An ounce of prevention? Wazzup wit dat?

I am quite sure by now that virtually everyone knows that up to 31 people were shot and killed at Virginia Tech today. I am also willing to bet that very few of these same people were aware that in 2002 Canada had 2.6 gun deaths per 100,000 citizens, and the US had five gun deaths per 100,000 people.

Some might say Canadians seem to be smarter than Americans are based upon this figure, or perhaps Canadians just aren’t sharp enough to figure out how to load their guns. Who knows, maybe it’s possible that you have to look deeper for answers than the number of guns per the number of citizens to find a solution.

I pointed out in a recent post on the Imus firing that we have a tendency to slap Band-Aids on our problems, rather than attempt to preempt them. We tend to ignore the causes of our problems, and favor retribution for the offenders.

I am not saying that some people should not be locked up, what I am saying is it might perhaps be wise to take a peek at why things happened to begin with. Honestly, our attitude seems to be why bother to stop problems before they start when it’s so much more fun to bitch about them after they’ve happened. We seem to deal with many problems in this fashion, and abortion is another great example of this behavior.

Clearly the percentage of gun deaths has risen rapidly since the 1930s, while gun ownership percentages have remained fairly constant. Something besides gun ownership is working in the mix here, yet I do not see anyone making any serious efforts to get to the bottom of this problem. Oddly enough, I detect a common thread between abortions and gun violence that can even be tied in to the entire Imus affair.

A lack of respect for life.

The Band-Aid appliqué crowd happily screams that we should fire Imus, make abortions illegal, and ban handguns. This is so entirely similar to the stunt we pulled by making narcotics illegal, and the results will ultimately wind up disappointing us just as effectively as the results of our failed attempt to ban drugs. What did it bring us? A burgeoning black market and a continuation of the slaughter.

You can legislate, and incarcerate all known offenders until kingdom comes, but until you understand the problem lies within the hearts and minds of humanity, you will never succeed in your attempts to eradicate these problems. You cannot legislate what goes on inside the hearts and minds of men.

Looking at our current tendencies to ignore the ounce of prevention while we vehemently pursue the pound of cure, I am compelled to offer my fellow man one tiny piece of advice:

Stock up on Band-Aids, and be sure to shop for more black attire.


News update: Google buys the Netherlands

NEW YORK - Internet and media rivals to Google Inc., fearing a shortage of corporate testosterone complained mightily today about rival Google’s acquisition of the Netherlands. Google on Friday beat out Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc to buy the European country. Microsoft, the world's largest reverse engineering software maker, had a stomping fit because they did not have enough cash on hand to acquire the Netherlands. This proposed acquisition raises serious competition and privacy concerns," said Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel in an e-mail statement.

AT&T senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs Jim Cicconi said on Sunday that Google would soon be in a position to purchase Guatemala. Industry analysts said the deal was most likely an attempt by Google to acquire the massive number of pimps that operate out of Amsterdam. Google apparently needs the pimps to properly market all of their most recent acquisitions. Time Warner Inc. is also seen urging regulators to scrutinize the deal, as they were unable to do so, because their thumb still remained firmly wedged in their anus. Yahoo released a press statement late Friday declaring, “Google is a nappy-headed pimp rag.” Yahoo later in the release added, “ I’m going to tell my mommy!”