An Aid To Memory

What has come of our society, when mass murder is the “solution” to finding out your girlfriend may have cheated on you? A pathetic and cowardly gunman at Virginia Tech killed himself and 32 others. According to the most recent news, the shooter was Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a Korean and a permanent resident of the U.S. We should pray for all those involved, including the souls of the departed.

Here are my initial thoughts. First, I am surprised a permanent resident could get a handgun. I wonder how he could pass the background check if he has not been here very long. Just to show my biases: I definitely believe in the right to bear arms, and support concealed carry laws, but I also support registering guns, background checks, and having waiting periods. Second, I am curious as to how this guy was able to move around freely and shoot so many people. I know he had a gun, but it seems he moved all around campus over a long time span!

I know I am outside of the situation, but after the school shootings in the late 1990s, I have often thought how I would react if someone went on a shooting rampage. I am sure the terror of the moment would change even the most well-thought out plans. The first thing I would do is get the hell out of there and find a secure location, which many of the students did. Then I would look for some kind of weapon, any weapon that I could feasibly use if the guy got close, which may even include a legally concealed weapon (Of course, at Virginia Tech, non-criminals can’t legally carry concealed weapons, even if they have the permit…maybe if a few lawful citizens could have fired back, this would have ended sooner…). Third, if I knew the dude had just killed others, I wouldn’t assume he is going to let me live if he sees me and pursues or aims. I would not willingly line up to be executed, especially if I knew he had already shot others. Perhaps rallying those around to gang tackle the guy would work, although this would not be without loss of life (a la the folks on United Flight 93). I would drop a TV down the stairs, throw books at him or ANYTHING to reduce the accuracy of his aim and his mobility. Even police are often inaccurate with handguns at even fairly short distances, so some college kid isn’t likely a dead shot. Anything to distract or reduce his aim would at least give me a fighting chance. I would then find something thick, a book or something metal to place over my heart, at least to slow down the bullet a little. I have seen ballistics tests with different types of calibers, and while it would take a Catholic Bible to stop a 9mm bullet, at least I would be doing something. I remember my Greek prof once saying that if there is another school shooting, students just need to attack the gunmen and go for the eyes. Crude, but probably more effective than running or cowering.

This is a sad situation that makes Don Imus’ dumb comments, and Anna Nicole Smith’s baby’s paternity, seem pretty trivial. Kyrie Eleison

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 at 1:10 am and is filed under Current Affairs, General, Second Amendment + Crime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.