Thread: Europe is Blaming Charlton Heston

Can you believe it. Already Europe is clamouring to take our gun rights away in the wake of this tragedy!

EUROPEAN PRESS REACTIONS
Blaming Charlton Heston

With a view to Monday's deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, European newspapers are blaming the lack of gun control measures in the United States and implying that Charlton Heston is indirectly responsible for the scope of the killings.


AP
In America, "buying a machine gun is often easier than getting a driver's license."
Across the continent on Tuesday, European media rubber-neck at Monday's massacre in the United States. Most seem to agree about one thing: The shooting at Virginia Tech is the result of America's woeful lack of serious gun control laws. In the strongest editorialized image of the day, German cable news broadcaster NTV flashed an image of the former head of the National Rifle Association, the US gun lobby: In other words, blame rifle-wielding Charlton Heston for the 33 dead.

Papers reserve their sharpest criticism for the 2004 expiration of a 10-year ban on semi-automatic weapons under the then Republican-controlled Congress. Others comment on the pro-gun lobbying activities of Heston's NRA. Some papers also draw analogies between school shootings and Muslim fundamentalist suicide bombers.

British daily The Independent writes:

"The passionate feelings of the gun lobby may be traced to the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, enshrining 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms'. Although the provision stems from the times when 'well regulated militias' were deemed necessary to protect against a British attempt to regain the lost colonies, it is the default position of any argument against greater gun control here."

"As such, it has trumped every other consideration, not least the fact that on any given day about 80 people are killed by firearms, the vast majority by murder or suicide. Gun violence may cost $2.3 billion each year in medical expenses, but it is a price, gun supporters believe, that is worth paying to protect a fundamental freedom ..."

"There is no sign of attitudes hardening. Despite the opposition of every police force in the land, Congress in 2004 allowed to lapse a 10-year federal ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, a particular favorite of violent criminals. The reaction was not exactly deafening. Even amid yesterday's shock, the initial calls were for stricter security measures on campuses -- not serious moves to reduce gun ownership."

The Times of London writes:

"The trauma of the death of the students at Virginia Tech that will spread across the university and the whole country will be magnified by the feelings of so many people who feel that they should have been able to prevent it."

"Doubtless there will be a call to review the availability of firearms. The National Rifle Association's (NRA) response is predictable too. They will point out that events such as this are not carried out by a rifle-wielding member of a weekend militia. There is no doubt that access to rapid-action shotguns makes these events even more destructive but as we have seen with suicide bombers, who are closer to spree killers than is often realized, if a person really wants to take their own life and kill others in doing so it is exceptionally difficult to prevent it."

French daily Le Monde writes:

"The shooting at Virginia Tech ... is a dramatic episode of school violence that fits into a long series of such episodes, a series topped by the drama at Columbine, the school attacked by two adolescents in 1999 ..."

"If Columbine left such a strong impression, that was because it was one of the first dramas of school violence that received broad coverage in the media. Americans were informed of what was happening in real time, via TV and the radio. The students called their families or CNN even as the killers were still roaming the corridors of the schools. ..."

"This new tragedy presents a new opportunity for American public opinion to interrogate itself about a society which, as one of the students who survived Columbine said at the time, is very much responsible for what has happened."

French conservative daily Le Figaro writes:

"It was all too easy easy for the elected representatives of the United States, from the White House to the Congress, to express their sadness yesterday; America's problem with fire-arms represents a political issue for which they share responsibility. Here is a country that represents the vanguard of development and democracy while it is legal to carry a gun in 45 of 50 states, as long as the gun is not loaded. ... At the end of 2004, the Republican-controlled Congress allowed a law to expire that prohibited the sale of semi-automatic and military weapons. Thereafter, legal changes were made to protect the producers and vendors of fire-arms from being held responsible for the actions of gun owners."

"Contrary to what one would imagine, this backward stance is not something left over from the Wild West. It goes back to the creation of the United States and the War of Independence against the English. ... While most states have issued laws designed to control the sale of arms, the NRA ensures they remain inefficient or are not applied. Strongly linked to the conservative fringe of the Republican Party, the NRA spent $400,000 a day to prevent the election of the Democratic candidate John Kerry during the 2004 presidential elections ..."

"Yesterday's massacre will surely revive the debate in the United States, but within the federal system, the question is ultimately settled by each individual state. Going back on the lapsing of the law issued by Washington could provide an opportunity for the Supreme Court to take a stance on the issue for the first time since 1939."

Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera writes:

"Shocked psychologists and sociologists ask themselves how gun violence is to be explained. Some speak of the repressed violence of a country that goes back to generations of pioneers habituated to achieve justice on their own and which is forced to face the powerful tensions within a multiracial society. Others criticize the spread of violent video games (which are, however, a phenomenon that has only emerged in recent years). In any case, gun violence is becoming a common phenomenon in the United States, one that is no longer surprising. In major cities such as New York, the extension of surveillance measures, a tough approach to crime and measures to rebuild the urban fabric have led to a drop in crime and especially in the number of homicides. But in suburban areas and smaller cities, episodes of 'ordinary violence' are on the rise. In the poorest neighborhoods, people are getting used to the use of fire-arms -- a phenomenon that is linked to the growing tendency among many young people to resort to violence to settle even minor disputes and to the ease with which weapons can be acquired."

Italian daily Il Messaggero writes:

"The bloodbath on the university campus is the work of a suicide killer -- an American suicide killer who, differently from Muslim killers, did not act out of religious motives but was driven instead by the unrest affecting broad layers of US society. America is a nation that has for some years been in danger of becoming more and more unloved in the world, especially in the poorest countries. During the period following World War II, America was seen as the guardian of democracy and was equated with the defense of liberty; today, America is a superpower that begins wars and lives with the constant necessity of having to defend itself against the enemy -- whether this enemy be called Islam or whether it bears the face of the neighbor who has done you wrong."

Spanish daily El Pais writes:

"The president of Virginia Tech called it a tragedy of monumental proportions. But similar comments could already be heard following previous tragedies of this kind. The shooting spree at the Columbine high school in Colorado, for instance, revived the debate on the necessity of better controlling access to weapons. This led to some laws being toughened and security at schools being improved. But the measures are decided by the individual states and are constantly side-stepped by means of an exaggerated interpretation of the US constitution."

German daily Bild writes:

"Now we will probably begin discussing the overly lax gun laws in the United States. There, buying a machine gun is often easier than getting a driver's license. And a new ban on violent games and killer videos will also be put back on the agenda. But in the end, nothing is likely to happen. And the next killer already lives somewhere among us. But we have little reason to point an accusing finger at the Americans. Despite strict gun legislation, we (in Germany) have experienced the school shootings in Erfurt and Emsdetten. We have to consider the problems in our society. And we have to take care of our fellow humans."

-- Max Henninger, 12:30 p.m. CET





http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1 ... 86,00.html

I hope these gun banning freaks do not put Heston on trial again. I remember the last time they put him on trial and what a show that was.

Here is a brief clip of the last time those opposed to 2nd amendment rights put Heston on trial!

Omega Man - Trial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=929ceD32 ... ed&search=

W

I agree W.

Fiction is stranger than truth. The gun control fanatics want to take away our rights to protect ourselves.

Let's see what they say now that everyone has found out that the shooter was not a product of an American upbringing.

They can't blame this on our society since he's from South Korea. Let South Korea explain their nutcase!

Bloomberg is now pushing for an AMENDMENT to be slipped onto some bill or other. He stated that it's the only way to get the particular 'law' on the books..........THROUGH AN AMENDMENT hooked onto an unrelated BILL!!

We're going to have to watch them like hawks!

"The bloodbath on the university campus is the work of a suicide killer -- an American suicide killer who, differently from Muslim killers, did not act out of religious motives but was driven instead by the unrest affecting broad layers of US society.

The shooter was not an American, he was a resident alien. This should be the big story, but unfortunately the liberal media seems to be ignoring the fact.

Why isn't anyone discussing the need for better screening of student visa applicants? Better yet, why aren't we talking about reducing educational visas? I'm of the opinion that the big story here is being completely ignored and selectively overlooked.

Do we blame the car when a drunk kills someone on the highway? Do we blame the bomb when a terrorist kills people? Should we make it a law to pull all dogs teeth at birth because we fear getting bit by them? Give me a break, a resident alien killed those 33 kids, not a gun. It just so happens that a gun was the weapon of choice on this occasion. Next time it could be a bomb or poison in the lunch food.

Guns don't kill people. People kill people.

The only thing the gun did in this case was make it easier for this guy to kill more people more efficiently. He could have done the same with a sword or Molotov cocktails, a chainsaw, or a bow and arrow.

It was already illegal for this kid to have a gun. It was already illegal for him or anyone to bring a gun on campus, it was illegal for him to assault people with it.

What makes them think that banning guns will stop people like this?

The main thing that can quickly stop people like this is another gun.

Unfortunately, the law abiding unarmed students in those dorms did not stand much of a chance. If just one of the otherwise law abiding students had broken the laws by having a gun in their dorm room, this guy could have been stopped quickly.

In countries like England and Australia, where they have seized most of the privately owned guns from law abiding citizens, home invasions have skyrocketed because the criminals now have dominion over the citizens.

One thing that criminals and police have in common is that average citizens do not want either of them uninvited in their homes.

The first thing anyone considering entering a dwelling uninvited thinks about is if anyone is home and does that person have a gun.

The psychology of gun ownership keeps many of us safe in a passive way.

Most crimes of violence involve a graphic unbalanced power relationship between the aggressor and the victims. This is criminology 101.

