WP: Shootings at an Amish school again point up the problem with guns.

[DeepModem Mom]

Editorial
Common Tragedy and Culprits
Shootings at an Amish school again point up the problem with guns.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006; Page A16

A school shooting is, by definition, obscene, yet there is a special horror to the tragedy in Nickel Mines, Pa. Perhaps it is because the setting, a picturesque community in Lancaster County, was so peaceful. Or that the target was a one-room Amish school amid fields of green. Or that the victims were young girls. Yes, there are unique features that make yesterday's attack a singular tragedy. There is, however, one aspect that makes it shamefully commonplace -- guns....

***

Yesterday marked the third time in less than a week that a school was the site of a fatal shooting. In Colorado, on Sept. 27, a man armed with two handguns sexually assaulted some of the six girls he held hostage before killing one of them and himself. In Wisconsin, just two days later, a 15-year-old student fatally shot a principal. Like yesterday's shootings, each incident was tragic and certainly each had unique circumstances, but all -- including near-tragedies in Florida, North Carolina and Nevada that barely made headlines -- shared the fact of the far-too-easy availability of guns.

At this early stage, it is not known what drove Charles Carl Roberts IV to yesterday's rampage or whether it could have been prevented. Indeed, there are those who will argue that nothing -- least of all laws controlling guns -- can stop a madman. That doesn't mean, though, that we shouldn't try. Sadly, rather than making it harder for the wrong people to get guns, some in Congress are seeking to make it easier. Witness the recent vote by the House of Representatives to make it more difficult for authorities to crack down on bad gun shops. Thankfully, the Senate didn't have time to take up that measure.

Our sympathies go to the people of Nickel Mines. We hope that the singular calamity that befell this community will wake up the nation to do something about the madness it can control.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/02/AR2006100201197.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. Men with guns who hate women. nt

[Demeter]

2. Or Rather, Men Who Hate Women, and Use Guns on Them

because they're too sick to either avoid women, seek counselling, or stick to fists.

[Briar]

3. Nice to see

some people in America are concerned about this. Mostly all we hear from are the shoot 'em up mob.