People kill people . . . with guns, especially (updated)

First of all, grief with and for those who died and were wounded at Virginia Tech, and their families. Grief with and for the students, faculty and staff of the university, the town of Blacksburg, and the state of Virginia. I have a daughter, a step-daughter, and a step-son in college, and I teach college. I am not in your shoes, but I have a good imagination. Peace to you all.

Second, at least for the rest of us: is there a way we can say "never again"? I heard it again today at a coffee shop: "guns don't kill people; people kill people." That is true; that is also not quite the point. (Nuclear weapons don't kill people; people kill people.) I was struck by one news report I heard that said the Virginia Tech shooter used a kind of high-capacity magazine for his pistol(s) that had been outlawed up until a few years ago. (Strict constructionists might recall that the "right to bear arms" had muzzle-loaded weapons in mind. Hard to kill 30 people in a few minutes with one of those.)

I saw this item in Americablog today: The real history of guns and the 2000 election by Joe Sudbay, who it turns out was an executive at Handgun Control Inc. in the '90s. As far as he is concerned, one of Al Gore's campaign failings that year was to keep his head down on the gun issue, allowing his opponent, the current Occupant, to rhetorically move to the "middle", and escape his identification with concealed weapons laws (even, mein Gott, in "in churches, nursing homes and amusement parks") that he had signed in Texas.

Sudbay concludes his piece:

After the elections, the Democratic brain trust immediately blamed the gun issue for their election losses. In today's Salon piece, Alex Koppelmann explained how former Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO) was one of the first to lay the blame for the 2000 election losses on guns. . . .

It was painful to watch this all play out. But, this is what Democrats do far too often. They take an issue that the GOP fears and somehow turn it (or allow it to be turned) against themselves. People vote for candidates who have convictions -- but, too often, Democrats run from their convictions.

Lots of people are deifying Al Gore these days, but in 2000, he ran a bad campaign. He never should have lost to George Bush. He ran from Bill Clinton, who, by the way, never backed away from the gun issue. But Gore didn't become president, and the Democrats didn't take back the House, so guns became the culprit. (Interestingly, the Democrats did take back the Senate by defeating pro-NRA candidates in Washington, Missouri, Michigan, Delaware and Florida.)

All those pundits and commentators who so glibly claim that guns was the losing issue in 2000 should really do their homework. Sometimes the conventional wisdom is wrong (e.g., George Bush is a popular president). And sometimes, it's even deadly.

Never again? Too much to hope in any absolute sense, for after all "people kill people". But surely it is not too much to say that this society can take steps to minimize the dangers of modern weaponry loose on the streets and in the dorms. Fight the NRA.

UPDATE: And he-e-e-e-re's Johnny! From AP, via Crooks and Liars, Sen. John McCain in the aftermath of the shooting:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain declared Wednesday he believes in "no gun control," making the strongest affirmation of support for gun rights in the GOP field since the Virginia Tech massacre.

The Arizona senator said in Summerville, S.C., that the country needs better ways to identify dangerous people like the gunman who killed 32 people and himself in the Blacksburg, Va., rampage. But he opposed weakening gun rights and, when asked whether ammunition clips sold to the public should be limited in size, said, "I don't think that's necessary at all."

"No gun control". No size limits on ammunition clips. Thus speaks the Senator from Tombstone, Arizona.