The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/28/09 Section: Opinions

JASON BUTT

Please tell me, Michael Fitzpatrick: Where are these cries coming from? And who is crying? Are these people the only ones crying? In Fitzpatrick's column on Monday ("Shooter, not weapons should take heat"), he writes he can hear gun control advocates whining for a change in the Constitution's Second Amendment after this past weekend's unfortunate events - defending the right Americans have to own and possess firearms.

And that's fine. It's OK for him to believe this. I understand why he feels this way.

But what I don't understand is why he's only hearing political cries. In trying to defend America's gun laws, he wrote a piece that reads like a last-second effort to fill space on The Red & Black's Opinions page.

And due to the diction of the piece, there is no valuable commentary presented. Yes, people who use guns to kill people are the ones at fault. Yes, violent crime is down statistically. But the only cries Fitzpatrick heard after this horrific tragedy were from the other political spectrum than he agrees with?

Did he not hear cries from the Athens community mourning a second gun-related tragedy in a little more than a year (the first being the death of Athens native Eve Carson in Chapel Hill, N.C.)? Did he not hear cries from the victims' friends and family?

What about Marie Bruce's two children? Is anyone crying for them?

And what does the NRA have to do with this shooting? So, 250 million people own guns. That's part of a defense not to enact gun control? Would Fitzpatrick selectively hear Ted Nugent's cries if Barack Obama helped sign a gun control bill into a law?

And why is the differing point of view "blah blah blah?" The only "blah blah blah" I'm reading seems like an obvious preemptive defense: The shooter should take the blame and not the guns. Really?

In the wake of what happened, what weight does either side of this issue hold? Some people will agree, some will disagree. In the end, three people are dead and a killer is on the loose.

I learned a valuable lesson not too long ago: In times of tragedy, a bigger picture displays - one that clearly shows life is too short to be taken for granted.

I can't fault Fitzpatrick for his opinion. And I know Fitzpatrick well enough to know he didn't mean to offend anyone in this time of horror and grief.

But the tone of his words and the cries he heard struck a chord with me.

After reading his column, I remembered the collective cries from the Athens and Chapel Hill communities at Athens First United Methodist Church last March, mourning the loss a promising young woman the rest of the world painfully won't see - murdered by people with guns.

Fitzpatrick may not have heard those cries, and maybe he's fortunate for it. Death changes the people associated with the departed.

And though gun control is an issue for debate, now might not be the best time to raise the topic given the circumstances - especially in reference to hearing people cry.

- Jason Butt is the sports editor for The Red & Black.

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