Tuesday - April 17, 2007
 VIRGINIA
TECH
 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.
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?
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.
IDIOT EMAIL OF THE DAY!
Subject: Shootings
Message:
What gets me is what was George Bush doing and just where was he
while the Virginia Tech shootings were going on. He has waisted
innumberable resources on his illegal War in Iraq when he could have
been increasing security here. This would NOT have happened if Kerry
had won the last election. The Brady Bill would not have run out and
these fine children would have been protected. You conservative gun
nuts make me sick. |
AN INTEMPERATE AND INSENSITIVE QUESTION
After the first shooting on the Virginia Tech campus
yesterday police were notified that the shooter was Asian. Then several
Asian students on the campus were detained as the police looked for the shooter.
Now tell me ... wasn't that racial profiling? If it wasn't, 'splain why
not!
I'LL TAKE BACK MY NICE WORDS ABOUT OPRAH
Oprah had her town hall meeting
[video] at Spellman College in
Atlanta yesterday. The purpose was to discuss the aftermath of the Imus
episode. Yesterday I congratulated Oprah on her decision to exclude Al
Sharpton (Greek homos, white interlopers, diamond merchants) from her meeting.
I spoke too soon. Sharpton evidently weaseled himself onto the panel.
Shame.
REPEAT AFTER ME ... THEY'RE ILLEGAL ALIENS
Joanne Ostrow is a TV critic with the Denver Post.
Joanne Ostrow
says that Bill O'Reilly is a racist.
Joanne Ostrow says that Bill O'Reilly is a racist because
he uses the term "illegal alien."
Joanne Ostrow is an hysterical idiot.
OK .. I know that the Denver Post is yet another left wing
newspaper. But where in the hell do they dig up people like Joanne Ostrow?
Day
By Day
READING ASSIGNMENTS -- JUST A
FEW
James Taranto's
"Best of the Web
Today" is chock full of some real treats. Of particular note are the
sections dealing with some organization of rabid hedgehogs in Britain called the
"National Union of Journalists" boycotting everything Jewish, and a bit by some
administrator at the University of Florida named Phyllis Meek who is upset
because the media is exhibiting sexism by calling Hillary er..... Hillary.
John Edwards spends $400 a month on his haircuts? Yup ... here is a
real man of the people. Now I see why so many low and middle income
Americans admire this man so. When you're struggling to put food on the
table it really is easy to identify with someone who spends four bills on a
haircut.
Great
Britain has joined the United States in dropping the "war on terror" phrase.
I forget what we're calling it. Something like the "war on religions
extremists who wrongly or improperly invoke Islam" or something like that.
Don't know what the Brits are going to call it. Perhaps the "War on people
who want to take over our culture and subject us to an insane system of laws
based on a religion that we dare not call violent" or something like that.
Alan Caruba explains
why you should own a gun. Simple and straightforward.
Tax Day...a perfect day for a FairTax Rally!
Join one in your area.
Where do your taxes go? Here's
a nifty visual guide!
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