Shootings reflect need for better gun control

Words act as poor tissues to wipe away the tears of the so many affected by the tragic murders at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University on April 16, 2007. The event represents the single deadliest shooting in the history of the United States of America. The heinous butchery took the lives of 33 students and injured 29. With the nation still in the midst of a global war on terror, this constitutes one of the bloodiest battlefields thus far. It is often said that "actions speak louder than words" and perhaps actions could console the grieving farther than commentaries. Yet, one can hear the silence and inaction among the makers and sellers of such weapons, the National Rifle Association (NRA), and our elected officials. In attempts to safeguard such an ironic privilege, school murders have not only continued, but also escalated.

In a speech on June 1, 2002, President George W. Bush first conveyed his illustrious doctrine. Bush promised to seek out and obliterate terrorism wherever it existed. In his plan, the United States would make "no distinction between terrorists and those who harbor them." It is a heartrending irony that both the Bush administration and Congress have made no efforts in pinning themselves for harboring such terrorists.

Who are these terrorists? Who is to blame for school shootings such as Columbine and Virginia Tech? The perpetrators themselves are naturally responsible, but the blood of evil stains not their hands alone. If there truly is no distinction between terrorists and abettors to terrorism, then the gun manufacturers and even Congress are just as evil as the murderers are. Without the aid of weapon-producing companies and retailers across America, many of the shootings of the last several decades might have been preventable. A quick search of the word "gun" on www.walmart.com brings 1,969 results. The terrorists of corporate America are capitalizing on the blood of the innocent bystanders and it simply can go no further.

If the United States is truly interested in safeguarding life and liberty while combating terrorism, stricter gun-control laws must be levied. The right to self-protection and bearing of arms should still be protected, but the ability to walk into a room and kill 30 people in two minutes should be most vehemently opposed. The gun businesses, lobbying groups such as the NRA, and Congress should be ashamed for failing the American people and harboring terrorism. The protection they so desired by arms has generally ended in nothing but massacre. Enough is enough. I urge every major producer and distributor of such weapons to make them scarcer for the sake of national security; else, the harbingers of slaughter should be brought to justice.

Famed actor and former NRA President Charlton Heston will be fondly remembered for his booming baritone voice, shouting such triumphant movie lines as "Let my people go!" However, he may be far more famous for a different quotation, a phrase he uttered at an NRA rally in 2000. In response to proposals for stricter gun control, Heston proclaimed that his right to bear arms would only be taken "from [his] cold dead hands." It was because of the actions of corporate America, Congress, the Bush administration, the NRA, and Heston that the Second Amendment is still well protected in states like Virginia (the national headquarters of the NRA). The cost? Sixty-six cold dead hands. God bless Virginia Tech, and God bless America.

Brendan Benedict

Millstone