George wants to see a complete ban on firearms!

WARNING: THESE VIDEOS CONTAIN GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND ARE VERY DISTURBING! 

Gun control elicits vociferous debate and opposing points of view from the both sides of the fence: from a complete banning of firearms in the hands of ordinary citizens to the argument that you should be able to arm yourself to the teeth. 

Personally, I do not see the need for firearms in the hands of ordinary citizens at all. 

If you have been watching the news, and paying special attention to what has been happening over the past few years in the USA, the extent of gun violence has reached epidemic proportions and resulted in widespread tragedy. 

Once again, the USA, as a nation, had to face up to another shooting. This time a disgruntled man decided to shoot former colleagues whilst they were doing a live crossing. 

This video below captures the moment Alison Parker and her cameraman Adam Ward where shot by a former colleague. 

Basically, he contrived to execute two colleagues on live TV, taking the act of braodcasting and capturing these delusional acts to a frightening new level. In fact Bryce Williams filmed the shooting and posted it to his social media accounts. 

According to ABC, a 23-page fax to the network arrived almost two hours after the shooting. It came from someone who identified himself as Bryce Williams, the on-air name gunman Vester L. Flanagan II used when he worked as a reporter.

In the message, according to ABC, the gunman said the Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting in June is what put him over the edge, but he wrote that his "anger has been building steadily" because of racial discrimination and sexual harassment he claims to have endured.

The writer expressed admiration for the shooters who massacred students at Columbine High School and Virginia Tech. And he said he put a deposit down for a gun two days after the Charleston shooting.
"As for Dylann Roof? You (deleted)! You want a race war (deleted)? BRING IT THEN YOU WHITE (deleted)!!!" the document reportedly said.

So why did he do this? 

Was it a hate crime? 

Fox news anchor Gretchen Carlson believes it is!

But security expert Paul Viollis offers a deeper insight as to why that interpretation is not that simple. The suspected gunman, 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan, on Wednesday sent a manifesto to ABC News, saying his "tipping point" was the June shooting of nine congregants at a historic black church in Charleston. In that case, the white gunman explicitly revealed his racist motivations and desire to kill black people in a brutal act of bigotry. But Viollis suggested that the available information on Flanagan is not enough to determine that the on-camera attack was racially motivated.

Paul Viollis offers a compelling argument as to why this is not a hate crime!

So what are we to make of this terrible crime?

It raises issues about work place bullying, about marginalization, about psychological and mental collapse and about, the one issue that Americans hate to engage with, gun control!

The standard refrain is that guns don't kill people, people do! Could this tragedy have been averted if this man could not get his hands on a firearm? That is a matter of debate! 

All I know is when I am in a room with someone who is carrying a gun, holstered and legal, I get very nervous. 

I look at the person and instantly ask myself a host of questions. 

Why is this person carrying a gun? Why do they need it? Are they trained? Are they mentally stable? Hope they are not drinking? And so forth and so on. 

The presence of a person with a gun makes me nervous, and anxious. 

It feels to me that we shouldn't need to carry firearms, and that we need to work towards a society where we do not. This is not some left leaning idealism- many countries have successfully instituted gun control. 

I do not feel they have a place in a progressive society.

What are your thoughts on gun control? For or against? 

George Thorne