I first heard the news reports on the way to Virginia to the vet today and thought, "Oh shit! Someone went crazy with an AK or AR. I can see Paul Helmke's blog now!". As the afternoon wore on, the terrible body count rose so far to 33 (32 innocents plus 1 dead madman). Shooter reported to use two handguns and I am not sure at the moment who killed him (himself or the police).
I have an acquaintance at VA Tech who I learned was ok. Thankfully. My heart goes out to the families who have suffered and will do so for the rest of their lives.
As I heard the events unfold, I became enraged.
The finger pointing has already begun. The calls for "common sense controls" is already out there.
For those of you who have a crystal ball, please, before the blood droplets land, tell me...
What common sense controls in the divine wisdom of the Universe would have prevented this?!?
I'm not at a loss for words. But all the words I have are rooted in anger.
The laws of the land are written that adult college students cannot have guns. No matter how young we see them as, many of these students are 18 or over and are legally adults. Some are 21 or over and in Virginia could legally have a permit to carry and could have carried.
But couldn't. The law they said they couldn't.
It's a school zone. A gun free zone. A place of safety. And we have a generation of young people raised to submit, to cower, to hide. To pray and hope. Not to fight back. Not to stand together. To resist is wrong. After the Amish school shooting, the short-lived idea circulated that students should try to distract the shooter with books, pencils, anything at hand or charge him. Maybe some might get wounded or killed but 10 students closing the distance in seconds would have overwhelmed him.
Why do we condition our young people not to fight back? If your life is forfeit in God's eyes, you have nothing to lose to go down swinging. And might save lives in the process.
I thought the policies for dealing with an active shooter changed around the country after Columbine. I don't know the details. But I am stunned that the second incident happened. Yes, the police believed it was an isolated incident. But why take the chance? Until you know or have cleared the campus as free of a shooter, don't assume the shooter has left the scene! VA Tech is a big place. Plenty of places to hide. After Columbine, I thought any school shooter would be treated as a full on three alarm fire until you had a body, a suspect in handcuffs or confirmation that every space had been searched and the facilities known to be clear of threats.
When the second shots rang out, it was too late. The remaining victims died, submissive and trapped in a shooting gallery, unable or unwilling to resist. We may never know if the outcome could have been different.
But as it stands now, it can never be.
I pray there wasn't any student in that room who had a permit to carry. Because it had been me, my last thoughts would have been of despair and regret. Despair for what was happening, knowing I might have been able to change it. Regret for being a good citizen and obeying the law, leaving my gun off-campus or anywhere except where it should have been: on my hip.
These people are adults. Unless the campus police planned to be everywhere, which they weren't, we as thinking, breathing adult citizens at least deserved a fighting chance! These adults deserved a chance! What if, what if one student in that class could have been allowed to have their gun with their permit had they had one? Yes, the shooter came in with murder in his hand without warning but no one can tell me after the first few victims, one motivated student couldn't have gotten the drop on this bastard and saved lives?
Why, oh why, couldn't one student have carried in defiance of the law? Discreetly concealed, no one would have known. Maybe it wouldn't have changed the outcome. Maybe he or she would have been the 2nd or 3rd immediate victim and never would have realized what was happening. But maybe not. What if? What if?
There isn't a jury in this country that would have convicted them for the firearms violations. I think there might have been parents of potential victims and maybe those of the dead who might have hugged such a person.
And what if I had lived near the campus? What if I had a gun in my vehicle? I would have grabbed it and went hunting. I would have tried. Perhaps in vain, perhaps arrested but by God, I would have tried to save those unable to defend themselves!
There are those of us who see our willingness to accept the grave responsibility to arm ourselves as a moral duty to those around us. To stand where others can't. To be the sheepdog when the wolf strikes without warning. Perhaps die wounded, but with a dead wolf nearby and the sheep near us safe. Die knowing we made a difference.
It wouldn't have been the first time I've gone in the direction of gunfire. The other time I did, it was a case of firecrackers rather than gunfire. But there was the "pop, pop, pop" followed by screams. My weapon was on my hip and I was heading towards what I thought was danger. I was prepared to act.
