- It's now the day after. The initial shock
has worn off and now we set out to digest as much of the news coming
from Virginia Tech as we can. Predictably, the usual suspects are
already out from under their beds and making quite a bit of noise.
Usual suspects? Number one on that list would be the anti-Second
Amendment crowd .. the gun control lobby. Actually, they didn't wait
until today .. they were pounding the media payment by mid-afternoon
yesterday. Another group of usual suspects is a rather new breed. I
don't think they have an actual name yet. Blamesters comes to mind.
They see a tragic event and the immediately set out to assign blame. As
soon as they've figured out who they think is responsible, they start
calling for resignations or firings.
-
- Blame? The person responsible for the
shootings yesterday was the man with the gun. We're still waiting for
an identity, though I don't know what good that's going to do.
-
- First, let's deal with the blame game. More
Virginia Tech students would be alive right now if... students had been
kept from going to class after the first shootings there were stricter
gun control laws people with concealed carry permits were allowed to
carry guns into Virginia Tech dorms and classrooms
-
- Toward the end of yesterday afternoon a
common theme seemed to have developed in the media. Who do we blame for
this? The focus seemed to be on the campus administration and security.
The issue was the two hours that separated the first shooting from the
second. Two students died in the first shooting. Campus authorities
believed (apparently correctly) that this was a domestic situation and
that there was no further threat to other students. There were also
reports that police had "a person of interest" in custody. Other
reports were that a gunman was in custody. Two hours later the
shootings occurred in Norris Hall and 31 more people were killed.
-
- Now we have parents demanding that the
president of Virginia Tech be fired. Why wasn't the entire campus
locked down? Why didn't all students know that there was a shooter lose
on the campus? Well just how are you going to accomplish that? I've
heard a lot of talk about email. Do you think that every student on
that campus was sitting at a computer at that time reading their email?
Many were walking or driving to classes. Maybe they could have used
text messages on cell phones. Would that work? And why would the
administrators do this when they had no reason to believe that there
was any further threat to the other students? Hindsight is perfect,
isn't it. So why don't we fire the administrative staff of Virginia
Tech for not possessing that wonderful quality.
-
- Amazing, isn't it? Guess what? We don't
live in a perfect world!
- The proper course of action here is to
figure out how this tragedy might have been averted, not to go hunting
for the scalps of college administrators who, in all likelihood, took
every reasonable step they could think of to contain this situation
after the first shooting.
-
- Perhaps we're still feeling empowered after
the Imus lynching last week. Hey .. that felt good! Let's get some more
rope and go get some more!
-
- This "blame and fire" response is absurd.
You have one psychopath with a gun who wanted to kill people. How in
the world do you stop him on a college campus where the killer and a
few security officers are the only ones with guns?
-
- And that brings us to the subject of .......
-
- Gun Control
-
-
-
- This is undoubtedly the worst school
shooting, high school, college or otherwise, in the history of our
country. There are some facts, however, about some of these school
shootings of which you probably are not aware. Do you know, for
instance, that at least three shootings in high schools were stopped by
civilians with guns?
- Civilians, not law enforcement. In one case
a civilian was traveling past a school when he saw children running
from the building. One told him that there was a student inside
shooting people. The civilian pulled his gun, ran in side, and
confronted the student.
- The student put down the gun and
surrendered. In another case a high school vice-principal heard that
there was a student in the hallways with a gun. He sprinted a half-mile
to his car. He had a gun in his car so he had to park off campus. He
then sprinted back with the gun to confront the student. Lives saved.
-
- There have been many other cases where
civilians with guns have prevented further carnage at the hands of
killers. The media isn't fond of reporting these episodes because they
don't contribute to the cause of gun control.
-
- The point here is that you are never ever
going to get the guns out of the hands of those who want to use them
for carnage. Never. In all the years of press releases and statements
from the Brady anti- gun organization there has never been one single
gun control plan presented that would take the guns out of the hands of
criminals.
- This is the oddity of gun control. Only law
abiding people are going to abide by gun control laws. Criminals are
not. The anti-gun lobby, and that includes much of the media, will
never give any fair coverage at all to the people who use guns to save
their own lives, or the lives of others.
-
- Now here's something that I have yet to see
reported in the mainstream media. Earlier this year the Virginia
General Assembly failed to act on House Bill 1572. The citizens of
Virginia are permitted to carry concealed weapons if they get a proper
permit from the state government --- unless you are on a college
campus. This bill would have allowed college students and employees to
carry handguns on campus --- with appropriate permits, of course. It
died in subcommittee. After the bill was thrown out up steps Larry
Hincker, a spokesman for Virginia Tech, the site of today's carnage,
who says "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the
General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students,
faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus."
-
- So .. how safe did these students and
faculty in Norris Hall feel yesterday?
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- Now nobody can say for certain, but if it
had been legal for students, employees or faculty members with permits
to carry guns on the campus, is it at all possible that there might be
some students alive today who didn't make it through the carnage? Do
you think the actions of the Virginia General Assembly stopped the
gunman from getting his guns and carrying them to the campus? Of course
not.
- Reports are that the guns had their serial
numbers scratched off.
- The were acquired outside of the normal
channels of commerce and illegally carried to the Virginia Tech campus.
The law meant nothing to the shooter. It meant something to the victims
though, and perhaps that's why there wasn't one person anywhere near
the shooter with a gun that might .. just might have been used for self
defense.
-
- There are those out there who think that
allowing people to carry a concealed weapon on a college campus is an
absurd idea. Why so?
