The Virginia Tech shootings are all over the news right now. I'm not going to link anything because the news is everywhere you look. And, other than offering prayers and condolences, there's not much to say at the moment.
Except...
My gut feeling is that the only way this could have been prevented - or at least mitigated - is if at least one of the students or teachers in the general vicinity had been armed themselves. I could be wrong, of course. As details emerge, we'll get a fuller picture of what happened. Still, I can't shake the feeling.
When I mentioned this to my wife last night - she works at the local high school - it led to a rather heated argument. The idea of guns at a school, even a college, is anathema to her and I understand the way she feels. Vermont is a right-to-carry state (one of the few things the state gets consistently right, imho) but schools are typically an exception to that law. The only people authorized to carry firearms at any school, to my knowledge, are law enforcement officers. Which makes sense.
Except...
When things like this happen, by the time the campus security or police find out about it, it puts them on the outside while the gunman (or gunmen) are on the already on the inside with a room or building full of defenseless people. For example, when a jilted boyfriend stalked the Essex Elementary school earlier this year, no one was able to prevent him from killing an innocent teacher he didn't even know. The police caught him, of course. Afterwards. But if one of the teachers or administration personnel at the school had been armed, might that teacher still be alive?
It's a thorny question and one that I know flies in the face of conventional wisdom, which dictates that the way to stop these killings is to place more and tighter controls on guns. But I don't believe our gun laws work and I don't think there's a way to prevent just about anyone from getting a gun if he wants one bad enough. I don't think more stringent gun laws will change that. There will always be bad people with access to guns - and occasionally worse things than guns.
The only answer that makes sense to me is vigilance. Vigilance, and giving law-abiding people the right and ability to protect themselves. By way of Instapundit, I'm directed to this post from Roger Kimball, which sums up my feelings better than I've just done.
Update: A Virginia Tech student argues for the right of self-defense.
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1 comment:
There are just some things in life you can't prevent.
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