From CNN:

Gun seller offering discounts to 'save lives'

Money quote:

>>The owner of a company that sold firearm merchandise to both the Virginia Tech University and Northern Illinois University shooters announced Wednesday that he will sell his guns at cost for the next two weeks in hopes that "law-abiding" citizens will buy them to prevent similar tragedies.

"I want to help people save lives," Eric Thompson said Thursday. He was to speak Thursday evening at Virginia Tech University at an event sponsored by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.

"I feel like I have a special responsibility to show people what guns are, what the laws are, and to allow people to protect themselves," Thompson said. "Initially, I wanted this to be an offer for college students," he said. "But there's no real way to determine whether someone is a college student ... so we opened it up to any legal American."<<

I know we've been arguing about guns already lately, and we discussed guns on campus already as well (as both a student and a teacher at the college level, I say increase funding so that we can have more armed police on campus, but that's about it).

But could we all, left and right, virtuous patriot and pinko, queer Zionist, rational thinker and mindless religious zealot, come together and tell this colossal tool: "STOP HELPING!"

Dennis

Haha. Delightful.

I'll sign that petition for sure.

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!
The following two weeks are "No Pesky Background check awareness week" so you can take your nickel plated .45 home with you. Kind of like when you were little & wore your brand new shoes home from the store.

Eric, NO.

quote:

Originally posted by Westside Steve:
Then again if some ignorant redneck law abiding shitkicker fellow students had his six shooter on that particular day......
WSS

I've said that I don't want non-cop guns on campus, but if that were to happen, I wouldn't complain.

That said, there's something archly cynical about the whole thing--hey kids, be careful out there; two of my customers have already shot up their schools, so it sure would be great if a couple of you would be packing when you go to class. After all, if I sell guns to a hundred students, when one goes nuts, odds are that another customer will be in the area to help out.

Dennis
It's not quite Alfred Nobel using his dynamite income to found the Peace Prize. On the other hand, it's kind of like Yasser Arafat using his prize money to buy firearms...I wonder if he ever bought any from the tool in question.

>>But could we all, left and right, virtuous patriot and pinko, queer Zionist, rational thinker and mindless religious zealot, come together and tell this colossal tool: "STOP HELPING!">>

I am not about to say that this offer is in good taste. Sounds like some type of 'publicity stunt' that is insensitive to the family and friends of those senslessly killed.

On the other hand, I hear people talking about their interest in securing a fire arm for protecting their families and homes from invaders.

In CT, we had a very well publicized incident where two parolees, savagly killed three members of a family. More recently a similar incident occured in Bristol, CT.

I doubt that I will ever own a gun, but I can understand how people start to believe how a gun might be the only protection against criminal invasion and a penal system that spends more time focusing on pot smokers than it does on violent felons.

In short, bad move in this instance. On a broader canvas, I can understand those who proactively purchase hand guns for their own peace of mind and family safety.

quote:

In short, bad move in this instance. On a broader canvas, I can understand those who proactively purchase hand guns for their own peace of mind and family safety.

I don't disagree. It's worrisome that having a gun in the house makes you like a dozen times more likely to be hurt or killed by a gun, though. But that's an education and safety issue, really.

People are idiots. That's the problem when you take "the right to bear arms" off the page and into the world. Kind of like Communism and religion. Neither tastes good when you add a dash of the human factor.

If everybody was packing heat just in case that one idiot was packing heat, that works. The fact that 7 out of 10 people is an idiot queers that logic, though.