Safe.... I often wonder why there is even a word for something that you could never really be. Once again that point has been demonstrated by a madman with too much anger, and too little feelings for his fellow man. As all of you certainly know by now, (unless you live in a cave) there has been another school shooting. This time at Virginia Tech, where at last count, 33 people died. My news cycle has been filled with every imaginable angle on the story, each one sadder and more heart wrenching than the last. I've seen more photos of people who's lives were cut short than I want to see for the rest of my life. And as I told you in my last 3 posts, every tool is being used to further someone's agenda. I don't know what I find more disturbing, the story.... or the exploitation of it.
However, since it is on everyone's mind. I've decided to put my two cents in.
One more time we are going to have to review the question of Gun Control, of school safety, of right to privacy, access to medical files, and whether crimes can be prevented before they happen. On that I caution everyone, this is not the time to be making major decisions without giving ourselves time to reflect and to allow our emotions to settle to a more rational place. As a case-in-point. After 9/11 we had a serious rush to war with Iraq where damn near everyone thought (77 Senators voted for it and polls supported it as well) it was the thing to do. In hindsight, shouldn't we have waited and thought it out a little better? Let's not allow the powers-that-be use our emotions again to take any more of our rights away, or form stupid and useless committees that will tell us what we've already heard, simply repackaged.
Having said that, let's look at our options. There are good arguments both for and against gun control and arming more people on campuses. I myself lean toward fighting back. It's in my nature. I firmly believe that each and every one of those people who were senselessly killed were wishing for a gun to shoot back with or that someone with a gun would cut the bastard down. Just as there are no Atheists in foxholes, there are no pacifists when your life is next.
While searching my memory banks on school shootings, I came up with a example worth considering by all of you. It is very similar in every way to the Virginia Tech Shootings except the end result. In the Appalachian School of Law in 2002, another crazy student decided to take lives into his own hands. The School of Law is coincidentally also in Virginia. Peter Odighizuma, also a foreign student, made his way on to campus armed with .380 semi-automatic pistol. Mr. Odighizuma first went to the office of Professor Dale Rubin where he discussed his failing grades and his options. He didn't use his gun on Prof. Rubin, but gave this ominous warning of what was to come, he told Prof. Rubin, "Pray for me." He then made his way to the office of Dean Anthony Sutin where he shot and killed him and fellow Prof. Thomas Blackwell at point blank range. Making his way down the halls he shot and killed student Angela Denise Dales and seriously wounded 3 other students, but unlike the Virginia Tech shootings, Mr. Odighizuma was not going to have his way with unarmed people. Upon hearing the shots, two students, CCW holder Tracy Bridges and Police Officer Mikael Gross, unbeknownst to each other, both ran to their cars and returned with their own firearms. Approaching from two sides of Mr. Odighizuma, they demanded that he drop his weapon. Seeing his situation, he complied and was tackled by several other students. Mr. Odighizuma's gun still had several bullets left in the clip.
An interesting side note on this story. It was misreported by almost every single newspaper in the U.S. and overseas. They all reported that Mr. Odighizuma was tackled but left out the use of firearms in their stories. (It was confirmed later by police reports, eyewitness accounts, and the two student's testimonies).
As another example of people standing up. In the filming of an actual event, the concert movie "Gimme Shelter" shows the Rolling Stones performing in front of thousands when a deranged young man raised a gun to try to kill Mick Jagger, the lead singer. An alert man next to the gun wielder grabbed his arm forcing it up away from people. Security people and fans took the gun away and restrained the man till police showed up. The song and movie "Gimme Shelter" are a tribute to those people. During the course of the next months you're going to hear a lot about new laws that should be passed, and none of them will stop the next killer. I promise you that. What may save you is good people standing up against evil people. In my University, they will not allow any firearms on campus and some schools even deny off duty Police Officers their right to carry. They preach pacifism and non-confrontation instead of standing up against evil. Maybe we should all take a moment and consider whether that makes us safer.....or just better targets. H.C.
