My thoughts on the Virginia Tech massacre...
It's truly sad, and although I cannot even empathize with the family, friends and loved ones of the victims, they have my deepest sympathy.
Like most tragic events, this massacre is bringing out hundreds of outspoken people (like myself), who want to express their thoughts and feelings.
UNLIKE most of the people I'm hearing speak out, though, I AM NOT TRYING TO BLAME ANYONE FOR THIS EVENT except the person ultimately responsible.
As sad as this event is, the boy was a legal resident alien, he had the right to purchase a firearm under the Virginia state law. The right to purchase firearms is not regulated by Federal law, but by state law...our FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!!!!
Sorry, can't blame Bush. Can't blame our stance on international politics...it's the local State who has control over this one...and in this case, they had ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL...and seriously, noone would want them to.
I agree that American politics are screwed up regarding foreign relations, and lean towards leaving Americans out in the cold, while billions of dollars are spent helping other countries 'advance'...but it really doesn't have anything to do with this incident.
As for lock-downs...which occur at small, well controlled public school campuses... BE REALISTIC!
At any decent sized university that spans multiple city blocks, why would any person in law enforcement, security, or any other position view a killing of 1-2 people a reason to lock down the entire university? There is absolutely no way any of them could have known that this person would travel across the campus and start killing people, instead of fleeing the crime scene like the majority of other criminals do.
Any talk of gun control related to this incident is pure narrow-mindedness. A gun was used to facilitate his homicidal rage. If one was not available, he would have found another way to vent his frustration!
Perhaps explosives (since he has been tied in with supposed bomb threats at the engineering department)? This is what others who don't have access to guns have used in the past. It would have likely killed a lot more people.
I heard someone speak out on the radio wanting to know how ANYONE could walk through a secure campus 'so heavily armed'. I wanted to reach through the radio and shake some sense into him!
I can, and HAVE, concealed a total of 9 guns on my person, and noone was the wiser. I'm legally allowed to do it, and I wanted to see how difficult it would be...it's NOT DIFFICULT. I wasn't even wearing a backpack...
Any talk of violence in the media, video games, tv, movies or anything else needs to think back to the days when almost every movie made was about war, cowboys shooting indians, or cowboys shooting cowboys. We all grew up watching the Lone Ranger shoot guns out of the hands of the bad guys - the Rifleman shoot people dead in the street when they tried to hurt his family, friends or innocent people.
We, as a society (and a species) have always been attracted to violence for entertainment...NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN THOSE REGARDS.
The difference? It's in our face now...we hear about the violence that prior to the 1960s, was only gossiped about. Now we have the TV, the internet, radio, etc. - all of which can throw the same information at us a dozen different ways, making it almost impossible to get away from the tragedies.
Only this kid is responsible for what he did.. Perhaps we can blame his parents, if they weren't there - and didn't raise him right. That's not a definite though. A lot of fine folks raise children who become disturbed and do attrocious things.
There's noone else to blame.
Not the school who didn't take it upon themselves to violate his civil rights when his disturbing nature came to the attention of his teachers and his peers.
Not the gun dealer, who legally sold the kid the guns after a State mandated background check. (Keep in mind, the guns were bought 30 DAYS APART...)
Not the person who possibly hurt his feelings and triggered the attack.
Not the security guards at the campus for not shutting down the school after a random act of violence, which was percieved as a domestic disturbance gone bad.
Not the police who didn't create mass hysteria and panic among thousands of citizens by publically announcing the first murder.
Noone else...
ONLY THE KID.
