Another problem with ready access to guns is the likelihood that domestic disputes will turn lethal and that suicide attempts are more likely to be carried through when guns are available in the house. Of course, guns are often kept to ward off burglars. This creates another problem - the weapon can be turned against the owner.

I count my blessings that I live in a place where I don't have to have a gun for my safety and can go to and from work with a miniscule chance of being shot. I dare say the students at Virginia Tech thought so as well. But how many of them thought about Virginia's lax gun laws?

To me, freedom from guns is one of my most precious freedoms.

Enjoy your freedom from guns.

It was bought dearly by men, and a few women, with guns.

Like I said, I do enjoy my freedom from guns. The fact that I'm here partly because so many indigenous people were murdered by gun-wielding shooters in the past is not something I'm in a position to rectify. However, the Bush administration is in a position to do something to reduce gun deaths. Although in an election year I don't hold out much hope.

American gun culture is yet another one of those great American institutions that leave the rest of the western world shaking their heads in amazement. Some example of civilised progress the United States turned out to be.

We're entertained by it in cinemas and on telly, shocked by it whenever these mass events happen, and disturbed when it turns up in our kids video games. At the end of the day though, we have to be grateful that we don't have to live like that.

One could say that Americans get the society they deserve.

One could also say that, in the spirit of the "Darwin Awards" (http://www.darwinawards.com - Honoring [sic] those who improve the species...by accidentally removing themselves from it!), the American are doing us all a favour !

Let us know what you think!

A quote from IraqsSlogger today:

"In Iraq, universities struggling to operate in the midst of a war zone have been struck repeatedly by bombings, shootings, assassinations, and abductions that have left behind hundreds of killed and wounded, victims and forced thousands of students and professors to stay away, or even leave the country.
On Monday, the same day as the Virginia Tech mass shooting, two separate shooting incidents struck Mosul University, one killing Dr. Talal Younis al-Jelili, the dean of the college of Political Science as he walked through the university gate, and another killing Dr. Jaafar Hassan Sadeq, a professor from the Faculty of Arts at the school, who was targeted in front of his home in the al-Kifaat area, according to Aswat al-Iraq.
In January, Baghdad's Mustansiriya University sufferred a double suicide bombing in January that killed at least 70 people, including students, faculty, and staff. A month later, another suicide bomber struck at Mustansiriya, killing 40.
Kidnappings of students and faculty are another all-too-common occurrence on Iraq's campuses. Members of the univerisity community have been abducted and murdered for sectarian reasons, or simply held for ransom. At a Baghdad University, one student reported to Slogger that he was abducted by sectarian thugs working in cooperation with the National Guard Forces who were supposed to be protecting the campus.
In January, students reported that violent events had threatened students and that attendance rates at Baghdad University had dropped to six percent.
Earlier this month, the Dr. Qais Jawad al-Azzawi, head of the Geneva-based Committee International Committee of Solidarity with Iraqi Professors said that 232 university professors were killed and 56 were reported missing in Iraq, while more than 3,000 others had left the country after the 2003 invasion."
Puts Virginia Tech into perspective?