However, since it is on everyone's mind. I've decided to put my two cents in.
One more time we are going to have to review the question of Gun Control, of school safety, of right to privacy, access to medical files, and whether crimes can be prevented before they happen. On that I caution everyone, this is not the time to be making major decisions without giving ourselves time to reflect and to allow our emotions to settle to a more rational place. As a case-in-point. After 9/11 we had a serious rush to war with Iraq where damn near everyone thought (77 Senators voted for it and polls supported it as well) it was the thing to do. In hindsight, shouldn't we have waited and thought it out a little better? Let's not allow the powers-that-be use our emotions again to take any more of our rights away, or form stupid and useless committees that will tell us what we've already heard, simply repackaged.
Having said that, let's look at our options. There are good arguments both for and against gun control and arming more people on campuses. I myself lean toward fighting back. It's in my nature. I firmly believe that each and every one of those people who were senselessly killed were wishing for a gun to shoot back with or that someone with a gun would cut the bastard down. Just as there are no Atheists in foxholes, there are no pacifists when your life is next.
While searching my memory banks on school shootings, I came up with a example worth considering by all of you. It is very similar in every way to the Virginia Tech Shootings except the end result. In the Appalachian School of Law in 2002, another crazy student decided to take lives into his own hands. The School of Law is coincidentally also in Virginia. Peter Odighizuma, also a foreign student, made his way on to campus armed with .380 semi-automatic pistol. Mr. Odighizuma first went to the office of Professor Dale Rubin where he discussed his failing grades and his options. He didn't use his gun on Prof. Rubin, but gave this ominous warning of what was to come, he told Prof. Rubin, "Pray for me." He then made his way to the office of Dean Anthony Sutin where he shot and killed him and fellow Prof. Thomas Blackwell at point blank range. Making his way down the halls he shot and killed student Angela Denise Dales and seriously wounded 3 other students, but unlike the Virginia Tech shootings, Mr. Odighizuma was not going to have his way with unarmed people. Upon hearing the shots, two students, CCW holder Tracy Bridges and Police Officer Mikael Gross, unbeknownst to each other, both ran to their cars and returned with their own firearms. Approaching from two sides of Mr. Odighizuma, they demanded that he drop his weapon. Seeing his situation, he complied and was tackled by several other students. Mr. Odighizuma's gun still had several bullets left in the clip.
An interesting side note on this story. It was misreported by almost every single newspaper in the U.S. and overseas. They all reported that Mr. Odighizuma was tackled but left out the use of firearms in their stories. (It was confirmed later by police reports, eyewitness accounts, and the two student's testimonies).
As another example of people standing up. In the filming of an actual event, the concert movie "Gimme Shelter" shows the Rolling Stones performing in front of thousands when a deranged young man raised a gun to try to kill Mick Jagger, the lead singer. An alert man next to the gun wielder grabbed his arm forcing it up away from people. Security people and fans took the gun away and restrained the man till police showed up. The song and movie "Gimme Shelter" are a tribute to those people. During the course of the next months you're going to hear a lot about new laws that should be passed, and none of them will stop the next killer. I promise you that. What may save you is good people standing up against evil people. In my University, they will not allow any firearms on campus and some schools even deny off duty Police Officers their right to carry. They preach pacifism and non-confrontation instead of standing up against evil. Maybe we should all take a moment and consider whether that makes us safer.....or just better targets. H.C.
14 comments:
I think that what bothers me is how people (both gun nuts and anti-gun nuts) try to use an old, archaic Constitution to determine gun laws. Recall that back in the day, those jerks used muskets that took an hour to reload; not automatic firearms that can unleash hundreds of rounds per minute. Maybe an overhaul of the Constitution is a good starting point.
From there, if we had HONEST dialogue about this problem (i.e. finally acknowledging the fact that this problem, as you so eloquently put it, isn't going away) instead of riding emotional waves which lead to us making hasty decisions, we'd be in a better spot right now.
