The best line about gun control and the 9/11 attacks comes courtsey of the New York Times‘ John Tierney in an article about war-related toys,
American males’ fascination with guns doesn’t seem so misplaced now that they’re attacking Al Qaeda’s fortress. No one is suggesting a Million Mom March on Tora Bora.
Second-best gun related quote comes from a piece by Lisa Snell talking about her 5-year-old’s reaction to seeing the 9/11 attack on television,
My mother-in-law called from Baltimore before 7:00 AM [Pacific] to tell us to turn on our television. My five year old saw the live coverage of the second plane crashing into the WTC. He immediately went and found his Spiderman t-shirt and told me that he and Gavin would not be at school when I picked them up because they were going with the Power Rangers to save the world. He urgently wanted to get to school to call a meeting with Gavin and Tanner, his five-year-old compadres, to decide what to do—a typical reaction from a boy who lives and breathes bad guys versus good guys. People are always talking about how bad television is for children and they seldom talk about how bad their schools are for children. Yet, I would rather be on a highjacked airplane with someone inoculated by Power Rangers than someone who believes the message of every school institution: that weapons are bad and that the authorities and the government will solve all problems and protect you.
Amen. At the moment, my daughter alternates between Power Rangers and Batman (we watch the extremely violent Justice League cartoon together). Someday, when I have nothing better to do, I’ll write up a summary of psychological studies of children and mock violent play (it ain’t necessarily a bad thing).