Friday, March 14, 2008

Gun culture

I often wonder at the suitability of some news items, especially those coming in from the U.S. I can't get behind the almost excited glee of deadly car chases, suspect arrests or endlessly dissecting shootings.

I'd prefer if the reporters gave the story and moved on, unless they have something critical to say.

We don't show live car chases, or arrests, or have such gun violence here in Australia, but I guess watching all those stories on Fox or CNN had to have some affect. So it grieves me to see this, with the headline: "Police Shootout Man Planned Mall Massacre".

Worse, he was aiming for a "U.S. Style" massacre and had the ammunition to do it.

The story has a happy ending after the man was intercepted by police. But this is... this doesn't happen here.

We live in a global community where any information is available at any time, to any one. And yeah, there are some nutters out there who focus on how cool guns are. (If I sound pissy, check LKH's blog on how she thinks a gun is 'safe' just because it's unloaded).

But this is an argument that I could rant about for days. It's one of my own personal buttons. I'll stop now and hope it will be years down the track before somebody else picks up a handgun and decides it'll be fun to be just like an American gunman.

No comments: