March 7, 2001
John Q. Conscience

The only thing more despicable than the shooting deaths of the 2 students and the wounding of 13 others at Santana High School in southern California, was George W. Bush's prevaricated response to the problem of gun violence in this country.

He described the shooting as, "an act of cowardice". He could not be more wrong. It was an act of strength; a strength availed by the power of the gun; a force so raw and so complete that it can imbue a person of modest physical strength with titanic power. If George W. Bush thinks that it was "cowardice" that Charles Andrew Williams was afflicted with, he should pick up the dictionary:

COWARDICE: Want of courage to face danger; extreme timidity; pusillanimity; base fear of danger or hurt; lack of spirit.

In a very spirited response to being picked on at school, Charles Andrew Williams faced his enemies and his fears; psychologically, this is an important act of self-consciousness. And this country would have supported his stand if he had not been armed with a tool of power and death. As a society that worships violence as a means to subdue morally corrupt behavior [domestically and internationally] or to "beat the other team", seeking to control violence through, as President Bush stated, "[teaching] our children right from wrong and [teaching] values", seems a sad an apathetic effort when compared to the possibility of addressing the problem of keeping the children of this country from being able to procure "weapons of mass destruction" [to use George Bush's favorite international, anti-terrorist euphemism].

When asked the question:

"What can the president do... if anything, to stop children from shooting children?"

George W. Bush responded:

"All of us, all adults in society can teach children right from wrong; can explain that there is... that life is precious."

Now that's cowardice. George W. Bush has missed the point entirely; or more to the point: he has been paid handsomely by certain powerful interest groups to miss the point entirely.

If George W. Bush had any moral character and any strength at all, he would have addressed the issue of gun control in this country. Is there any person in this country, other than the President of the United States of America, whose horrified reaction to this tragedy did not include the thought: How did that little boy get that gun?

People with guns kill people. In the interest of "[teaching] children right from wrong" one would think the president of this country would be the first to state and publicly address this obvious fact.

Go to http://www.vpc.org for more information about gun control. The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit organization working to fight firearms violence through research, education, and advocacy.