I let my family and friends know how things stand when I won't be seeing them for more than a few hours, and I expect to die every day. Too many risks, too many misapplied assets, too many people who want to give bad luck some help to not do that.

I know it sounds morbid, but it makes you welcome even mondays. Even if you still want to drop stupid people in a dry well.

Samhain -

A very reasoned, and reasonable response.

I agree with you completely, and this incident most certainly does not make me wish for more lax gun laws, nor for an automatic weapon in every home (look how well that's worked out for Iraq, for example).

Common sense, reasonable controls. Personally, I believe in "shooter licenses" that require demonstration of skills, knowledge, and stability (much like a pilot's license).

Very well said. Just one more thought - even if you are armed it might not help much in a situation like this. The students and professors in that building had no advance warning of the attack until the gunman opened fire. It was just an ordinary day, still fairly early in the morning. We can only try to imagine the panic that broke out when the victims suddenly realized they were under fire. Even if some of them had guns, how many would actually have managed to shoot back effectively?

Now, with the benefit of hindsight the victims could have fought back, guns or no guns. There was apparently just one gunman. He had to reload, he was shooting at close range and he was basically alone against several hundred people. If just one of the victims had the composure to strike or tackle him, smash him with a chair, fire extinguisher or whatever was at hand it would have ended the situation right away. But we know that didn't happen. Clearly, the fear and surprise was overwhelming. Nobody in that building was mentally in a position to fight back. If they had guns it might only have made everything worse. Spraying bullets at anything moving, causing friendly fire and more unnecessary fatalities. Without a proper mindset no weapon can do any good. And in the modern Western society most people are simply too out of touch with real world violence to react correctly under stress.

I have no TV, but I guess what is certainly said/shown on french TVs.

Yesterday, on a french radio :
- the radio journalist was interviewing another french newsman, living in the USA ; and was accusing the "free" sales of firearms. The one living on your side of the pond replied "well, it's wrong to say firearms can be bought without any control" and explained there indeed are checks and controls.
- one minute after that explanation, the first journalist staded once more time "as anybody can buy firearms without any restriction in the USA ...."

I guess some people have preconceived ideas and won't let them go, whatever you say...


A few years ago, a madman killed 4 or five people, here in France.
The immediate reaction of the journalist on the same radio : "we need new laws, more restrictive laws.."
He did not even know what the laws were, in France, at that time.
In fact, if existing law had been correctly applied, by those responsible for its application, this drama could have been prevented... (the killer was known to be insane, having already uttered threats to his physician + he was no longer allowed to possess the guns he had).

In The Netherlands, the shooting was also front-page news. I want to wish all of the victims and families a lot of strength.

This made me realise that something similair could happen anywhere, even at my own school.

Don't worry Alain, our media is just as bad as yours is. All the news that's printed to fit, and only if it fits their world view.

Well, while we are at it why not extend that to the rest of the Bill of Rights? How about requiring a license to vote? Judging by the results of recent elections we can make a pretty good case for that. How about requiring a person to have a government permit before they can write a letter to the editor? Here's one: let's require anyone who wishes to express an opinion on ETS to at least have a college degree! After all, I have one so it sounds pretty "reasonable" to me. Let's allow the cops to beat confessions out of suspects too. Statistics prove that most of them are guilty anyway, right?

No. The Bill of Rights--including the 2nd Amendment--is there for a reason. A free society is always going to have some individuals in it who abuse that freedom. That is just the price we pay to live in it. But decent, law abiding, responsible, and sane people are still the majority in this country. Placing restrictions on their liberties will do absolutely zero to deter the criminal element.

Armed citizens stop criminals every day. If such mayhem were really occurring don't you think the oh-so gun-friendly press would let us know about it? This myth about "spraying bullets" and "friendly fire" has somehow taken hold in the minds of some, but there is really no evidence for it, at least in the context of gunfights involving law-abiding citizens. Gangbangers are obviously a different story--they don't care who else gets hit. We do.

You have made my point for me. As far as I know there have been zero hijack attempts. It's called deterrence. Stronger doors & an armed pilot have halted the hijackings!

The shoe bomber was just going to blow the plane up but the passengers took him out.

The planes are safer now because Americans have figured out they need to fight back instead of just rolling over for the attackers. I will be very surprised if the terriorists try to use a plane when they attack next time.





There are already laws in place to not carry a gun onto that campus. The law was ignored by the shooter. You can make it illegal to carry a gun anywhere in the USA, but that isn't going to protect your child.

If this guy had not been able to buy that gun in at the store he could have very easily bought it illegally off the street. Creating a "gun free" zone just makes it easier on the shooters as they don't have to be bothered by someone shooting back.

Anti-gun laws have not & will not protect us. Look at the ccountries where guns are outlawed. They still have shootings because the criminals don't care about the laws.

If there was a local private school where the teachers had a gun safe in every room & the teacher was well trained on how to use that gun I would do everything in my power to send my kids to that school - most teachers are there because they love those kids. Look at the teacher who sacrificed his life while his students jumped out the window.

I did that this morning. It didn't scare me a bit, especially when I considered that those people were sitting behing the wheel of what could become a 3000 lb. killing machine. But none of them were trying to kill anyone, intentionally anyways. That's the way it is with gun owners too. For every armed criminal there are hundreds of decent people who work for a living, just like for every psycho behind the wheel there are hundreds who drive peacefully to work every day. Where I live a lot of the people around me legally carry guns. They keep them concealed and go about their business, and nobody is the wiser.