Apocalypse Now: Luc Sante

Yes, it's a cheap, low thing to poke fun at the recently deceased, and for that I apologize to the surviving members of the Heston family. I will however use this to talk a minute about Gun Rights. In 2004 29,569 people were killed by guns in America. To say nothing of the deaths of Iraqi civilians by American soldiers or other Iraqis, or the countless deaths at the hands of militaristic third world governments run by pugnacious religious regimes. I'm not suggesting repealing the 2nd amendment (though revision wouldn't be out of the question) though I am suggesting that more than any other constitutional amendment, it has been the cause of death and injury. The others were essentially designed to keep violence from ever becoming a part of American society. People seem to cling to the second amendment, kind of the same way they hang on to that passage from Leviticus. Maybe the rule made sense at the time, but, right now, it's killing kids on the street, murdering civilians, empowering convenience store crooks, and helping the government prove that it needs to exist. In 1923 a former head of Scotland Yard told the United States to ban firearms, as they were the thing causing most violent crimes. That was three quarters of a century ago; In the meantime, five wars, countless midnight seizures of power, dozens of assassinations (most, if not all of which, happened to equal rights advocates), millions of armed robberies, friendly fire, shoot-outs with the police, accidental deaths and gang violence. No one's given an inch because of something decreed in 1776. Here's the thing, I can see people wanting guns to protect themselves, but they wouldn't need guns if there weren't armed criminals to defend themselves from (or tell themselves they need protection from). In reality, it just makes everyone feel nervous, prejudiced, and invincible. This country doesn't need guns, neither does the planet. Nobody needs a gun.

Guns kill people when people fire them

The Man from New York City