"Evil" description unhelpful - Reader comments at The New York Sun

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A Glimpse of Evil

Submitted by Guy B. Jones, Apr 17, 2007 14:20

I find the editorial's labeling of the culprit as "evil" rather unhelpful. Certainly his acts could be labelled as evil. However, clearly this was a man who was mentally ill or severely emotionally disturbed. Although his actions were inexcusable, it has long been acknowledged that such persons may not be able to exercise moral judgment, and hence are not criminally liable for their crimes in a legal sense. Obviously, no trial will occur in this case to try that fact. However, for the editors to invoke a blanket and simplistic term such as "evil" is wrong; it would be evil if the culprit had been sane. More than likely, he was not.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
The Virginia Tech shootings provoke cries for draconian gun control laws enlisting wisdom from bureaucrats and politicians comparable to those... [MORE]	Nolan Nelson	Apr 21, 2007 21:22
You all are missing the point here. This is what happens when you try to limit who can own a... [MORE]	Jack Modena	Apr 29, 2007 18:01
Every time an atrocity of this nature occurs, somehow we as a nation seem to forget the loss of X... [MORE]	A Troubled American	Apr 18, 2007 18:07
We will never get rid of guns in this country. And I say that being an anti-gun person. I have... [MORE]	Garrett	Apr 18, 2007 13:51
To Ciancaglini,Garrett,Saterlee. You are living in a dream world if you thing any kind of a law would have stopped... [MORE]	Rogers Marshall	Apr 18, 2007 18:23
There is no sanity in the 'Insanity of Gun Obsession' response. The point this person misses, and most people who... [MORE]	CR Mountjoy	Apr 17, 2007 17:46
Some of what I am reading about Cho today suggest he was crazy not evil. There is a difference. Unfortunately, from... [MORE]	obera	Apr 17, 2007 14:49
I find the editorial's labeling of the culprit as "evil" rather unhelpful. Certainly his acts could be labelled as evil....	Guy B. Jones	Apr 17, 2007 14:20
Hey, 9-11 was the biggest mass slaughter in our history...No guns were involved. [MORE]	Edmond J. Gruenenfelder	Apr 19, 2007 12:26
Although it is nearly universally accepted that there are individuals who are mentally burdened, the murdered remain murdered, and the... [MORE]	George Rivera	Apr 23, 2007 20:18
As a pediatric physician, I can tell you universal allowance of handgun possession is not the answer to the escalating... [MORE]	Doreen Ciancaglini	Apr 17, 2007 14:13
Nearly twenty years ago a woman friend of mine, staunchly anti-gun, was sitting in her boyfriend's convertible waiting for him... [MORE]	A.L.	Apr 17, 2007 13:50
If it had been a tornado in VA, they would have found a way to warn the students. It had been... [MORE]	Jay Larson	Apr 17, 2007 11:59
The constitution allows everyone the authority to own a weapon. When it was written its constructors had no way of... [MORE]	dan mckeown	Apr 30, 2007 05:30
Naturally, what we--the country with the most guns,the most murders by guns, the most weapons manufacturers and weapon sellers in... [MORE]	Don Satterlee	Apr 17, 2007 11:25
Allow me to correct Don Saterlee. Virginia Tech type incidents do not occur daily in Iraq. What does occur... [MORE]	David Eisenberg	Apr 18, 2007 12:09
>>The Second Amendment was never intended to arm violently disposed people with modern mass killing machines. Well, that is correct. The... [MORE]	Dave Blackmon	Apr 20, 2007 15:13

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