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Posted by: DAN BLAINE (100.53680@germanynet.de) on 3/26/1998@23:38hrs:
In Reply to: Tighter Gun Control - After Arkasas Shooting - VOTE HERE... posted by: Gina on 3/26/1998@14:18hrs:
"If guns are outlawed, only Outlaws will have guns"...a glib NRA bumper sticker that used to be seen often. I think that's a great premise... why not let only the outlaws have them? That way they could shoot each other and save us law enforcement costs.
If only that would solve the problem! Think about the Ronnie Zamora case years ago...If I remember correctly his defense was that he had been exposed to so much TV violence that he was unable to distinguish between reality and the TV. (rs can probably fill in the details better than I)
Nah, it's not guns or grenades or matches...it's the whole "Make My Day" and "Die Hard I, II, n+X" role models that our "entertainment" industry has jammed down our (and our kids') throats in the pursuit of bigger profits.
Why were movies like "The Moon is Blue" rated "X", and others with violence rated G, or PG? How is violence rated in the movies and videos now?..no entrails hanging out is a "G"? How many parents let their kids get videos or watch shows on TV that foster this "Blow 'Em Away" mentality?
Of course, the American movie industry is the biggest and best in the world, so our movies are seen (and emulated) everywhere...You've only to look at the newsreels of the kids in Somalia, Beirut, Serbia...etc. to see that they really get "off" on firing their Kalishnikoffs, toting around their grenade launchers, throwing molotov cocktails, etc.
So what's the answer? I don't know...but I know what it's not...gun control...that will just create a bureacracy that will be circumvented with other types of weapons.
Uh, oh...the tide's comin' in....let me relinquish this soap box to my
learned colleague...Rumpoldstilskin....:)...DAN