Apr 25 2008
Killer, by Proxy, Selling More Guns…
I woke up this morning, and before I could even have a cup of god’s nectar (coffee for lay people), I managed to confront myself with one of the most ignorant, self satisfying, capitalist (in a bad way) things I will probably read today. Also, I’m cranky from being up most of the night so I feel I must rant about something.
The guy who sold fire arms to the two student killers at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois Universities is offering the guns that he sells on over 100 web sites, at cost to any legal adult who can buy one. Initially, he intended to only sell them to students, but couldn’t tell the difference between a scholar and Backyard Billy (you know that guy who collects shotguns and displays them lovingly on his gun racks…). His intention? Giving students (and everyone else) the means to protect themselves.
Guess where he made the announcement? AT VIRGINIA TECH! ALSO, BY INVITATION!
A student group that is lobbying for students to be allowed concealed handguns (with a permit of course) invited this guy onto the campus where a gun that he sold caused one of the deadliest student killing escapades in history, to sell more guns.
I am not anti-gun, nor am I Charleton Heston, but this seems pretty much completely wacko to me. I understand that guns can be used for protection, and often are. I am also aware that people shoot for fun and for hunting and what-not. My problem is this guy had the testicular fortitude to set foot on a campus where the majority of the student body not only reviles him, but likely has had nightmares because of him. The students that invited him to Virginia Tech ought to be ashamed, the first amendment not withstanding. But the salesman should have known better than to take them up on their offer.
Now, he is selling the guns at cost, for absolutely no profit for the next two weeks. So how can I call him a profiteering, heartless capitalist? He’s going to sell a ton of guns, and in doing so, drum up a ton of non-gun business and repeat customers. He knows that or he is either an idiot or a very bad businessman. This is an opportunity for him to make some money off of other peoples sorrow and fear. It’s just as bad as all of the contractors hoping for a continued conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan so they can keep raking in the dough.
It makes me sick.
One Response to “Killer, by Proxy, Selling More Guns…”
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Wow, talk about disgusting. I mean, I can sympathize with students wanting to get concealed weapons allowed on campus, but couldn’t the Tech students have gotten someone else to come to campus, if they felt they had to get anyone at all? This is an example of what, in polite circles, is called poor taste (in not-so-polite circles it may be referred to as a party foul).