The panel appointed by governor Tim Kaine is finally hearing from the families. This has implications for us here:
Read and Andrew Goddard, the father of shooting survivor Colin Goddard, also urged the panel to consider recommending tougher gun control measures in the report it issues to the governor. Andrew Goddard graphically described the injuries his son suffered in the shootings, and attributed them to a combination of Cho’s mental state and “simple, efficient and readily available killing machines.”
Advocates on both sides of the gun control argument addressed the panel. Supporters of tougher gun control said the Tech shootings heighten the need to curtail access to semiautomatic weapons and eliminate legal loopholes that enable gun-buyers to skirt criminal background checks.
I’ve never been able to stomach the whole “we have to get to the bottom of this” attitude you have in politics after traumatic events. Tragedy doesn’t just happen. There must be scapegoats. There must be reasons. I suppose in simpler times people would blame such things on demons, the devil, or something similar. For too many the gun has become our modern demon. Once thought of as merely a tool, it now takes the spiritual role for people looking for something to blame.
I blame the deranged killer. Â I don’t really look much farther than him.
The gun has become our modern demon.
I like that phrase. I think I might steal it and use it from time to time. It’s very illustrative of how people think about guns as having some sort of magical, mind altering powers.