The Virginia Tech shooting tragedy a few hours from our home has raised questions. One of them regards guns. I saw an article devoted solely to the purchase of the weapons used, questioning recent legislation that allowed for the higher capacity/speed of ammo used by the shooter. Then I checked my email and read this by Douglas Phillips, of Vision Forum:
"Third, the worst response to school murders that our politicians could make would be to further disarm the American citizenry. The heavy death toll may in part be attributed to past legislation making it difficult for citizens to carry side arms. If even one of the students in that university had been armed, Cho Seung-hui could have been stopped. A strong case can be made that in a violent society like our own, it is the duty of every Christian man to be armed such that he is ready, willing, and able to come to the immediate aid of his neighbor in the face of the ruthless behavior of lawless men. We have one of two futures — a police state full of regulation and controls, where only the state and criminals have access to guns, thus leaving most women and children defenseless to evildoers, or an informed and well-armed population, which is, to my mind, the surest safeguard against lawless men."
(Keep in mind this was one side paragraph in a longer - and good - letter on God's purposes and providence. I'm taking Phillips out of context a bit.)
What do you think?
As a person living in Canada where we have much more stringent controls on firearms, we have had our share of school shootings as well. That seems to indicated to me that gun control that is so often advocated after events such as this will not stop them.
ReplyDeleteFYI, in Canada hand guns are prohibited weapons which means only a very small number of people can legally purchase them, but it seems that the gangs in our large cities, the drug dealers in most of the country, and the criminals in general have no difficulty getting them.
One of my first thoughts on this shooting was would this have continued as far as it did in a state like Texas where many people carry concealed hand guns? I somehow doubt it, but I am open to the thoughts of others.