More Anti-Gun hobbyhorse riders at the corral

Fact - Since 1991, the number of privately owned firearms has increased between 65-70 million and the nation's total violent crime rate has decreased 38%. The nation's murder rate has decreased 43%.

Despite this fact, we still have people like Nettie Bailey of Chesapeake, VA that make statements like

"It is not a crusade Governor Kaine. Anger is a part of the grief process and the parent should be angry with our congress for their error. We have to act now to protect our kids from more mass assualts. We realize that arming our children is not the answer. Enact laws to remove these weaponss from our streets. Prior to large, organized law enforcement, citizens needed to bear arms. The need is not there anymore. And, for what purpose would someone need to buy one gun a month, other than criminal, or a facination with death. Don't let the idea of gun collecting fool you. It is not what it seems. There is an underlying element there."

Nettie has already passed judgement on all of us law-abiding gun owners. We're all one gun purchase away from becoming Cho Seung-Hui, according to Nettie.

Fact - According to a recent report for Congress on foreign country gun laws states, "From available statistics, among the twenty-seven countries surveyed, it is difficult to find a correlation between the existence of strict firearms regulations and a lower incidence of gun-related crimes. In Canada, a dramatic increase in the percentage of handguns used in all homicides was reported during a period in which handguns were most strictly regulated. And in strictly regulated Germany, gun-related crime is much higher than in countries such as Switzerland and Israel, that have simpler and/or less restrictive legislation." (Library of Congress, "Firearms Regulations in Various Foreign Countries, May 1998")

Maynard K of Norfolk, VA believes that we don't need weapons for personal protection because we all possess our own "properly trained and authorized law enforcement officers" and that the majority of Americans don't currently own guns:

"The killer was a 'legal' immigrant and he slaughtered his victims with a 'legal' gun. So, I guess the gun lobby won't be able to roll out Vapid Slogan One: "If guns are criminal, only criminals will have guns." (Not to mention properly trained and authorized law enforcement officers) So let's go to Vapid Slogan Two: "Guns don't kill people; people kill people." For the great majority out there who don't own guns, you know how silly that slogan is. The gun makes it possible and much easier for a person to kill. Movies, video games and the music you don't like are part of the environment and might influence a person to kill - as do abusive parents - but they don't kill anyone. Gun enthusiasts, who care about their safety, but not one bit about yours, have more blood on their hands. It's time for reasonable people to demand a change in existing gun laws that make this kind of destruction less 'legal.' "

Maynard, you're right on that video games, movies and music don't kill people. You can apparently finish the statement with the above "vapid" slogan. You grasp the concept but refuse to recognize its validity. Facts do not cease to exist simply because you refuse to believe them. By the way, "Do it for the children" is the most vapid slogan on the face of the Earth and is the most used slogan by you Leftists.

Fact - The annual number of accidental gun deaths among children has declined 89% since 1975. Today, the odds against a child dying in a gun accident are a million to one. Seventy-eight times as many children die in accidents involving or due to motor vehicles, suffocation, drowning, fire, bicycles and falls. (National Center for Health Statistics)

John W. B. of Virginia Beach, well-known haven for child-slaugthering illegal immigrants, stated:

"The idea that a sick freak can walk right up to the counter of a Virginia gun shop and buy a killing machine like a pizza is disgusting. God! what is wrong with the people of this state that allow this? These simi-automatic weapons are not designed to kill rabbits, they are designed to kill a lot of people. They do their job very efficiently. Why is Virginia the Mecca for every piece of garbage in the nation to come to, to by their death weapons? What is even more disgusting is the fact that Virginians want even more of these on the streets! Where does the insanity end?? You can bet, that these killing machines have not finished doing their death march. It is just the beginning!"

I think that fact that Cho Seung-Hui was a sick freak is the only place that you and I see eye to eye, John. Hey, I see that your computer keyboard misspelled "semi"...oh, wait a minute - keyboards aren't capable spelling anything by themselves, are they? And for the record, many semi-automatic firearms are designed specifically for hunting. Besides, it takes a lot of rabbits to fill a pot. And what's your source of information regarding Virginia as a "Mecca" for "by"ing (oops, there's that keyboard misspelling again!) guns? Michael Bloomberg? He may state that he has evidence of that but he hasn't provided any proof so far since the US Department of Justice has demanded it, so I wouldn't put too much stock in anything that is uttered from that flake's mouth. Oh, and you are right that these killing machines are just beginning - when you and your like-minded Leftists manage to disarm us gun owners.

Al S. of Chesapeake posted today:

"A mentally disturbed person walked into a gun supermarket, put his credit card on the counter, armed himself with all the guns and ammunition he needed, no questions asked, then slaughtered more than 30 people and it's not a gun control issue?!?!?!? God help us, what would you consider a gun control issue??"

Al, were you a drama major or something? "A gun supermarket?" "Armed himself with all the guns and ammunition he needed, no questions asked?" Al, I hope you find a brain supermarket before you post on any subject on Internet ever again. You have no clue what the process is to legally obtain a firearm, which is painfully obvious from your dramatic statement above. Cho Seung-Hui had to fill out a federal form called a 4473 and be subjected to a criminal background check.

And despite the claims that Virginia is lax with regard to the requirements for gun purchases, on Line 12 f. of the form 4473 asks the following: "Have you ever been adjudicated MENTALLY DEFECTIVE (which includes being adjudicated incompetent to manage your own affairs) or have you ever been committed to a mental institution?" Sadly, despite being found "an imminent danger to himself and others" by a Virginia court, a psychologist deemed him not needing to be committed. Cho spent a couple of days at a mental institution but not the three days or more involuntarily, the threshold necessary to be denied a firearms purchase in the State of Virginia. It's not a gun control issue - it's a mental health and legal system issue.

Although I was truly angered by the four anti-gun posters from the Virginian-Pilot and their lack of substantive logic, I was very pleased to see that the majority of the posts at PilotOnline were staunchly pro-Second Amendment. It was heartening to know that I am not alone against this misguided onslaught on our rights.

The one thing that the anti-gun crowd does when it argues its viewpoint that makes it impossible to have an intelligent debate is its reliance on emotion and the unrealistic expectation that banning weapons will disarm criminals as well. Well, let me be the first to tell the anti-gun crowd this too: there is no Santa Claus, no Easter Bunny, and no Tooth Fairy either. Banning firearms (which is what gun control is all about really) will make you feel good about yourselves and then leave you gasping at the unmitigated carnage that will follow.

I said two days ago as this campus tragedy unfolded that it's time to reframe the problem. It's time to go after criminals and psychopaths that commit violent crime instead of the implement used. Had authorities done their jobs as early as 2005, when Cho was charged with stalking two coeds and again when he should have been committed a longer stay at a mental facility, the massacre would not have happened at Virginia Tech. Cho either would have remained incarcerated or would have been denied his gun purchases.

But we are imperfect creatures and these mistakes allowed a truly sick individual to legally obtain a firearm and use it against victims that had been denied their legal right to keep a firearm. The only aspect that could have been the ultimate check to the authorities' repeated oversights was to have allowed Virginia Tech students to legally carry on campus.

Cho wanted to die and did. He died 32 lives too late.