As a legal gun owner also I believe there should be serious controls on them. I'd be delighted to give mine up if they were illegal, and I knew the only folks who had them did so illegally. And I know the people who insist upon having weapons are the last who should.

Having said that, in the day since the VT tragedy, about 118 people have died in automobile accidents, about 4 times as many as died at VT. About 47 of those were alcohol related, half-again as many as at VT.

And there is no outrage. There should be as much if not more as there is over the VT tragedy. Because that is a daily toll.

Having every citizen carry guns would mean arming every idiot with no impulse control, every drunk, every paranoid, and every NRA member who would feel justified in coming out firing if they felt at all threatened. Policemen today are engaged these days in what I regard as a slaughter by shooting folks who are guilty of nothing more than having pockets. I would be afraid to reach for my wallet considering how the police have been trained anymore.

Imagine what society would be like if it were the norm for people to carry guns - the police could shoot anyone at all at any time for any reason by making the reasonable claim that they suspected the person was armed.

We must minimize the possibilities, and realize that a society of 300 million which glamorizes violence, exports violence, encourages violence and trains kids in violence with games will suffer violence.

There is a cause and effect. Just as not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer, not every kid obsessed with violent games, movies and TV shows will become violent. But some will.

Arf