A Few Brief Notes Tonight

We have four presentations this week to prepare for, but a few short items before we go.

Gun violence, despite what the Parisians would like you to believe, isn't solely an American production. Only in America? Hardly.

Five years ago I did research for an article on mass shootings. Here are a few of the headlines I came across:

"8 slain at council meeting"
"Teen wounds 5 in tech school"
"Suspected gang shooting leaves 4 dead, 2 injured"
"Man kills ex-bosses, principal, himself"
"Gunman kills self, 7 others"

The incidents these headlines describe occurred in France, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany and Italy, respectively. In the five years since that research, crime rates have continued to climb in many other countries with far stricter gun control laws than those in the United States. ...

In the 2002 presidential election in France, many political observers cited soaring crime as the Number 1 issue. Nationwide strikes by thousands of France's police officers a few months before the election heightened the issue. The strikes came in response to what police said are growing dangers from gun-wielding criminals. They had strong evidence to cite, including the recent shooting deaths of two police officers during an armed robbery in a Paris suburb.

I've heard people say "only in America" in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings. Clearly, though, it's not only in America. Terrible incidents like these have occurred and are occurring in countries across the world, including countries that severely restrict or ban the private ownership of firearms, and countries with a reputation of peace and harmony.

Which reminds us of the old joke. "For Sale: French WWII Army Rifle. Never Fired. Dropped Once."

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We are also continuing to hear the Virginia Tech shootings referred to as the "worst case of mass murder" by one person (presumably the wording is used to avoid discussing wars on American soil or the 9/11 attacks as "murder"). Regardless, even if you refer to it as the "deadliest act by one person, you'd still be wrong.

The Happy Land social club fire in 1990 killed 87 people. Julio Gonzalez was convicted of murder and arson and sentenced to 174 25-year sentences. This being in New York, of course, he is eligible for parole in eight more years. Down here, he would have already been strapped in and needled.

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Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin is dead. So is author David Halberstam.

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Hey, Europe, are you paying attention? This could be you in 20 years if you don't wake up.

Enough already ... back to work.