push their responsibilities for what is happening in our schools off on everyone else.
>
> In the meen time the best I can do is educate my kids and attempt to isolate them from the movies, games, and other influences they may be exposed to. As a parent it is ultimately my responsibility to teach, guide, and try to protect my children from causing, or falling victem to, this kind of violence. I accept that responsibility however much I hate having to.
>
> Drac

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility,
Spider-Man, a.k.a Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

Thank you Dracmais, responsibility is the key.
NRA pushes it off on the media, the media pushes it off on the NRA, but parents are ultimatly the ones who should know what is going on.
In the Littletone tradigy, how on earth did their parents not know their kids were building bombs in the basement. I would have never been able to do that, even if I wanted to. While my parents respected my privacy, they also considerd a family a social thing and would never let me spend to much time alone. They knew about and were interested in my life, that was really important. the problem is we can say people need to be better parents but we arn't going to be able to fix every family across the nation. Teachers can catch some troubled students, but they can also get in trouble themselves if they are wrong (acousing a good parent of neglect or abuse can hurt a teachers reputation of record). So that means we have to make it harder for the children we miss to do these things. I feel that is were gun control comes in.

Spider-Boy