Foam rocks as weapons are no laughing matter
Wikimedia Commons | Altered by Dan
Your daily Letter to the Columnist — March 19, 2013
Mr. Casey,
As I was reading your article concerning the absence of guns in the school play, I almost laughed when I read, “Actors and actresses will instead throw black-painted foam balls that are shaped like rocks.”
Instead of laughing, I experienced a sadness and embarrassment at what our country has become.
Thank you for seeing the stupidity of these “rules” and just how little they do to help teach our children the history of our great nation. From 2002-2005 I was proud to carry a rifle and fight on behalf of this community.
Come to think of it, I really wish Middle Eastern countries would start training their kids on how to throw foam balls, they would hurt a lot less than the bullets and shrapnel that me and so many of my brothers have taken.
Andrew Smith
PILOT
March 19, 2013 - 1:30 PM
Maybe we’d all be better off with foam balls than loaded weapons, Mr. Smith. Maybe everyone would end up with a lot less bullets and shrapnel in them.
My son tried to go to see the show Friday night and it had sold out after something like 12 minutes. This silly press about it didn’t have any impact on its success.
Kristen, if we can convince Al Qaeda to plant cans of silly string and confetti poppers on buses rather than pipe bombs, that would help matters.
I think society would be better off if we solved inter-personal problems using American Gladiators pads and batons, honestly.
andrew, i salute you and your brothers for serving our country. thank you and god bless all of our troops. amen!
pens and pencils are next on the list. they can be used as weapons too. you see where the left is taking all of us.
They werent trying to impact its success, just drawing attention to the fact that they’re airbrushing history by getting rid of the guns. In all other versions of the play, and in real life, revolutions require guns. Trying to portray guns in a bad light or act like we never needed them is stupid
OtherJohn, I’d buy that. in 2013 there has to be a way to sort out disagreements that doesn’t involve killing eachother. I’d love to convince AQ of that as well. It depresses me that, god knows how many useless wars and wasted lives later, violence still gets treated like a great option for resolving conflict.
Maybe a Halo 4 tournament.
You know, the world would definitely be a better place if people would solve disputes peacefully. If you have any luck with North Korea or Iran on that, be sure to let us know. Until then, it doesn’t really accomplish much, short of ensuring defeat, to try that approach unilaterally.
As far as re-writing history, to spare kids the exposure to the “evil” of inanimate objects like guns, it is not only a bad idea as it recounts an inaccurate history, but also a dumb one. Atheists and others constantly deride Christians for their “superstitions”, but in the next argument would have us believe that mere exposure to an evil inanimate talisman like a gun, even in a fictional setting, will have so powerful an effect that it would corrupt an otherwise innocent, normal child and lead to violence. So tell me again, who is superstitious?
“You know, the world would definitely be a better place if people would solve disputes peacefully. If you have any luck with North Korea or Iran on that, be sure to let us know. Until then, it doesn’t really accomplish much, short of ensuring defeat, to try that approach unilaterally.”
–Chuck
I have an idea! Let’s put Iran and North Korea in the same category! As equal threats to world domination!
In those terms, it’s a total joke, particularly for North Korea, and to a lesser extent for Iran. Despite the bluster, neither one of them threaten us. NK has to hire Italians to teach them how to make pizza, for goodness sake. And you’re scared of THEM?
What a laugh Chuck. Dude, take a valium . . . or something.
Really Chuck? You think if kids aren’t carrying guns around they don’t realize guns exist? Maybe for the sake of authenticity they should take a few rounds in the gut. So stupid, and I can’t believe this even became a story on this blog.
I have zero concerns about Iran and North Korea. Hide under the bed maybe, you’ll feel “safer”.
dan, you forgot to mention porno. take a viagra and get a hold of your self!
I wish there were no kitchen fires, either. However, I’ll keep a fire extinguisher handy — in the meantime.
I wish there were no illness in the world, either. However, I’ll not unilaterally cancel my health insurance — in the meantime.
Maybe we’d all be better off with foam balls. However, ….
If wishes were horses
Beggars would ride:
If turnips were bayonets
I would wear one by my side.
— I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 427.
This one is so far down the rabbit hole to me. Unless they were going to find some 17th Century muskets there was no gun available that would be correct and gun props would be just as fake as anything else they used. The sad fact of that “Revolution” was that many of the people were only armed with pitchforks, clubs, and their bodies and they were fodder for the troops and their cannon.
That we are even still discussing this, just shows our angst over guns in society.
There is no need to pretend every use is benign or noble. And given the news we hear daily, people have every right to be leery about guns in society. Guns are too easy to get, carry and use. Too often, that is a very bad thing.
What North Korea or Iran have to do with people in our society carrying guns, or school play props, I do not know.
I also do not know anyone who has said “mere exposure to an evil inanimate talisman like a gun, even in a fictional setting, will have so powerful an effect that it would corrupt an otherwise innocent, normal child and lead to violence“.
The effects on the “otherwise innocent, normal child” has never been the concern, it is the effect on the not normal child who indulges in the fantasy of using an “evil inanimate talisman like a gun” to get rid of or punish their “tormentors” or just those they dislike. It happens all too frequently in fact. The reason it happens all too frequently is that guns are easy to get, carry, conceal and use. I do not need anyone to admit it, for that to be the problem we face.
#7….Moronic complacency….How many deaths was Bin Laden responsible for after Clinton`s idiotic complacency ? “You can`t even lead a liberal to water“.
Harry Reid can`t even get 40 votes for ANY gun measure…..must be election time. Now, lets continue to destroy the aforementioned 40.
Maybe the depletion of guns is a necessity…it will truly strip the left of thier FREEDOMS….especially that of speech.
“Maybe the depletion of guns is a necessity…”
You mean the depletion of guns that leaves us with just 300 million or so in the U.S., Awood?
Mr. Casey, I got a chuckle out of your nom de guere. So in your honor I think I’ll sit down in my easy chair after supper with a cool glass of milk and bread and listen to some Duane Eddy.