With this, I feel such deep despair. I wish desperately that someone could have had the chance to act. To stop this. To have even tried.
What about next time? Will police agencies see any school shooter as an immediate threat and head into danger? I hope they will. Don't stand around and plan, figure out who is making decisions and wait for official permission! Don a vest, grab a weapon, give your instructions and hunt down the evil before it can strike again. I beg you. If you are going to not be everywhere, all the time and be ready for the unexpected and not give us adults a fighting chance and rather stand there and waffle, then give me the vest and the weapon and I will move in. I'd rather have a dead gunman at my feet and a jury judge me as a vigilante than 30 more dead victims.
I don't hide my biases. I believe in the right of self-defense. Of the right for adults to decide whether to bear the means of protection individually. All I see is 2600 acres of gun-free zone that a criminal madman could wander freely. Maybe he knew it too. That no one could fight back. And chose the school for that reason.
I'm tired and near tears in rage. They should have had a fighting chance! If the Police can't or won't be there, we adults and those who never got to get as far as I have in life deserved at least that much!
But good people obey the law.
The law needs to change. Now.
Give us a fighting chance.
Please. Before it happens again.
I have an acquaintance at VA Tech who I learned was ok. Thankfully. My heart goes out to the families who have suffered and will do so for the rest of their lives.
As I heard the events unfold, I became enraged.
- Enraged that this occurred at all.
- Enraged that these people were defenseless.
- Enraged that an active shooter with a clear intent to murder wasn't stopped.
- Enraged that I know the gun controllers will be dancing hip-deep in the blood of these victims.
- Enraged that I wasn't there to help.
The finger pointing has already begun. The calls for "common sense controls" is already out there.
For those of you who have a crystal ball, please, before the blood droplets land, tell me...
What common sense controls in the divine wisdom of the Universe would have prevented this?!?
I'm not at a loss for words. But all the words I have are rooted in anger.
The laws of the land are written that adult college students cannot have guns. No matter how young we see them as, many of these students are 18 or over and are legally adults. Some are 21 or over and in Virginia could legally have a permit to carry and could have carried.
But couldn't. The law they said they couldn't.
It's a school zone. A gun free zone. A place of safety. And we have a generation of young people raised to submit, to cower, to hide. To pray and hope. Not to fight back. Not to stand together. To resist is wrong. After the Amish school shooting, the short-lived idea circulated that students should try to distract the shooter with books, pencils, anything at hand or charge him. Maybe some might get wounded or killed but 10 students closing the distance in seconds would have overwhelmed him.
Why do we condition our young people not to fight back? If your life is forfeit in God's eyes, you have nothing to lose to go down swinging. And might save lives in the process.
I thought the policies for dealing with an active shooter changed around the country after Columbine. I don't know the details. But I am stunned that the second incident happened. Yes, the police believed it was an isolated incident. But why take the chance? Until you know or have cleared the campus as free of a shooter, don't assume the shooter has left the scene! VA Tech is a big place. Plenty of places to hide. After Columbine, I thought any school shooter would be treated as a full on three alarm fire until you had a body, a suspect in handcuffs or confirmation that every space had been searched and the facilities known to be clear of threats.
When the second shots rang out, it was too late. The remaining victims died, submissive and trapped in a shooting gallery, unable or unwilling to resist. We may never know if the outcome could have been different.
But as it stands now, it can never be.
I pray there wasn't any student in that room who had a permit to carry. Because it had been me, my last thoughts would have been of despair and regret. Despair for what was happening, knowing I might have been able to change it. Regret for being a good citizen and obeying the law, leaving my gun off-campus or anywhere except where it should have been: on my hip.
These people are adults. Unless the campus police planned to be everywhere, which they weren't, we as thinking, breathing adult citizens at least deserved a fighting chance! These adults deserved a chance! What if, what if one student in that class could have been allowed to have their gun with their permit had they had one? Yes, the shooter came in with murder in his hand without warning but no one can tell me after the first few victims, one motivated student couldn't have gotten the drop on this bastard and saved lives?
