Messiah Simplex

Gun control laws save 32 on Virginia Tech Campus

The state of Virginia is a concealed carry state. Anyone passing a background check over the age of 18 can legally carry a loaded handgun. But Virginia Tech, the scene of what may be the worst mass shooting in our nation's history, is a "gun-free zone". This means that even if a student or faculty member can legally carry in the state of Virginia, they may not carry a concealed handgun on campus.

So what happened yesterday was that a bunch of law-abiding students and faculty members went to school, like any other day, and because they were law-abiding citizens, they did not carry handguns on campus.

However, one guy DID bring guns to the Virginia Tech campus yesterday. And he ended 32 lives before ending his own. He ended 32 innocent lives because the others on campus were playing by the rules and not carrying guns on a campus in a state where they legally may carry guns.

In January of 2006 an attempt was made to change the rule at Virginia Tech and allow students and faculty to carry on campus, but it died in the General Assembly. And in that moment, the fates of 32 innocents were sealed. Of course, no one can say for certain that if concealed carry had been allowed on the campus of Virginia Tech, that no one would have been killed yesterday during the attack. But we can say that perhaps someone would have been in a position to stop the shooter. If a student or faculty member had been carrying their legal firearm yesterday, and had been in the vacinity, the rampage could have been stopped. Would they have taken down the shooter after his first victim, or his 5th? No one knows. All we know is that no one got the chance to defend themselves and 32 people who obeyed the law are dead at the hands of one young man who ignored the law.

Yeah, those gun control laws are really protecting people. Let's pass some more.

Here's the problem with the unconstitutional gun laws that the more....shall we say....left leaning folks support.

CRIMINALS DON'T OBSERVE THE LAW. THAT'S THAT MAKES THEM FUCKING CRIMINALS. Laws against concealed carry do nothing more than ensure that when the shit goes down, as it did on the Virginia Tech campus.....no one will be able to defend themselves.

Gull

Posted by mgull on 04/17 at 05:46 PM

COMMENTS

And the race to politicize a tragedy in which 32 people were killed begins...NOW!
Posted by Matt Wild  on  04/17/07  at  06:10 PM
Yeah. Sort of like the liberals all jumping on the administration's nuts before Katrina's winds even died down.
Posted by mgull  on  04/17/07  at  06:24 PM
Yup.
Posted by Matt Wild  on  04/17/07  at  06:37 PM
It's a sad truth in our culture that SOP is to politicize tragedy and point fingers. Katrina, 9/11, school shootings.....someone has to be the bad guy.
Posted by mgull  on  04/18/07  at  06:56 AM
Fun facts for knee-jerk conservatives:

Both houses of the Virginia Assembly have long been, and still are, controlled by REPUBLICANS.

Viriginia does not require gun owners to complete any kind of safety course or training.

Virginia does not have a gun owner registry, and in fact has some of the most lax gun laws in the nation.
Posted by Jon Anne  on  04/18/07  at  02:59 PM
Fun facts for alarmist, liberty stealing liberals:

You're right. There are 40 Democrats and 57 Republicans. The bill never made it to the Republican controlled Assembly. It was killed in subcommittee, after much pressure from the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police.

Yes, it's true, there are no requirements for registering handguns in Virginia. However, if someone wants to carry concealed and stay within the law, one must obtain a permit and pass a background check.

Once again, the people who don't get the permits and carry anyway are the criminals. You know...the ones from whom everyone else needs protection. Like the gentleman at VT yesterday.

It has been demonstrated in real world situations, that law-abiding, legal gun carrying citizens have stopped school rampages in the past. Look up Pearl MS in 1997 and Grundy, VA in 2003.
Posted by Michael Gull  on  04/18/07  at  06:10 PM
I don't know.
I fail to grasp the logic that in a country with one of the highest rate of gun deaths, more guns is the answer.

But that aside, what really upsets me is that a man who was declared mentally ill in 2005 by a Virginia Special Justice, who was described by said Special Justice as "mentally ill and in need of hospitalization, and presents an imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness..." was able to walk into Roanoke Firearms, drop $571 onto the counter and walk out with a Glock 19 and a box of ammunition. You can blame liberals and their gun control legislation for this massacre, but the bottom line is that it is far too easy to legally buy a gun in this country.
Posted by Evan Solochek  on  04/18/07  at  06:47 PM
It has become panifully obvious that I have no leg upon which to stand in this argument. Is it entirely too easy for people to get their grubby (sometmes crazy) mitts on a gun in this country? Yes. Is the whole situation FUBAR? You bet your ass. There is no solution. We will never live in a society where bad guys don't have weapons that they are willing to use against people that they intend to victimize. The majority of the street gun violence that happens does not happen with the use of legally obtained guns. That's a fact. Is the answer making sure you and I and my crazy ex girlfriend and her crazy father and his suicidal brother all have guns? Of course not.

Because I cannot win this argument, I shall respond in the proud tradition of my conservative hero, Ronald Reagan. I shall deny any memory of having engaged in the discussion in the first place.
Posted by Michael Gull  on  04/23/07  at  12:38 PM
I for one strongly feel that the solution is beyond simply the right to carry concealed weapons. Crime rate continues to be lower in all other countries where hand guns are either banned or highly limited than it is in America. why can't we come up with the explanation as to why that's the scenario. The culture here certainly has alot to do with it. whether we are for or against weapons, we all agree that we should push for more than just the right to pack. In VT example the system failed not by allowing no guns on campus, but by the way they overlooked and ignored the gumman's history of mental problems. He was never given due and proper treatment he required. He easily acquired the murder weapons because we are in such a rush to grant the right to carry that we create laws with demerits and shortfalls allowing such mishaps. lastly, there ware no guarantees that anyone could have stopped the situation anyway. We can't simply assume that some students, were they permitted, would have carried any guns with them in the first place in that moment. Speculating and politicizing the tragedy to one's own agenda is not worthy of any free thinking and well spirited person. I am certain that you are simply angry and sad as any human being should be of the tragedy and the innocent lives lost, but we have plenty to be angry of and sad for; for one the senseless and violent war that is causing heart break and lots of it on both side of the world. let's work to end that too. Peace.
Posted by MJDalamie  on  05/04/07  at  05:07 PM
Late to this party, wandering around the site...

Anyway: the notion that if there had been more guns around fewer people would have died strikes me as extremely unlikely. Possible, yes...but then, the shooter's first shot ricocheting off a steel girder and killing him is *possible.* First: I think people underestimate the ease with which they'd be willing to act to kill a person. That's a huge decision, and even if the person you're trying to kill has just shot people, it will still mean you've killed a person, if you succeed. And: what if you miss, and instead hit an innocent bystander? What if your trying to kill the shooter draws his attention to you...so you get shot? What if the police arrive on the scene just after you've gotten off a shot - and shoot you, assuming *you're* the shooter?

I could go on - but reality isn't a Hollywood movie where the hero is perfectly prepared to shoot, has excellent aim, and all factors out of his control just happen to go his way.

As for the general argument that more guns equal more safety: surely that's true. Why just look at our inner cities, which probably have a very high guns-per-capita ratio (legal and otherwise), and which as a result never have any sort of violent crime because you never know if the other guy might have a gun! That's worked so well!
Posted by Jeff  on  05/20/07  at  11:27 AM
All school shootings are horrible, of course, but they are still relatively few and far between. Many more people are killed each year by handguns that are pulled out in white hot anger or in the heat of an argument. I’ve seen students almost come to blows in class before, as I am sure many of you have; the last thing we need is to add firepower to that equation.
Posted by az massage school  on  08/24/08  at  12:31 PM

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