Sad side note: Apparently, nobody is allowed to carry a gun on campus (students or employees), which meant that there was nothing anybody could do to stop the shooter. That's another instance of poorly thought through ideals leading to terrible policy.
This is crazy:
At least 22 are dead after a shooting at Virginia Tech University Monday morning.Campus police said there was only one shooter and he is now dead. They are unsure if the shooter was a student.
"Today the university was struck by a tragedy we consider of monumental proportions," Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said during a press conference shortly after noon. "I cannot begin to convey my own personal sense of loss over this senseless, incomprehensible, heinous act."
At least one person was killed at West Ambler Johnston, a residence hall, but several others were injured in that shooting. At least 20 were killed at Norris Hall, an engineering building. The dead shooter puts the death toll so far at 22.
"Sad side note: Apparently, nobody is allowed to carry a gun on campus (students or employees), which meant that there was nothing anybody could do to stop the shooter. That's another instance of poorly thought through ideals leading to terrible policy."
ReplyDeleteAt a wedding in Israel a few years back, a terrorist entered and began shooting. He was stopped by having a chair bashed over his head. Last I heard, they were still allowing chairs on college campuses.
Sorry, guns on campus don't stop insane massacres.
ReplyDeleteIntelligent police who know how to lock down a campus after a shooting does. (That Chief Filchum sounds surprising like the Simpson's Chief Wiggum)
Gun control does. It's that simple.
Here in Israel, if you don't renew your gun license yearly, you have your own personal criminal record opened for you and your gun seized automatically (as my Israel Defense Prize-winning, Army Intelligence officer husband discovered last year; He just gave up his gun, since he didn't see the point of having it around the house with small children anyway).
Somehow, that doesn't sound like it's the case in down-home Virginia.
And 32 people paid for this lax attitude with their lives yesterday. And no "Wild West shootout" scenario that you imagine would have changed that.
TriLcat - If someone has a gun, I can't imagine any person that would want to try coming at them with a chair. In Israel, I'm betting that the terrorist didn't realize that someone was behind him. In this case, the gunman opened the door to a classroom and started shooting with two guns. Picture it and see if someone could come at him with a chair.
ReplyDeleteMom o' two - That's simply false. How does locking down a campus help do anything but catch the gunman? You're basically letting the gunman run free until then.
How does gun control keep illegally acquired guns out of the hands of lunatics?
Why do you assume that that's "not the case" in "down home Virginia"? As for your "wild west shootout", in good old "down home VA" in 2002, two armed students stopped a student who had already killed two by shooting him. So, to put it quite simply, I don't think you know what you're talking about.
I think the rule not allowing guns does more good than bad. This is an isolated incident, and horrendous as it is, prohibiting guns probably saves more lives in the long run.
ReplyDeleteSide note-- Yankees are whooping the Injuns. Yay-Rod!
I just re-read my comment and realized it was incoherent. Essentially, I think the rule prohibiting guns is a good one. While this event was terrible, it's a one-time thing, a horrid abberration, and while it may have been aided by the lack of guns, the rule is still good. Chances are, the rule saves more lives in the long run.
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