www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pmupdate/s_433534.html

Let's face it -- guns do kill people
By Mike Seate
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 15, 2006

A funny thing happens to our memory when kids use guns.

When the Columbine massacre happened in April 1999, parents and school administrators forgot all about the weapons used to kill 12 students, one teacher and the two assailants. They instead blamed alternative rock singer Marilyn Manson, Sega video games and Gothic rock music in general.

Some parents and commentators thought the shooting was proof that MTV should be banned, or at least the sale and wearing of black trenchcoats like those worn by the two shooters. The gun industry, which manufactured the murder weapons, didn't suffer much.

It's about to get another chance to shirk responsibility if Republican state Rep. Michael Diven, of Brookline, gets his way. Diven recently announced his version of a solution to school shootings in our own city.

Diven is introducing legislation that would give adult time to juveniles convicted of using guns within 300 feet of a school. If the bill becomes law, kids older than 12 will end up doing two years per offense. They will be housed right alongside lifers, rapists and other hardcore adult criminals in hardcore adult prisons.

Diven was reportedly moved by a Feb. 21 drive-by shooting at Homewood's Westinghouse High that wounded 16-year-old student Aaron Henderson.

On one hand, we owe props to any suburban politician who cares enough about Pittsburgh's inner-city and the people who live there to draft a bill that could change their lives.

But what Diven forgets is that a lot of kids from places like Homewood couldn't give a spent shell casing about doing two years or 10. Worse yet, what Diven seems to have forgotten -- along with some parents and so-called experts -- is that without guns, there wouldn't be any school shootings.

Sure, it's easy to blame rap music, gangster culture and bad parenting for what happened outside Westinghouse last month. Some of those criticisms are valid. A few of them even contain a morsel of truth.

But until we take away the tools that make it so easy for petty high school disputes to turn deadly, all the bills and all the hard time behind bars isn't going to stop the killings.


Mike Seate can be reached at [email protected] or (724) 320-7845.

Pittsburgh's Media is very Anti-Gun,  You should have seen the crap on the cover of every local rag durring the NRA convention a couple of years ago in Pit...  Ludacris..

I would expect that to be run in the Post Gazette not the Tribune Review.

Even though he points out the stupid law he seems to forget that criminals don't care about illegal guns either. He's just naive.

If what he says is true then why were school shootings virtually non-existant when gun laws were most lax? What has changed besides popular culture? Friggin mindless libs.

Yes really anti-gun.  It just wasn't the main focus.

When the Columbine massacre happened in April 1999, parents and school administrators forgot all about the weapons inanamate objects used to kill 12 students, one teacher and the two assailants. They instead blamed alternative rock singer Marilyn Manson, Sega video games and Gothic rock music in general other third parties and inanimate objects.

Some parents and commentators thought the shooting was proof that MTV should be banned, or at least the sale and wearing of black trenchcoats like those worn by the two shooters. The gun industry, which manufactured the murder weapons, didn't suffer much (but clearly should have because the inanimate objects they produce as third parties are much more bad than the inanimate ojects and third parties he just got through poking fun at banning/blaming).



Moron.

But until we take away the tools that make it so easy for petty high school disputes to turn deadly, all the bills and all the hard time behind bars isn't going to stop the killings.

"But we don't want to BAN anything!"

You'll note that while they decry "gun availability" as the CAUSE of the violent-crime-of-the-week, they never come out and say "We want to take your guns away from YOU."  But that's the only thing they CAN do - take them away from the people we don't NEED to worry about.

How about this?  How about we stop drugging our kids when they start exhibiting a personality?  As far as I can determine, "gun availability" has been pretty much constant since the 1950's, but "school shootings" didn't start until we started medicating kids for ADHD and other so-called "disorders."

But the cause couldn't be THAT.  

Very anti-gun, but not the focus of the article.

On one hand, we owe props to any suburban politician who cares enough about Pittsburgh's inner-city and the people who live there to draft a bill that could change their lives.

Nice writing Mike

Notice in the article it stated “is that without guns, there wouldn't be any school shootings.”  
Is it working in New York, Los Angles, Chicago, or Washington DC? Does it work any were? The answer is Hell No! If we would just ban toilet paper and eggs there would be no more Halloween mischief. You just can’t argue with stupidity like that.

a funny thing happens to liberals when someone is shot.

they totally forget about the person responsible, and the factors that influence them, and instead focus only on an object.

Quoted: On one hand, we owe props to any suburban politician who cares enough about Pittsburgh's inner-city and the people who live there to draft a bill that could change their lives. Nice writing Mike

What word was he trying to spell when he mistakenly wrote "props?"  Just curious since I've seen several other people here use that non-word.z

But what Diven forgets is that a lot of kids from places like Homewood couldn't give a spent shell casing about doing two years or 10. Worse yet, what Diven seems to have forgotten -- along with some parents and so-called experts -- is that without guns, there wouldn't be any school shootings.

Correct! They would turn into school stabbings/chokings/neck breakings/blunt force traumas/etc.

Ban objects. Its for the children.

-Foxxz

A few years ago, there was a gang related killing at a local high school, called a "roll-over."  The gang members literally ran over the guy with a car and drove away.  This was in the Los Angeles, forget where though.

i sent him a quick e-mail to remind him that guns aren't like fairy tales. they really *do* exist, and will continue to do so regardless of their respective availability to civilians. and if they exist at all, bad people will get them and do bad things with them.

Quoted: [What word was he trying to spell when he mistakenly wrote "props?"  Just curious since I've seen several other people here use that non-word.z

proper respect

Would it be wrong to assume that Homewood is an African American community?

It is anti reality. Someone who still believes that the world can be made safe by just banning all potentially dangerous items. That is the fairy tale and those who persist in believing it will continue to be a threat to our freedom and safety.

Mike Seate

His columns: here

Safe to say: he doesn't like white people much. Replace "white" with "black" in his writings, and there'd be calls for him to resign, at the very least.

I was bored so I just sent this fool a nice long email explaining my views on guns.