But the shootings, first here in Oregon on Tuesday and now in Connecticut have driven me from my self imposed reclusion. First let me say that a good amount of praying for everyone involved has been done in our household starting Tuesday night and continuing today. Praying and reflection. Reflecting as I've heard pundits and reporters talk about (again) for a national discussion on gun control. I was reminded of a post I did some years ago when the Virginia Tech tragedy happened.
You can see that here. Needless to say that there exists as historical evidence the fact that it does not take guns or bullets to pull off mass murder if someone is determined to do it. (Also 911 was done with box cutters and aircraft though I don't notice any bans on box cutters. Or Aircraft)
I hear the mayor and former mayor of New York City say we need to have a national discussion on (yes) gun control. Let me point out a couple salient facts:
1) Chicago, whom President Obama loves to uphold as his shining example of a Pro-Gun Control city, has logged 436 murders as of October 2012, more than any other U.S. City. (In the same time frame 271 Americans were killed in Afghanistan thus making Afghanistan more survivable than Chicago. At least for an American.)
2) Washington D.C.'s own decades old gun control law was overturned by The 2008 DC vs. Heller case in the U.S. Supreme Court on constitutional grounds but was even an issue because it famously DID NOT WORK. The result was that crime dropped 9% to 143 in 2010. The lowest total since 1963 according to the Washington Times.
But I agree that a discussion needs to take place. But not just about gun control or the lack of. Let's talk also about another cherished constitutional right. Freedom of the Press.
The major media has been back on it's heels lately because of an under reported phenomena: The fact that people with cell phones and a Twitter or Facebook feed on the scene report breaking events faster and more accurately than the professionals could ever hope to. The world knew about major earthquakes in Chile and Haiti in seconds. Same story with the uprisings in Egypt and Syria. And remember the Iran's Green Revolution that our government rather surprisingly did not support? All on Twitter.
What's the point here? The point is that the need for pontificating journalists who all went to college for for the privilege of telling you and I what to think are now obsolete. When we hear a suggestion repeated ad infinitum about the need for a discussion on gun control, that conversation should include the future effectiveness of a media who are out of control and of journalists who have traded actual reporting for idealism.
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