Ok, as an exercise for the reader, I think it is time for a little comparing and contrasting.  The Clinton News Network was kind enough to publish two differing viewpoints on the recent Virginia Tech atrocity, as a kind of "both sides of the coin" exercise...  Maybe they are tired of Fox's "Fair and Balanced" tagline.  However, whatever their intentions may or may not have been, the situation was unfairly balanced to begin with. 

On the one hand, we have a world-renown journalist, who has had the distinction of writing articles for Newsweek, the San Diego Business Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and many other well-known news sources, on topics ranging from international relations, governmental construction, politics, and other fields.  On the other hand, we have a hard-core rock-star, who, granted, has sold millions of albums over his illustrious career spanning over four different bands and way too many performances.  Offhand, you would think this to be a relatively, if not remarkably, unbalanced head-to-head face-off, and, amazingly enough, you would be correct.  The rocker kicked the journalist's ass. 

Unfortunately, the journalist lost with his opening line, but we will disregard that for the time being.  He goes on to regard the Bill of Rights as an "apples and oranges list", simply because the guarantee of the right to free speech has little to do with the guarantee of the right to bear arms.  To be frank, no shit, Sherlock.  And what, exactly, does the guarantee of the right to free speech have to do with the banning of housing soldiers in civilians' homes?  Or the guarantee against the abridgement of the right of security against unreasonable search and seizures?  Or any of other nine Amendments comprising the Bill of Rights, or any of the other Amendments period?  To say that Tom Plate is already failing at the logic game would be putting it mildly.  He goes on to express his dismay at how the Second Amendment is turning out, but also his approval of how the First is working...  I guess that is why people like him are jumping on the "hate speech" and "verbal abuse" and all that ridiculous nonsense bandwagon as quickly as possible... convenient how he left that out.  Then, for some ungodly reason, he raised a straw man that absolutely no one had ever bothered addressing before, simply because of the sheer stupidity of it - that the Virginia Tech murderer was being identified as being Korean because people are trying to say that all Koreans are violent, or should be eyed warily, or some other idiotic go-se like that.  Newsflash, Tom:  the murderer was identified as Korean...  BECAUSE HE WAS KOREAN.  Duh.  It seems as though Tommy is the only one making an issue of the murderer's ethnic background... irony, anyone?  Next thing we know, he will start calling foul over referring to the murderer as a male.  And then he continues the trend of not thinking, and makes the biggest gaffe of them all - in one sentence, he says these words:  "the student responsible for the slaying"...  and in the immediately following sentence, he blames the firearms the student was wielding.  Sorry, Tommy-boy, you cannot have it both ways.  However, considering the overall theme of your particular article, I have no doubt which party you actually and honestly blame for the massacre, and, needless to say, it is not the deranged student.  Unfortunately, the stupidity continues, with him coming to the obvious (at least to him, as well as anyone else who has seen this pattern before) conclusion that, in order to decrease, if not completely end, this unacceptable trend of firearm violence, the only reasonable solution is to simply get rid of the guns.  Yeah, that worked so well in the past.  What was that Santayana said?  Considering you cannot seem to remember the past in the slightest bit, Tommy, I guess it is no wonder you cannot remember that particular quote.  Of course, at the end of his article, the truth finally comes out - his passionate interest in expanding the not-so "gun free zones" around our contry's universities to encompass the entire country itself stems from a close encounter with a firearm he had, unfortunately from the wrong end of the barrel.  While I am very sorry for your mugging, I am sorry, Tommy, but your misfortune does not constitute sufficient cause to turn the entire country into unwilling victims.  Of course, if the robber was not sure whether or not you were actually armed yourself... do you really think he would have bothered you?  Deterrence is a wonderful tool. 

Which is right where Ted Nugent picks up.  Where Tommy had nothing but personal feelings and opinions backing up his specious and hole-ridden "argument", Mr. Nugent provided concrete examples to back up his rationale:  the shootings at Springfield, Oregon, ended by a firearm-knowledgeable individual; the shootings at Pearl High School in Mississippi, ended by an armed citizen...  the list goes on.  In fact, the list goes on every single day.  I would explain the solidity of each of Mr. Nugent's points, except that he provided a perfect summation at the end of his article: 

Pray for the families of victims everywhere, America. Study the methodology of evil. It has a profile, a system, a preferred environment where victims cannot fight back. Embrace the facts, demand upgrade and be certain that your children's school has a better plan than Virginia Tech or Columbine. Eliminate the insanity of gun-free zones, which will never, ever be gun-free zones. They will only be good guy gun-free zones, and that is a recipe for disaster written in blood on the altar of denial. I, for one, refuse to genuflect there.

What more needs be said? 

Amusingly enough, the Los Angeles Times, the newspaper which contained an article that provides one of the rusty hingpins for Tommy's "perspective", recently ran another article...  entitled Gun Control Isn't the Answer.  The best part is that particular article was written after the Virginia Tech shootings...  change in times, change in events, change in tune, eh?  Maybe there is hope for mainstream journalism after all (though the person writing the article was actually a professor... even better, considering the "last bastions of liberalism).  Even more coincidentally, the World Net Daily ran an article after the massacre explanining how a very much not-gun-free-zone is faring...  and not very surprisingly, it is faring quite well - murder free for 25 years.  After all, when everyone in the town is possibly/probably armed, who would want to try to rob/mug/assault/murder anyone else? 

This topic is obviously far from being a closed case, and I confess that I was sorely tempted to go ahead and snag a M1A SOCOM today at the range... just in case the lawmakers start getting even more stupid than before.  However, it is good to see that more and more people are starting to realize that simply getting rid of the guns does not solve the problem, and barely even treats the symptoms - instead, it turns everyone into unwilling and defenseless victims. 

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Right Pundits, 123beta, Maggie's Notebook, basil's blog, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Cao's Blog, Leaning Straight Up, Conservative Cat, Conservative Thoughts, Pursuing Holiness, Pet's Garden Blog, Rightlinx, Faultline USA, Sujet- Celebrities, stikNstein... has no mercy, Stageleft, stikNstein... has no mercy, The Right Nation, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe, as well as Stop the ACLU and Wizbang (which brought the Kennesaw situation to my attention).