Well, here I go. I'm about to attract all the ire of the ostriches of the world. I'm about to say something constructive in relationship to a tragedy. God have mercy on my soul. I am about to say this: Why the fuck couldn't the students at VA Tech shoot back?
Guns; it is a simple word, a powerful tool, and a tool that has protected the freedom of ideas and expression for years. Why is it now that they are banned on college campuses? Well, one argument is that they don't stop mass-murderings, they start them. Let's look at a few little known incidences:
Many many years back, five to be precise, in 2002 at the Appallachian Law School in the same state: Virginia, a failing student by the name of Odighizuwa proceded on a murderous rampage with a gun he'd brought onto campus. He killed three and wounded three others. As he was exiting the building, he was confronted by two students of the law school, both brandishing (Scary word, no?) their legally owned weapons at his person. He surrendered. Guns had put a stop to him.
In Pearl, Mississippi, circa 1997, a student by the name of Luke Woodham brought a rifle to school in violation of state law and proceded to open fire on his fellow students, killing his 3 and maiming 7. The principal of the school, a guy by the name of Joel Myrick, sprinted to his truck parked off campus and withdrew a legally owned .45 pistol. As Luke left the school, supposedly to proceed on to the middle school to continue his rampage, Myrik confronted him in the parking lot and held him at gunpoint until the police arrived. For the record, Myrik had broken state law by bringing his pistol onto the school property to stop the rampage.
In Pearl, Mississippi, circa 1997, a student by the name of Luke Woodham brought a rifle to school in violation of state law and proceded to open fire on his fellow students, killing his 3 and maiming 7. The principal of the school, a guy by the name of Joel Myrick, sprinted to his truck parked off campus and withdrew a legally owned .45 pistol. As Luke left the school, supposedly to proceed on to the middle school to continue his rampage, Myrik confronted him in the parking lot and held him at gunpoint until the police arrived. For the record, Myrik had broken state law by bringing his pistol onto the school property to stop the rampage.
Both those crazies, by the way, broke the law by killing people, and the kid, Luke, broke the law just by having his gun in a gun free school zone.
The current argument is that guns are a detriment to the free culture that thrives on these campuses. Obviously, this argument has merit insomuch as if I point a gun at you, you are less inclined to think freely about what I don't like. Sadly, this is the image that is conjured up every time the nanny state advocates speak. They talk about guns, brandished on hips, waved about in a frivolous manner, and they speak as if the sky is blood red and bodies lay in the dirt, pouring blood from bullet holes. What a crock of shit. Guns recently have moved away from being a visible accessory. This is due to the miniaturization of weaponry. Guns are small, concealable, and in every state except Illinois and Wisconsin there is available the option of concealed carry (though it is restricted in some states to the rich, but that's another rant.). In many states there is no option for openly carrying a weapon. Hell, here in Texas, people think WE carry guns on our hips. Not a snowball's chance in El Paso, partner. That shit is illegal in Texas. Not to mention county and municipality preemption in numerous other states that don't ban it outright; but I digress. With the carry of weapons, the guns people carry are not used to intimidate or generate fear. They're there and that's it; and in the case of Concealed Carry, they're there and you don't even know it (Go into a Kroger's in Texas and please, tell me who's packing. You can't tell!). These weapons that are carried are there for the sheer purpose of defending others. Legal Concealed Weapons License holders aren't criminals, they're normal people who jump through hoops to get those licenses so they can be prepared should someone like Woodham or Odighizuwa, or more recently, Cho, the kraaaaaaazy Korean, stroll into their lives and try to take that life away.
Changing the culture. A friend of mine wrote a post about the incident. In his post he mentioned the specific culture on campus (He'd know, too, he double majored and spent a good portion of his time on campus), and made mention about the culture of the college campus. The free culture on college campuses is something to be cherished, something I myself admire and wish I could be part of...but they keep telling me I need to pay money to be part of it..., anyhoo, it's a culture of ideas, of peaceful resolution. It's a culture where those who protest do so with signs, catchy chants, and the occasional graffiti. Violence? It's just not thought about. At least, until guns, knives, whatnot, are brought into the equation, right? Hand a person a gun, they suddenly become willing to shoot someone else, a knife makes them stabby stabby stab someone, and a club, well, that makes them willing to beat someone up...except, they carry those big heavy picketing signs, and don't beat people up with them, do they? Culture is independent of the tools available, but instead is the mindset of the person in question. Saying guns will change that, well, that just doesn't add up proper.
Guns are a generally benign tool. They don't kill people by themselves (Takes a murderer to make a gun kill someone.), and they don't change people by contact. Sheer statistics take over here: In a Nation of over 300,000,000 people guns kill 29,573 a year, as of 2001, the latest statistics I could easily find. On the same note, we live in a world where guns are used over 2,000,000 times per year to defend the lives of people like you and me. Two million times vs thirty thousand times.....mmmm...what an overwhelming number in favor of gun control, huh?
Real quick, I want to dissect that 29,573, of that 16,869 are suicides. People who can't go on living and used guns to end their lives. Sad, yes, but unstoppable. Studies show in states where guns are locked up, suicides with other implements are higher than suicides with guns, but the overall rates stay the same. So we're left with . . . carry the two....12,704 deaths, 800 are accidental, the rest are homocides (though, they don't break out legal intervention by cops and citizens.). So, 2 million vs. 12,704. Yes, we have an even stronger argument towards guns being banned...yessirebob we do.
I could go on forever (really, I could), but I think I've made a few points for y'all to think on. Guns aren't the great evil...AMERICA is the great evil....no, actually, not even that, come to think of it. Cho was a great evil, people who murder multiple people are great evils. They are why I, myself carry. Not because I expect to encounter them - Hell, I'll probably never see a mass murderer in my life - but in preparation for an event like that should it happen. Same reason I wear my seatbelt. I've never been in an accident, but that doesn't mean someone couldn't come out of nowhere and cream me side-long at 45 MPH. Just ask yourselves, if this was the college your sister, brother, or even you went to...wouldn't you have wished you or they could fight back?