Guns, Girls, Games

It's amazing to think that there have been 31 incidents of gun-related violence in or near schools in the United States in 2014. It's also strange, since these levels of violence should feel ghastly, horrific, etc., but in the end, it's just another day.
The most recent, at Reynolds High in Oregon, is the 11th this year with at least one fatality. The gunman reportedly was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Before that, it was the shooting at Seattle Pacific University, and before that, it was the rampage at Isla Vista in California, and before that, etc. etc. etc.
The NRA (also known as the Numbskull Rights Association) has stated and will probably continue to state that it was the lack of a presence of weapons on campus that caused the violence to get out of hand in the first place.
There's something utterly illogical and farcical about that statement, should one take the time to think on its meaning: somehow, the dearth of a weapon wasn't around to prevent death. Maybe if all students were allowed to openly carry guns, the school would have been safe to the point of utopia, due to the grand old theory of Mutually Assured Destruction, which worked so well during the Cold War.
It takes very little for someone to pull the trigger and end a life, which is why the NRA's consistent policy of 'guns fer errybody' makes very little sense. Should, in the view of the NRA, everyone have a gun? Sure, why not, but why should people who have demonstrated themselves to be mentally unfit be allowed to have a weapon that could potentially lay waste to a group of people?
I don't like guns. It's that simple. I don't feel safe seeing a cop with a weapon because there is no way to tell what in the world is going through his/her head. Giving someone the power to adjudicate life or death is too high a responsibility to dole out to someone who may not have even obtained a university degree.
In Finland (and many other European countries), police officers are required to have university degrees before they can enter into the force. Even then, most do not carry guns when out and about, simply because there is little need to: gun violence in most of Europe is extremely low. When there are situations where guns may be needed, only those who are trained in their use to the utmost are deployed.
Of course, in anarchy, one needs to acquiesce to anarchic standards in order to survive, at least according to Hobbesian logic. To hell with the social contract, right?

That's all for now,
Das Flüg