Post-Gazette Editorial – 10/5/06

This page was last updated on October 5, 2006.

Guns R U.S. / Even the Amish suffer in a shoot-em-up culture; Editorial; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; October 5, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Everyone has demons, but not everyone uses a gun to exorcise them. On Monday, Charles Carl Roberts IV shattered the calm of an Amish community -- and disturbed the conscience of a nation -- by shooting 10 little girls in their rural Pennsylvania schoolroom. Five of them have died.

“Sticking to the script used by recent mass murderers who hate themselves, Roberts killed himself before authorities could get to him. Americans were left with the question we’ve become too used to asking -- why?

“For the third time in a week, two disturbed men and one 15-year-old turned quiet schools into killing fields. Long-harbored grudges were reported to be at the heart of all three shootings.

“In two cases, the men left rambling suicide notes full of bizarre complaints that only deepened the mystery of their actions. It’s too late to dissect the evil in their hearts, but there are important questions we as Americans should ask ourselves.

“Why, in a society as violent as ours, do we allow practically everyone who wants to own a gun unfettered access to them? Why is it easier to buy a gun than to get a driver’s license?”

[RWC] By all accounts, the killer of the Amish girls was a great father, husband, person, and was a law-abiding citizen. Unless we ban all gun sales – the true goal of the PG I suspect, what controls would have kept guns out of Mr. Roberts’ possession?

“Second Amendment fundamentalists will insist that the right to bear arms trumps all. They sleep well knowing that violent shootings of innocent people are inevitable, when so many legally purchased guns are in circulation to settle a grudge or send a tragic, misguided message.”

[RWC] “The sleep well …?” This is a smear like others. If you support the Second Amendment, you don’t care that “innocent people” will be killed. This is similar to the smear that if you support our action in Iraq, you are indifferent to the deaths of servicemen and servicewomen.

“The nation’s founders enshrined the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights. They also had faith in the common sense of the American people to protect themselves from tyranny of all kinds. In our twisted devotion to the literal meaning of the founders’ words, are we sacrificing public safety on the altar of guns for all?

[RWC] “[T]wisted devotion to the literal meaning of the founders’ words?” This is why the appointment of judges is so important. When a judge doesn’t have a “twisted devotion to the literal meaning of the founders’ words,” the Constitution becomes meaningless. If you don’t have this “twisted devotion,” you can twist the “founders’ words” according to your personal policy preferences.

“If only we could ask those who were murdered this week and last week with legally purchased firearms.”

[RWC] Are we to assume these nuts would not have found some way to carry out the murders? Are we to believe a 32-year-old man armed with knives could not have killed these kids?