Take the guns away from law abiding citizens while the state and crooks retain their guns and the citizenry falls to the lowest level on the food chain and becomes more likely to be victimized by both.

W



W

Bloomberg is now pushing for an AMENDMENT to be slipped onto some bill or other. He stated that it's the only way to get the particular 'law' on the books..........THROUGH AN AMENDMENT hooked onto an unrelated BILL!!

We're going to have to watch them like hawks!


Looks like im going to have be sure I honor my 2nd Amendment rights before they otlaw them (kneejerk reactions are wonderful. aint they)

AP - In America, "buying a machine gun is often easier than getting a driver's license."

Excuse me? First off, buying a machine gun can happen only one of two ways. Either you have to be a Class III dealer, which subjects you to in-depth background checks and precludes anyone with a criminal background, or else you may obtain a pre-1986 full-auto only after filing and having approved a transfer request, which again requires a full background check and a hefty transfer fee. Furthermore, the relative scarcity of pre-1986 pieces drives the cost of such weapons up well into the thousands of dollars. Whoever wrote that article for AP simply lied.

British daily The Independendent writes: "There is no sign of attitudes hardening. Despite the opposition of every police force in the land, Congress in 2004 allowed to lapse a 10-year federal ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, a particular favorite of violent criminals. The reaction was not exactly deafening. Even amid yesterday's shock, the initial calls were for stricter security measures on campuses -- not serious moves to reduce gun ownership."

Another lie. In fact, criminals are statistically unlikely to use "assault weapons," and the shooter in this case did not use and assault weapon. This crime has nothing whatsoever to do with the lapsed federal ban. This shooter is reported to have used a garden-variety handgun, a 9mm Glock.

Originally Posted by CrocketsGhost

AP - In America, "buying a machine gun is often easier than getting a driver's license."

Excuse me? First off, buying a machine gun can happen only one of two ways. Either you have to be a Class III dealer, which subjects you to in-depth background checks and precludes anyone with a criminal background, or else you may obtain a pre-1986 full-auto only after filing and having approved a transfer request, which again requires a full background check and a hefty transfer fee. Furthermore, the relative scarcity of pre-1986 pieces drives the cost of such weapons up well into the thousands of dollars. Whoever wrote that article for AP simply lied.

[quote:1uxogmxw]British daily The Independendent writes: "There is no sign of attitudes hardening. Despite the opposition of every police force in the land, Congress in 2004 allowed to lapse a 10-year federal ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, a particular favorite of violent criminals. The reaction was not exactly deafening. Even amid yesterday's shock, the initial calls were for stricter security measures on campuses -- not serious moves to reduce gun ownership."

Another lie. In fact, criminals are statistically unlikely to use "assault weapons," and the shooter in this case did not use and assault weapon. This crime has nothing whatsoever to do with the lapsed federal ban. This shooter is reported to have used a garden-variety handgun, a 9mm Glock.[/quote:1uxogmxw]

This shooter could have done the same with the smallest of firearms including a .22 hunting rifle or a shotgun. To try to apply gun restrictions to have any impact on a shooter like this, all guns would have to be outlawed including low caliber hunting rifles.

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Originally Posted by CrocketsGhost

AP - In America, "buying a machine gun is often easier than getting a driver's license."

Excuse me? First off, buying a machine gun can happen only one of two ways. Either you have to be a Class III dealer, which subjects you to in-depth background checks and precludes anyone with a criminal background, or else you may obtain a pre-1986 full-auto only after filing and having approved a transfer request, which again requires a full background check and a hefty transfer fee. Furthermore, the relative scarcity of pre-1986 pieces drives the cost of such weapons up well into the thousands of dollars. Whoever wrote that article for AP simply lied.

[quote:1wf3tm35]British daily The Independendent writes: "There is no sign of attitudes hardening. Despite the opposition of every police force in the land, Congress in 2004 allowed to lapse a 10-year federal ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, a particular favorite of violent criminals. The reaction was not exactly deafening. Even amid yesterday's shock, the initial calls were for stricter security measures on campuses -- not serious moves to reduce gun ownership."

Another lie. In fact, criminals are statistically unlikely to use "assault weapons," and the shooter in this case did not use and assault weapon. This crime has nothing whatsoever to do with the lapsed federal ban. This shooter is reported to have used a garden-variety handgun, a 9mm Glock.

This shooter could have done the same with the smallest of firearms including a .22 hunting rifle or a shotgun. To try to apply gun restrictions to have any impact on a shooter like this, all guns would have to be outlawed including low caliber hunting rifles.

W[/quote:1wf3tm35]

As you well know, William, ANY hunting rifle is more deadly (accurate and possessing vastly longer range) than ANY handgun. Furthermore, this crime could have been committed with ANY defensive handgun.

I go back to the old argument that if the gun is repsonsible for this crime then Rosie O'Donnell's spoon is responsible for her obesity.