Posted: Sunday, December 30, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 7:04 pm, Thu Dec 27, 2012.
We again are in the midst of a knee-jerk reaction to the multiple killings. The weapon used was an assault rifle and the shooter also had a handgun. Now, there is a hue and cry to legislate bans on weapons again.
We as a society need to stop and think. We allow someone to operate a weapon that is known to be a bigger killer than guns and we allow a child to use it. The weapon is an automobile. We allow a child of 16 to take a test and then allow that child to operate a weapon. Think the automobile is not a weapon?
There were more people killed with an automobile last year than were killed with weapons in the United States. We allow people to drive after drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana. Yes, allow, as most of the DUI cases are pled down.
I was a police officer for 33 years and never ever saw a gun kill a single person, not one. I have, however, seen where one person was killed by another by using a gun or a knife or whatever was handy. I have seen more people killed where an automobile was used. What has not been heard is the indignation of the thousands of lives lost on the highways by the super-killer car.
We need to realize that the gun or the car or the knife or anything else has never killed someone. People kill people, the means used could be a stick, brick, gun, car or whatever may be handy. So it seems logical that if we legislate weapons, then automobiles, knives, clubs, sticks, whatever should also be legislated. Should we ban weapons or enforce some sort of control over them, then crooks will have them but citizens will not. That solves nothing.
I feel the cause of multiple murders, no matter the means used, is the human. Unless someone knows how to identify a person who has the potential for violence of any kind, we still are going to have the problem. Let's face reality, people kill people.
Robert White
Pueblo West
Posted in Tell it to the chieftain on Sunday, December 30, 2012 12:00 am. Updated: 7:04 pm.
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