Speech control
A practical, commonsense way of reducing gun violence — especially in the schools — would be a federal law prohibiting, or at least seriously limiting, the interstate reporting of sensational gun crimes like Virginia Tech for five working days.
Such a law would not affect local coverage, where there is a need for the immediate dissemination of information, but would make the event ‘old news’ when it was finally reported nationally and therefore unlikely to get the massive publicity that invites further, copycat violence. Even a small reduction in today’s intense coverage of such events might, by not stimulating some potential gunman to action, save lives.
Hah! Via insty.
While we’re at it, reporters don’t need computers. They can just do it on a printing press and put it in tomorrow’s edition. Those rapid-fire, word-hoses were never envisioned by the founders of this nation!!!
April 18th, 2007 at 11:07 am
The reports of snipers during Katrina rescue efforts did delay operations and may have cost lives. They were never substantiated. “If it saves just one life…”
April 18th, 2007 at 11:58 am
The saddest thing about this parody is that to some folks, it isn’t a parody. I read a very similar comment, advanced with all seriousness, over at KnoxViews yesterday. The commenter sincerely believed that we should delay reporting on events like VT, and the sad part was nobody there called them on it.
April 18th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
[…] here. Antigun fanatics ought to be very careful about calling for restrictions on […]
April 18th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
The commenter sincerely believed that we should delay reporting on events like VT, and the sad part was nobody there called them on it.
Side affect of the echo chamber process. When everyone thinks alike there is no one to call them on it. Doesn’t seem very progressive does it?
Some guy on NIT asked for a day of not posting about the VT tragedy and then closed his post with a smart ass comment showing he was anti-gun/anti-self defense.
I called him on it and of course he suggested a face to face meeting so he could straighten me out. The anti-self defense people are more than happy to threaten people but they don’t want to allow people the ability to defend themselves. Ironic isn’t it?
Of course in places where the anti-self defense movement has confiscated firearms like in England, the amount of knife crimes go up. Now England is confiscating knives. What is next, garden hoes?
Only in a society where people have the right of self defense can there be civility.
Fortunately the founders of this nation understood this and provided for that right.
April 18th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
#9: Only in a society where people have the right of self defense can there be civility.
“An armed society is a polite society.” Robert Heinlein, “Beyond This Horizon”
April 18th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Meanwhile at Michael Silence’s place a local Christian Trejbal gives his opinion, “A better approach might be for newspapers to publish records of all handgun purchases, sort of like they do for real estate transfers. From what is coming out about the killer, that would have likely set off the final alarm.”
Any guesses as to who spews this advice?
April 18th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Of course the wonderful suggestion would never pass muster as it is a prior restraint – but oh how I howled when I read it.
It is exactly the anti 2nd Amendment gnomes argument turned on the 1st Amendment. I needed the laugh. And bless the guy who sends them to the anti-gun newspapers in hopes of seeing one printed – as if!
An editorial today in the Manchester (NH) Union-Leader sums it up – “One gun on campus is not enough.”
And as an aside to #9 – the founders didn’t create the right, the whole Bill of Rights is simply a recognition os rights they saw as natural rights – and therefore pre-existed their codification in the Constitution.
I recall some anonymous quote from years ago – “Those that beat their swords into plowsshares will plow for those who don’t.”
April 18th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Meanwhile progressive minds explain everything. It will make your teeth hurt because you will grind your teeth.
The battle begins.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Hmmmm. May I suggest a slight alteration?
“A better approach might be for newspapers to publish records of all addresses and persons without means of self-defenxe, sort of like they do for real estate transfers. This way we could prevent a lot of violent burglaries.”
April 18th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
“…practical and common sense….” That’s rich. Yes, Lefties, we all know that in your minds, totalitarian control is the only “practical and common sense” way to go. Heard all that when I was a kid in the 1960s, and my parents heard it all back in the 1930s, and my grandparents heard it from the Bolsheviks– yeah, you’re so smart for just thinking all this up, all by yourselves, yesterday.
Well, freedom is at fault in any situation, as we all very well know, so it follows that a mass murder, made possible by citizen disarmament, should be blamed on both the right to bear arms (which was utterly denied in this case, but what the hell, blame it anyway) and on free speech.
Makes perfect sense to me. You all didn’t predict this?
Got a better idea: How about we de-fund any tax payer-funded institution that infringes (look up the word if you don’t understand its meaning) on, or lobbies for the infringement of, anyone’s Constitutionally protected rights? Not saying they can’t have a no-guns policy, or a don’t-report-anything-for-a-week-policy, just that we shouldn’t be forced to give them a single penny when they do. That, people, is freedom.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Lyle makes too much serious sense to be taken seriously by the people who are pleased with the atrocity in Blacksburg. Make no mistake, there are a great many people who are pleased with those horrible events.
Anyone mouthing expressions of sympathy or revulsion of such events are liars if they don’t also call for and work for the removal of all impediments to the keeping and bearing of the tools of defense of self and others. And these monsters by proxy number in the thousands. They are liars unless they admit they are glad this happened as a possible impetus to push their totalitarian agendae.