Jeff here -
I belong to a mailing list concerned with horror fiction. We have been discussing the very real horror that occurred in Colorado. A list member from England who we will call Cat weighed in with an interesting viewpoint.With her permission, I reproduced her comments below (and left her misspellings in - I didn't want to do any editing of the posting's content). The supposedly sparse violence in the UK, Canada and Japan is often contrasted with comparable tragedies in America by anti-gunners to shame us. Maybe we are not recieving all of the story. Crime appears to be prevalent in Canada, the violence and the Yakuza influence is spreading in Japan (according to an ominous 4/25/99 Philadelphia Inquirer article) and as for England...
Cat -
"America, Hell Britain's just as bad." Reply to: HORROR@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
"America has the death penalty, stronger sentences but also stricter controls on people owning guns. In BVritain it is very difficult to get a gun permit, there are few places for open air shooting ranges (Not texas plains etc!!) and sentences for gun crimes are terribly leniant (sp?).
Last weekend a car drove down a street in Bristol firing automatic weapons out of the windows. 7 people stood at a busstop were mown down.
Over the weekend two nail bombs exploded in Londons ethnic regions. The first was aimed at Black people and the second at Bangladesh community. No-one has admitted liability and the police seem to have drawn a dead end (no pun intended)
Yesterday Jill Dando was killed by a single gun shot to the head in a proffessional style killing. She was a presenter on Crime watch -kind of Englands most wanted! It seems to be a revenge killing for someone she helped send down.
Does tragic news like this get to America I wondered. Just a thought, that we hear of your tradgedys but do you hear and moun ours?? "
Just a thought!
I belong to a mailing list concerned with horror fiction. We have been discussing the very real horror that occurred in Colorado. A list member from England who we will call Cat weighed in with an interesting viewpoint.With her permission, I reproduced her comments below (and left her misspellings in - I didn't want to do any editing of the posting's content). The supposedly sparse violence in the UK, Canada and Japan is often contrasted with comparable tragedies in America by anti-gunners to shame us. Maybe we are not recieving all of the story. Crime appears to be prevalent in Canada, the violence and the Yakuza influence is spreading in Japan (according to an ominous 4/25/99 Philadelphia Inquirer article) and as for England...
Cat -
"America, Hell Britain's just as bad." Reply to: HORROR@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
"America has the death penalty, stronger sentences but also stricter controls on people owning guns. In BVritain it is very difficult to get a gun permit, there are few places for open air shooting ranges (Not texas plains etc!!) and sentences for gun crimes are terribly leniant (sp?).
Last weekend a car drove down a street in Bristol firing automatic weapons out of the windows. 7 people stood at a busstop were mown down.
Over the weekend two nail bombs exploded in Londons ethnic regions. The first was aimed at Black people and the second at Bangladesh community. No-one has admitted liability and the police seem to have drawn a dead end (no pun intended)
Yesterday Jill Dando was killed by a single gun shot to the head in a proffessional style killing. She was a presenter on Crime watch -kind of Englands most wanted! It seems to be a revenge killing for someone she helped send down.
Does tragic news like this get to America I wondered. Just a thought, that we hear of your tradgedys but do you hear and moun ours?? "
Just a thought!