Despite having some of the most stringent gun control laws in the Democratic world, the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan was gunned down this week.  The slaying was blamed on organized crime.  That’s the funny thing about gun control laws.  Criminals, who have little respect for laws in general, don’t tend to let pesky little gun laws get in their way.  That leaves an unarmed, helpless populace dependant on government protection.  As usual, when you’re left to depend on the government you often end up sorely disappointed.

As you all know by now, a gunman killed 32 people yesterday at Virginia Tech before turning one of his guns on himself.  For those of you not familiar with the college, it is situated in a beautiful part of Virginia just east of BFE.  The university is well known for its engineering school and I’ve had the privilege of working with a number of Hokie engineers.  The shooting, which took most lives in an engineering building, no doubt prematurely ended the lives of many fine technical minds.

As Wheeler pointed out, both sides of the gun control ideological spectrum were quick to use the incident as a justification of their beliefs.  The New York Times editorial page is one of the heftiest voices to wade into the debate so far.  Their predictable opinion can be summarized by the concluding sentence:

What is needed, urgently, is stronger controls over the lethal weapons that cause such wasteful carnage and such unbearable loss.

I always find it amusing when an institution such as the NYT argues so vehemently to suppress and restrict a Constitutional right, but then argues just as vehemently for another Constitutional right to be nearly unfettered.

I’ll just put it this way - how long have marijuana and other drugs been illegal in our country?  Last year marijuana was this country’s top cash crop.  Just because the government decrees something as illegal doesn’t mean that people stop doing the prohibited action.  Taking guns away from law abiding Americans (or heavily restricting access) will not take them away from criminals as well.

I’m already sick of the media coverage.  They demand answers and operate on the assumption that events like this are preventable.  If someone is willing to die in the commission of a crime then there is virtually no way to stop that person if he/she is just minimally competent.

Matt Lauer was on TV last night and seemed to be stunned that he could walk freely about the VaTech campus.  He couldn’t believe that he could walk right up to the dorms.  He even talked about how he gained access inside one while talking to people.  Wow, I am just shocked that a college kid would let a well known, trustworthy TV personality enter a college dorm.  VaTech is a friggin major university - an institution of higher learning.  It is not a prison.  Students, faculty, and visitors are able to move freely.

Britain outlawed handguns in 1997 and has stringent controls on the ownership of other firearms.  This has not deterred the criminals, however.

Guns were used in 4,120 robberies last year - a 10% jump - including a 9% rise to 1,439 in the number of street robberies where guns were used.

There was also a rapid and unexplained increase in the number of times householders were confronted in their own homes by armed criminals. Residential firearms robberies show a 46% leap, a record 645 cases in England and Wales - up 204 on the previous year and four times the level recorded in 2000-01.

Actually, the explanation is quite obvious.  The criminals know that it is very unlikely that the average household will have a firearm, therefore it emboldens them.  At least in America there is a good sporting chance that they might walk into the OK Corral.