-
- Just how is a college campus that much
different than our society as a whole? Diverse people living together
in common environment pursuing different goals. Where's the big
difference? What is so special about a college campus that students
should not be allowed to own firearms? What if some student in the
dormitory had a gun? What if he heard the argument in an adjoining room
and had accompanied the student advisor when he went to quell the
disturbance? Could that student with a gun have stopped this carnage
before it even began?
- We'll never know. But is there anyone out
there who can say for a certainty that the day might have played out
quite differently?
-
- Some of the less educated will come forth
with lines of thought like "We don't want to return to the wild, wild
west." Why not? What research have you put into your clever little
"wild wild west" line?
-
- Do you know anything about the actual crime
rates in the so-called wild west? Would you be surprised to learn that
the crime rate in what we now refer to as the "wild wild west" was
actually lower than it is in most American cities now? And why would
that be? Because people were armed, for one thing. People were armed,
and the bad guys knew that people were armed. Tell me ... just what
chance do you think a lone gunman would have had in those days in
lining up people against a wall and then calmly picking them off one by
one.
- No ... I'll tell you. Slim to none. Oh he
might get off a shot or two, but by then he would be the object of some
rather intensive target practice.
-
- And let's talk about people with concealed
carry permits. Do you think they're dangerous? Do you think they're
just wandering around ready to pull their gun and start shooting at the
slightest provocation? Again .. check the statistics. People with
concealed carry permits are among the most law abiding people in the
nation.
-
- Oops ... another little preconception shot
to hell, so to speak.
-
-
 -
-
- Let me ask you another question. In fact,
let's set up a hypothetical situation. You're in a class full of people
at a university. Let's say that there are 30 people in that room. A
predator with a gun walks through the door. He shoots the professor,
kills him. He then takes the remainder of the people in the room and
lines them up against a wall. He then walks up to the first person and
shots them in the head. Now ... let me allow you to change the
scenario. We can freeze-frame this situation while you make a decision.
Your decision is this: You can put a gun into the hands of one student
or a professor in that room, or you can leave things exactly the way
they are. What are you going to do? Come on now, let's have it. Which
way do you want it? Do you want the predator to be the only one in the
room with a gun? Or would you like to have at least the fighting chance
that would result if one, maybe two of your classmates had a firearm.
-
- Now believe it or not, there are people out
there (we generally call them liberals) who would say; "Oh no, I don't
want anyone else to have a gun! They might try to shoot the killer and
innocent people might get caught in the crossfire!" Well you can try to
find a rational basis for that argument from now until pigs fly, and
you will fail. There is no rationality in that argument. It's an
argument based in mindless hysteria.
-
- Let's couch the argument a bit differently.
Let's say you are the parent of a college student. You get a call from
the campus police saying that your child is being held hostage in a
classroom on the campus. The hostage-taker has a gun and has already
shot one student. The police tell you that they have developed a plan
whereby they are going to be able to sneak a gun into the hands of one
of the students in the classroom, a student known to the police to be
proficient in the use of a handgun. Before the police can take this
step they need the unanimous consent of the parents of the students in
that class. While you're thinking it over the hostage-taker executes
another student. OK ... your decision. What do you say?
-
- Are you going to say "No, I don't want any
of those students to be armed. I don't care how qualified they are with
a gun." Or are you going to allow the gun to be passed to the student.
-
- Now if your answer is that you would allow
the gun to be passed to the student, they please explain your rational
for the position that the student in question should not have been
permitted to have a gun in the first place with a concealed carry
permit? You may have difficulty in understanding this, but it really is
rather difficult to arm these students after the fact. And insofar as
the shooter is concerned ...you do understand that there is no way in
hell to have prevented him to come on to that campus with guns once he
made up his mind to do so, don't you?
-
- Here's another question for you to ponder.
What if the Virginia legislature had passed HB 1572 and it had been
signed into law? Then the shooter would have known that there was a
strong likelihood that there would be some students, professors and
administrators on the campus with a gun. Is there any chance at all
that this might have caused the shooter to set aside his plans for
carnage? Can you say for a certainty that things would have played out
as they did?
-
- Lambs for the slaughter
-
- One more thing. I have a question here. No
answer .. just a question. Why didn't some of these students fight
back? How in the hell do you line students up against a wall (if that's
the way it played out) and start picking them off one by one without
the students turning on you? You have a choice. Try to rush the killer
and get his gun, or stand there and wait to be shot. I would love to
hear from some of you who have insight into situations such as this.
-
- Was there just not enough time to react?
Were they paralyzed with fear? Were they waiting for someone else to
take action? Sorry .. I just don't understand.
-
- And one more thing
-
- I've heard many students being interviewed
by the media since yesterday's shooting. They are all very articulate
and impressive in the face of this horrible incident, but none more
impressive than a student named Jamal. Jamal is from the West Bank. A
Muslim. A Palestinian. I heard him interviewed a few times on CNN. A
very impressive young man indeed.
-
- Finally ...
-
- Everyone associated with the show wishes to
express their deepest condolences to the families and friends of the
students who lost their lives yesterday at Virginia Tech. I have a
close friend who's son attends VT. Even though he knew that his son was
safe, I could hear the emotion in his voice yesterday when I talked
with him.
-
- There is no way we can understand the
anguish that accompanies the loss of a child-- especially under
senseless circumstances such as this. We are very sorry for your loss.
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- http://boortz.com/nuze/200704/04172007.html
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