Just thought I’d clue you in to why Americans won’t give up liberties as suggested by one of your readers. To be consice, its because the special interest groups here (gun lobby, abotion lobby, gay rights, etc) are just Chinese water torture waiting to happen. Taken individually, drops of water, or small liberties taken away are insignificant. One by one, they keep falling, till one day you wake up with a big fucking hole in your forehead where your freedom used to be. How’s that for an analogy.
schlyer
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I dont agree that all liberties will magically domino away because you bring in a new law or set of laws. This to me is as illogical as Reagans “trickle down” economic principle, and is indicative of the american desire to push everything they desire to be true into a set formula so they feel their ideals of freedom and liberty actually have some base. And Inferno was right: gun laws are one thing, freedom of speach, press, religion etc… are another. Liberty is being free. And if you ask me imposing gun laws will make america more liberated. kids will be FREE to go to schools withour fear. FREE not to watch theyre friends gunned down. Parents will be FREE not to fear for their kids lives each day… that is freedom. Part of liberty is safety. And again ill say gunlaws are not teh complete answer or even a large part of it, but they are A part. It scares me that americans put the friggin pledge of allegiance crap b4 theyre youth’s lives. If you ask me, saving lives is more imp!ortant than any manmade ideology, and its sad so many dont feel the same.
“It hurts when you discover what you thought was freedom was just greed” -BonoPhil (26/4)
Interesting analogy, but I don’t agree with it. What this is implying is that if one SIG gives up their lobbied liberty, this will cause an eventual chain reaction that will take out the other SIGs. I guess the difference between something like the gun lobby and, say, abortion or euthanasia, is that abortion and such issues are much more morally inclined – thus open to more debate and personal opinion. But with the gun debate, there are two sides. There’s the “liberty” of being able to carry arms. Then there’s those that speak out against guns because they have the side effect of aiding events such as the Columbine Shooting. Which side is right is clear cut – obviously lives are worth more than being able to carry guns. The thing is that there is no direct evidence that lack of gun control plays a large role in these events. Yet, why do things like this never happen in countries like the UK, Canada or Australia, who do have gun control laws in place? I think this fact is pretty convincing that the “gun culture” did play a fairly large part in causing school shootings.
But the gun lobby is a powerful political force in the US. No, it’s much easier to blame recreational culture. I mean, a freak such as Marilyn Manson is a much easier target.
2:35pm (GMT +10.00) tomorrow 