Why, oh why, couldn't one student have carried in defiance of the law? Discreetly concealed, no one would have known. Maybe it wouldn't have changed the outcome. Maybe he or she would have been the 2nd or 3rd immediate victim and never would have realized what was happening. But maybe not. What if? What if?
There isn't a jury in this country that would have convicted them for the firearms violations. I think there might have been parents of potential victims and maybe those of the dead who might have hugged such a person.
And what if I had lived near the campus? What if I had a gun in my vehicle? I would have grabbed it and went hunting. I would have tried. Perhaps in vain, perhaps arrested but by God, I would have tried to save those unable to defend themselves!
There are those of us who see our willingness to accept the grave responsibility to arm ourselves as a moral duty to those around us. To stand where others can't. To be the sheepdog when the wolf strikes without warning. Perhaps die wounded, but with a dead wolf nearby and the sheep near us safe. Die knowing we made a difference.
It wouldn't have been the first time I've gone in the direction of gunfire. The other time I did, it was a case of firecrackers rather than gunfire. But there was the "pop, pop, pop" followed by screams. My weapon was on my hip and I was heading towards what I thought was danger. I was prepared to act.
With this, I feel such deep despair. I wish desperately that someone could have had the chance to act. To stop this. To have even tried.
What about next time? Will police agencies see any school shooter as an immediate threat and head into danger? I hope they will. Don't stand around and plan, figure out who is making decisions and wait for official permission! Don a vest, grab a weapon, give your instructions and hunt down the evil before it can strike again. I beg you. If you are going to not be everywhere, all the time and be ready for the unexpected and not give us adults a fighting chance and rather stand there and waffle, then give me the vest and the weapon and I will move in. I'd rather have a dead gunman at my feet and a jury judge me as a vigilante than 30 more dead victims.
I don't hide my biases. I believe in the right of self-defense. Of the right for adults to decide whether to bear the means of protection individually. All I see is 2600 acres of gun-free zone that a criminal madman could wander freely. Maybe he knew it too. That no one could fight back. And chose the school for that reason.
I'm tired and near tears in rage. They should have had a fighting chance! If the Police can't or won't be there, we adults and those who never got to get as far as I have in life deserved at least that much!
But good people obey the law.
The law needs to change. Now.
Give us a fighting chance.
7 comments:
Amen, brother.
(posting this from a college campus, with only a pocket knife with which to defend myself)
My feelings exactly.
(Reed: Same as you my friend, except my only line of defense is a 2 oz container of pepper spray, and even that makes me the brunt of paranoia jokes)
I'm glad they can't ban them in colleges here where I live.
My husband and I recently completed a Concealed Carry class offered through our local NRA certified instructors. During this course a local police chief spoke for a few hours on one night and a retired DA spoke for a few hours on a different night. The overall sense from each was it is better to be judged by 12 than to be carried by 6. Holders of CCW are not trained to "shoot to kill", the training is to "shoot to live". Yes, we practice regularly.
Reed, nathaniel: you really need to get some new (that is long) sharpened No. 2 pencils. Actually, No.4s hold their point better and are harder. They're much longer than many pocket knives and quite legal on any college campus.
AC much of what you've said here rings true to my heart. I've never carried (lived in NJ where it was devilishly difficult to obtain a permit). I also taught high school where we (the faculty) were told to never touch a student. Well, when fights broke out or mayhem threatened I said to hell with that and was often in the midst of some quite big bruisers who were 15 years younger than I. Stopped at least four or five serious fights, immobilized one 6-footer who was about to kick the crap out of another student he had already downed and took a folding knife from a non-student who was threatening some of our own behind the cafeteria.
Fight or flight indeed. I'm like you, more likely to see what the commotion is about and see if i can help put an end to it.
I agree. I am suprised that more victims didn't try to take the guy out, somehow, anyhow. A knife or mace, with a little suprise, would have a gone a long way. Also, some team work - 1/2 a dozen students rushing the shooter when he came thru the door would have probably put him down. But most just jumped while it seems the 76 yr old prof and a female student held the door. We need to teach people to take action, not run.
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