BBC News Have Your Say

So the BBC News website has this forum where you can post your reaction to recent news stories.

Are you in the area close to this incident? What can be done to make schools safer? Would tightening the law on gun possession make a difference? Is there a 'gun culture' that's becoming more prevalent? Do you own a gun? If so, why? Send us your views.

Well, this morning I figured, "hell, I'm not doing anything yet" so I posted my views. I don't have the exact wording, but it was something like this:

I wouldn't want to live in a country where only the police & the military had guns. I wouldn't want to live in a land where victims cannot defend themselves against criminals.

Why is it that these types of shootings always happen where the vicims are disarmed? Like schools?

This is why I have the necessary gun permits and carry a handgun on me.

Or something very close to that, because again, I can't recall the exact words, and I haven't been able to find my post on the BBC site. Which for awhile made me think that they had censored what I had written. I mean, they are Brits, and the Brits are very anti-gun.

But then something very unusuall happened. As part of posting, you have to give a name, a location, an email address, and a phone number. And about 10 minutes ago, I got a phone call from a guy from the BBC World News asking if I'd like to participate in a call-in radio program and air my thoughts on the issue. Now, my first reaction was, "yes!" but then my brain got going and thought, "you remember all those times you've watched Fox News or the Daily Show and you have thought, 'how did these people agree to get ambushed like this'? Well, here is your chance not to sound like a Raving Mad American Gun Loonatic to all those anti-gun Brits."

So I respectfully declined to go on the air "because I'm at work right now". The guy then asked if they could still use my written comments for the show, and I said, "Definitely."

I only wish I could have remembered to give them the url for this blog. Oh well...