Misunderstanding Virginia Tech

Gerard Baker, writing in The Times of London, displays a stunning lack of understanding of the causes of the Virginia Tech massacre:

Perhaps of all the elements of American exceptionalism – those factors, positive or negative, that make the US such a different country, politically, socially, culturally, from the rest of the civilised world – it is the gun culture that foreigners find so hard to understand.

The country’s religiosity, so at odds with the rest of the developed world these days; its economic system which seems to tolerate vast disparities of income; even all those strange sports Americans enjoy – all of these can at least be understood by the rest of us, even if not shared.

But why, we ask, do Americans continue to tolerate gun laws and a culture that seems to condemn thousands of innocents to death every year, when presumably, tougher restrictions, such as those in force in European countries, could at least reduce the number?

As shocking as the killings that seem to happen with such frequency are, they do not shock the American conscious as much as abridging freedoms do. If the rest of the world is so "civilised" as Baker suggests, why do killings happen there? The United Kingdom has far more instances of terrorism in its recent history than the United States. In many ways, these crimes or acts of terrorism if you will, are probably prevented more than they occur, because of that very "gun culture" we cherish.

Might a gun carrying professor or student have prevented the incident yesterday? We can only speculate. However, the one thing we know for sure is that the rest of the "civilised world" will look at the United States as a bunch of gun-crazed shootists who think their nation is the O.K. Corral, when nothing could be farther from the truth.

Baker seems to take the position that the United States is collectively insane:

The simple truth is that Americans themselves remain unwilling to take drastic measures to restrict gun availability. This is rooted deep in the American belief in individual freedom and a powerful suspicion of government. Americans are deeply leery of efforts by government to restrict the freedom to defend themselves. A sizeable minority, perhaps a majority, believe the risk that criminals will perpetrate events such as yesterday’s is a painful but necessary price to pay to protect that freedom.

The sheer scale of the carnage yesterday may after all make the Blacksburg killings truly unique in American history. That will doubtless lead to more self-examination and perhaps calls for new restrictions on firearms. But it won’t change America’s deep-rooted and sometimes lethal commitment to its own freedoms.

In fact, statistically, it is far safer to live in the United States, even in a post 9/11 world, than anywhere else in the world. Surely there are some Brits who believe that if more poeople in their nation were armed that they may be able to prevent some the terrorism that occurs there. But restricting gun ownership only means that criminal have to fear being shot by police, who may take minutes at best to respond.

Make no mistake, it may come to pass that the killer in Blacksburg obtained his weaponry legally. But the opposite may be true and in the end it matters little. But sacrificing our freedoms upon the altar of our grief will only lead to more grief. Having restricted gun laws has not spared Britain or any other nation from the animal instincts of some of it citizens and it won't do so here either.