Word: guns
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Thomas Solomon Jr. is no monster. If he was trying to mimic the other school terrorists who came before him, he did a poor job. He had access to high-caliber weapons in his stepfather's gun cabinet, yet he chose a low-powered .22 rifle to shoot up his high school. He was a practiced shot, yet he aimed low. He was literally a Boy Scout, a pleasant 15-year-old kid who went to church and didn't care for Goth life or Marilyn Manson or Duke Nukem or any of the other cultural markers we have come...
...juveniles to buy the weapons used in the Littleton shooting. Unfortunately, the G.O.P. measure was not as stringent as the one proposed a day earlier by the Democrats. But it was better than nothing coming from a party which had previously done little more than pay lip service to gun control. The measure is now tied up in the House, where Speaker Dennis J. Hastert (R-III.) has delayed a vote. Hopefully, House Republican efforts to water-down the bill will fail when Hastert allows it to come to a vote in June...
...addition to positive gun control efforts, Congress is considering troublesome Republican measures that would punish juvenile criminals more severely for their crimes. These bills, if passed, would make it easier to try juveniles as adults and impose longer sentences for juveniles in adult prisons--most notably a mandatory sentencing of 20 years for bringing a gun to school...
Both Republicans and Democrats should resist the urge to punish rather than prevent. Republicans must demand, as they did on last week, that their leadership present them with stricter gun control legislation and make stronger efforts to get out from under the nefarious influence of the NRA. Democrats must work actively to pass legislation improving guidance and mental health counseling for juveniles. Littleton's lesson is not one of retribution--it should be one of prevention and education...
...whereas in my aunt's case, accountability for death was spread all over the meat-packing plant. There, one person herded the hogs into the hall; one person led them into the holding pen; one person pushed them up the plank; one person knocked them unconscious with a stun gun. Someone else pushed them onto the conveyor belt and yet another person operated the belt that processed the animals. "You know, I didn't really kill them," my aunt said...