Title

I was googling something when I came across this title Xander in the Lost Universe (one of the reasons I love googling - you never know what you'll find). It was a paperback written by John Peel and based on something by Gene Roddenberry - I swear they must be going through every scrap of paper that man left behind in order to find something saleable. Now as Rodddenberry died long before our Xander was a gleam in Joss' eye the book has nothing to do with the BtVS'verse but wouldn't it  make a neat title for an interesting fic?

The Tragedy

Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind. - from Blowin' in the Wind by Bob Dylan


I've been doing a lot of thinking on the subject of guns in the days since the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I firmly believe that the tragedy will be compounded if the subject of tighter gun control is not addressed. In an ideal world there would be no need for guns or other such weapons at all and we could turn them all into plowshares but we obviously don't live in an ideal world.

People like hillbillie and others have made me aware that having a gun can save lives but does anyone really need more than one? The United States has the largest number of guns in private hands of any country in the world with 60 million people owning a combined arsenal of over 200 million firearms. There are almost more guns in our country than people. 
The Second Amendment was written over two centuries ago in 1787 and states: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Let me repeat that - a well regulated militia which these days means the National Guard or something similar not every Tom, Dick or Cho who wants a gun to kill innocent people.

Back when our founding fathers established our constitution firearms were pistols and flintlocks. They had no way to imagine the firepower our modern weapons are capable of. And a handgun for protection is vastly different from military-grade assault weapons. Want to play with weapons with a lot of firepower go join the National Guard. Hunters might need rifles but what kind of lousy hunter needs an assault weapon against Bambi or even a predator like a wolf or bear or cougar nor do they need armor-piercing bullets.

In order to drive a car a person has to take lessons and pass a test in order to get a license to drive. Shouldn't we have something similar for guns which can be far more lethal than cars? Some way to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and psychos and the incompetent in all states not just a few

We need gun control legislation that concerns child-proof locks, background checks on gun purchasers, the outlawing of assault weapons and armor-piercing bullets and a creation of a nationwide database of ballistic fingerprints in order to track the movement of the nation's guns. Too many innocent people have died because too many angry men have had access to too many guns and unless we come to our senses regarding this love affair some men have for firepower many more will die.