Derek Zeanah
New member
Was digging through CSPAN archives of some of Alan Keyes speaches and ran across the following. I don't think I've ever heard a better argument to "what can we do about gun violence" before.
I thought it would be good to emphasize it.
My question now is why I never saw this guy back when it mattered (we don't get cable TV).
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
>> My name is Shawn Britchard and I'm the founder of a program called Brothers Against Guns. About five years ago my little brother was shot and killed, and I'm probably the oldest one here and I say that to ask you what is your issues on violence prevention because I haven't heard any candidates really speak on violence prevention and gun violence among youth? >>
I think that the most important thing here to remember and it's where I take issue with a lot of people who have gun control in their mouths all the time, I think that the whole concept of gun control is a lie. Why? Because guns don't need control. People need control. So what is the answer? Let's stop acting like we need to be afraid of guns and start remembering that what we need is we need to do those things that will inculcate in people a sense of responsibility, mutual respect, self-control, discipline. The key is moral education. The key is education for responsibility. We have instruments out there, cars for instance, which in terms of the number of lives they take every year are actually far more dangerous than guns. Does this mean that nobody drives a car? No. How have we tried to deal with the problem? We've educated people and in educating them to the right and responsible use of the instrument we have reduced the number of lives lost and every day increased the safety factor. And people will say, well, guns aren't like cars; we don't need them every day. No, but you need them on particular days when if you don't have them, you're going to be real sorry, see. A car is one of the--and that's why I'm a great respecter of the second amendment. I believe that freedom requires that a people be armed, and on the day a people is incapable of handling that fact because they're so irresponsible and undisciplined that they can't have guns without killing each other, they have given up their freedom. And so the--what is the answer now? The answer is education. The answer is to make sure--and when I say education I don't mean silly facts. I mean moral education, the shaping of heart and conscience in the fear of God in such a way that we do not look at other human beings and see in them things that we can dispose of according to our will. That means to kill when they get in our way and abuse when we need to make use of them. So I think all forms of violence because guns aren't the only ones. Why don't we understand that when you point a gun at somebody and shoot them, you've done violence, but when you sell them a drug you've also done them violence. When you go out and you are engaging in sexually licentious activity and conceive a child you don't take responsibility for, who ends up prey to all the horrors of the world because you're not bearing your responsibility. That's an act of violence. And I think we need to educate everybody in this society starting with all the young men and women to have a sense of responsibility toward each other so that all these forms of violence will be stopped in the place where we need to stop them; in the heart before they reach the street. [/quote]
[This message has been edited by dzeanah (edited June 04, 2000).]
I thought it would be good to emphasize it.
My question now is why I never saw this guy back when it mattered (we don't get cable TV).
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
>> My name is Shawn Britchard and I'm the founder of a program called Brothers Against Guns. About five years ago my little brother was shot and killed, and I'm probably the oldest one here and I say that to ask you what is your issues on violence prevention because I haven't heard any candidates really speak on violence prevention and gun violence among youth? >>
I think that the most important thing here to remember and it's where I take issue with a lot of people who have gun control in their mouths all the time, I think that the whole concept of gun control is a lie. Why? Because guns don't need control. People need control. So what is the answer? Let's stop acting like we need to be afraid of guns and start remembering that what we need is we need to do those things that will inculcate in people a sense of responsibility, mutual respect, self-control, discipline. The key is moral education. The key is education for responsibility. We have instruments out there, cars for instance, which in terms of the number of lives they take every year are actually far more dangerous than guns. Does this mean that nobody drives a car? No. How have we tried to deal with the problem? We've educated people and in educating them to the right and responsible use of the instrument we have reduced the number of lives lost and every day increased the safety factor. And people will say, well, guns aren't like cars; we don't need them every day. No, but you need them on particular days when if you don't have them, you're going to be real sorry, see. A car is one of the--and that's why I'm a great respecter of the second amendment. I believe that freedom requires that a people be armed, and on the day a people is incapable of handling that fact because they're so irresponsible and undisciplined that they can't have guns without killing each other, they have given up their freedom. And so the--what is the answer now? The answer is education. The answer is to make sure--and when I say education I don't mean silly facts. I mean moral education, the shaping of heart and conscience in the fear of God in such a way that we do not look at other human beings and see in them things that we can dispose of according to our will. That means to kill when they get in our way and abuse when we need to make use of them. So I think all forms of violence because guns aren't the only ones. Why don't we understand that when you point a gun at somebody and shoot them, you've done violence, but when you sell them a drug you've also done them violence. When you go out and you are engaging in sexually licentious activity and conceive a child you don't take responsibility for, who ends up prey to all the horrors of the world because you're not bearing your responsibility. That's an act of violence. And I think we need to educate everybody in this society starting with all the young men and women to have a sense of responsibility toward each other so that all these forms of violence will be stopped in the place where we need to stop them; in the heart before they reach the street. [/quote]
[This message has been edited by dzeanah (edited June 04, 2000).]
) that I am not anti-Republican, I note that my family "voting block" cast five votes for Dr. Keyes in the primary.