OFF! the top of my head

By Chad Armbruster

Well it's that time again kiddies. It's been a whole month and I know you've missed me so here's the update you've all been waiting for. Yes, my girlfriend agreed to marry me. I know you've been on pins and needles waiting for that one, right? Anyway, on with the ranting, raving and such that you've all come to know and expect from a magazine of this caliber. Okay, so after much trial and tribulation I finally decided to brave the world of violence in society.

As I sit here typing this column I'm alone in my apartment (except for my cat), watching CNN (I'm just talented like that) and the news has just broken about another school shooting. So, with all the intelligence an optimistic 25-year-old can offer to a cat, who's licking himself in places I could only dream of, I am immediately think to myself. Those damn gun totting idiots! What in the %#&& is going on in this nation! Blah, blah, blah, etc., etc., etc. You know the rest of it and I'm sure one or two of you out there in libertarian land have thought about it too. However, after calming myself (and laughing at my cat for falling off a shelf) I started to try and see the other side of the coin. You know which one I'm talking about, that "damn gun-totting idiot" side of the coin that you hate to even look at let alone think about. So, my thought is how many chances were there to intervene in this kids life?

See, a lot of times we see the end result of an action and, working backward from there, begin to postulate all of these ways that it should've/would've/could've been handled differently. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not about to go out and buy me a Smith and Wesson or anything. I'm just wondering how many times could this have been stopped before it got to this point. My problem was that by seeing the end result of an action I immediately thought that I knew the answer -- take away the guns.

In a utopian society it might work but here in the land of the free and the home of the Second Amendment (with all the fixins) it doesn't. It's just not even in the realm of any possibility what so ever, that we could take even one gun manufacturer down for what happened in that school on March 5, 2001. It's just not going to happen. Now watch it happen and turn me into an even bigger idiot. So, (to quote the Urge) where do we go from here? My best guess, as the optimistic 25-year-old, would be to try and live with guns in my life. Now I don't have to like it, but it's just not the American "thang" to start throwing guns away.

Now this next paragraph is for all the parents in the house. (Go watch Dawson's Creek or something kids.) I can't go on about this subject without touching on one thing. Now, I'll admit I don't know much about this kid who pulled the trigger. But I'm willing to bet he needed some attention that he wasn't getting from somewhere in his life. Now I'm not saying that his parents didn't love him enough or buy him enough Playdough when he was a kid. All I'm saying is that sometimes in situations like these it's less likely to happen if the parents play an active role in the child's life. Again I'm not saying that all of this is the parent's fault or that it even could have been prevented by the parents. All I'm trying to say is this -- parents make time for your kids. I know some of you are already filing through the excuse pile in your head of why you can't spend as much time as you'd like to with them. But all I can say is it's better to know your kids than find out what they're up to on the 5 o'clock news. Think about it.

Well that's my story for now. But if I don't like the way this place is going I guess I could always leave. There's always Canada. Right?