It’s a commentary in the Roanoke Times entitled “Unarmed and vulnerable” and written by a Virginia Tech graduate student.
Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.
It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself.
Please realize that I am licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the commonwealth of Virginia, and do so on a regular basis. However, because I am a Virginia Tech student, I am prohibited from carrying at school because of Virginia Tech’s student policy, which makes possession of a handgun an expellable offense, but not a prosecutable crime.
I had entrusted my safety, and the safety of others to the police. In light of this, there are a few things I wish to point out.
Did I forget to mention that this was published on August 31, 2006? Bruce Wiles was in a class at Virginia Tech on August 21 when an escaped convict shot and killed a security guard and a sheriff’s deputy. The school went into a lockdown and crisis mode at the time, but apparently no one in the administration learned the bitter lesson that Wiles was trying to teach.
The policy that forbids students who are legally licensed to carry in Virginia needs to be changed.
I am qualified and capable of carrying a concealed handgun and urge you to work with me to allow my most basic right of self-defense, and eliminate my entrusting my safety and the safety of my classmates to the government.
This incident makes it clear that it is time that Virginia Tech and the commonwealth of Virginia let me take responsibility for my safety.
Have they learned their lesson now?
Technorati Tags: Virginia Tech | gun control |
Given that people can’t even be trusted to act sanely in traffic situations or long lines anymore; students carrying guns would greatly compound the problem.
Considering that the killer was a student, then having other students carrying guns would actually balance out the problem.
I agree with you Domenico. Gun restriction laws keep law-abiding citizens from defending themselves. Bad people kill, not good people, and not guns.
Even good people are sometimes emotionally overwhelmed. There are many crimes of passion or despair. When i think of the Virginia Tech situation, and replay it with more than one gun, I imagine three times the death toll and even worse chaos. I understand, according to my capacity, how it must feel to be defenseless in such a situation; I just don’t believe more guns and less restrictive regulations are the answer.
Licensed gun carriers are not necessarily wise, or level-headed. i don’t mean to be thick-headed, here, but the “more guns= more protection” idea seems to be a smaller version of “more nuclear weapons” = greater national safety.
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I’ve read of documented cases over the past several days of potential shooting rampages stopped by one armed citizen in a situation where a whole lot of people could have died. I’ll have to see if I can trace my steps and find it.
Every month, the NRA member magazine has newspaper story after newspaper story about armed citizens defending their lives, their homes or others against those who seek to do them harm.
While you may not think it’s possible, it is true.
Incidentally, with all the nuclear weapons built during the Cold War, we never did have a war, did we? Deterrence worked and works.
If fewer guns were the solution, then why is gun violence increasing in Britain even as their restrictive gun ownership laws get even stricter? Because criminals can always find a weapon even as they realize that the potential victims are unarmed.
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Actually, Britain is paralyzed by, of all things, knife violence! It’s not about the guns. The crime levels in London right now are much worse than that of New York and gun control is the order of the day.
The column you’re referring to is “The Armed Citizen”. They only publish a couple of articles each month but I’m sure that they could fill an entire issue with anecdotes.
Strangely enough, none of the drive-by-media ever comments on the potential shooting spree at Appalachia Law School which was averted when the perpetrator was confronted with three fellow students who drew down on him. In a recent Lexis-Nexis survey almost none of the articles mention that. Typical.
You may be right. I just can’t digest it. I really, personally, don’t like guns. Ironically, I have an 11 yr old son whose favorite topics are war, weaponry, and their history. Honestly, he was BORN a warrior into a pacifist family. By the time he was three, I had to surrender to God’s design for that boy. I don’t encourage his interests, but in any crowd where there are adults with similar interests, I send him over to talk battle strategy. Someday, he might be the one to save a bunch of lives from a nut with a gun.
My favorite local story, though, is the recent triumph of one Howell Smith, who, when faced with an armed robber , began to surrender but as he considered the threat to his customers, got angry instead. He whacked the robber with a chair, I think, then two associates jumped into the fray. They disarmed the robber and sent him running out into the street. He was treated for a broken nose at the hospital that day. And even though the pharmacist admitted that his actions my not have been prudent, everyone in Pawtucket stood a little taller that week because of his courage.