Newsey Quote: Father of Dawson College victim
“I mean, you don’t need an automatic weapon to go hunting. It’s even illegal. So why should it be on the streets? Why should it be in your house? It doesn’t make sense. There should be much stricter laws.”
- Nelson De Sousa, father of Anastasia De Sousa who was killed in the Dawson College shooting last September, getting ready to go to Ottawa to campaign for tougher gun laws.
Usually I am against reactionary politicking, but that’s because the response is mostly based on isolated incidents of something that has happened and because there’s media attention to grab at - but (1) this guy isn’t a politician, and (2) it’s an epidemic.
Apart from that, what he says is blindingly common sense.
The reasons individuals are allowed to own firearms in the US are twofold: So that citizens can defend themselves against foreign threats, and so that citizens can defend themselves from the government. The first is less important in modern times, but recent changes should show how important the second is.
And to fight effectively, you DO need automatic weapons.
Firearms are not the cause of student violence– they merely make it more deadly. The root problem is that western– especially North American– culture is very sick. Violent crime is glorified. Avarice is seen as a virtue. I didn’t notice it in High School, but in college, if you don’t pursue a high-paying career, people wonder what is wrong with you. What I did notice in High School is that children are marginalized and quantified. If you score low, you get lots of attention from the teachers, because they have to raise your scores (not the same thing as educate, mind.) If you score high, they parade you around to show how good their school is. If you’re average, you just don’t matter at all. Children are punished severely for fighting.
I was expelled more than once in school because a bully attacked me and I fought back. They expected me to run away to a teacher. Yeah, that’s a great thing to teach children– if something goes wrong, ask an authority figure to fix your problems. What these dipshits don’t understand is that their laziness is the reason students smoulder with rage. Bullying gets worse because bullies are not affected by the punishment. They clobber some kid, and they get a free vacation. They don’t care because their parents don’t care about them, which is why they’re growing up to be scumbags in the first place. And they have the added bonus that, with the “zero-tolerance” policies, they don’t have to worry about the kids they pick on fighting back. I thank God my parents taught me to do what I thought was right, regardless the consequences.
My point is that we need to stop treating children like shit, not open the door to despotism.
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