Another great post, my friend.
By the way, your link to the School of Law Article is the wrong one. Just a simple observation...
Hey Dre,
I would be careful about wanting to change the Constitution. Can you imagine what Democrats and Republicans would do in a committee to change it? We can't even get health care or a war funding bill without pork attached to it. The new Bill of Rights would include the right of oil companies to make outrageous profits and trial lawyers to sue everyone into poverty. God only knows where OUR rights would go. Second point; Automatic weapons have been banned in the U.S. since 1934, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Act) it was upheld as recently as 1996 (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/us_v_kirk.txt) although it was passed as a "tax" much like the Marijuana tax act of 1939, it effectively outlawed automatic weapons for all but law-enforcement and gun dealers. Try to buy one legally, I promise you can not. (It's a common misconception fueled by Democrats who classify "automatic" when they mean "semi-automatic" the fault of gun manufacturers who sold semi-autos under the name "auto-loaders".) I do agree we need some honest dialog, for the reasons I stated above. I don't think it would hurt anyone however, to have a five-day waiting period and a good backgroud check for handguns at least. I have to wait five days for my dry-cleaning. One interesting debate about background checks is; If people won't be able to get a gun if they have a history of mental illness, will hunters not seek help out of fear of never being able to get a gun to hunt with? Food for thought. Thanks for catching that link error, I guess I need to check those occassionally. And thanks for adding your thoughts to the debate, I really appreciate your opinions.
I can't even begin to explain why an "overhaul of the Constitution" is a horrible idea, nor do I agree w/ allowing every 18-year-old pud on-campus to pack heat. In any regards, I just ran across a news article that you of all people will almost certainly find interesting/appalling (I know I sure did): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070423/ap_on_re_us/professor_fired
Hm. That link got cut-off. The last of that string is "...re_us/professor_fired"
Take 2.
So if I'm hearing you guys correctly, you're saying that a Constitution written before the days of abortion, mass killings, gay marriage, wire-tappings, outing CIA agents, and a dumb-ass Electoral College doesn't need to be renovated?
Really?!
If I'm not mistaken, even the Original Playa himself, Thomas Jefferson suggested that we rewrite the Constitution every 20 years.
To the credit of the founding fathers (though most of them were jerks in their own rights), they knew that they DIDN'T know everything. So, they made provisions to keep shit from being the same 200 years later as it was then.
Otherwise, hemp would still be legal.
@ Andre: W/out reiterating what H.C. stated (which is a good start, although hardly complete), what you're talking about, that is "overhaul", is essentially creating a new government and/or nation. Now you're right in that Jefferson (I enjoyed how you referred to him as "the original player") didn't agree w/ the Constitution being treated as an entirely static document; and I agree. Amendments, as well as less drastic (for the lack of a better word) changes in government policy are healthy. However, it wasn't a rewriting of the Constitution every 20 years that TJ called for; it was a revolution! While I'll be the first to admit that the American political system is full of flaws & is in dire need of some pretty substantial changes, I'm not quite ready to suggest that we goto the lengths put forth by TJ just yet.
Also (and now I'm really venturing oft-topic), are you suggesting that "abortion, mass killings, gay marriage, wire-tappings, outing CIA agents, and a dumb-ass Electoral College" all be addressed by the Constitution? Wouldn't we then have to address the sugar content of my cheerios, the amount of ply my toilet-paper is allowed, & just about every other aspect of life as well? (Different levels, yes, but I have little doubt that you see the point I'm trying to make.)
-n
H.C
Great post there. And Andre,Jefferson didnt excatly say we are upposed to rewrite the Constituion every 20 years but he said it would be interpreted differently. However I too thinking letting these assholes in power in thr present era is beyong stupid. Sorry,but I don't want thing changed to help gays or other groups get the upper hand. The Consitution was just fine for the Civil Rights era to use for ammuntion for the change that was sought. I think a redraft in today's politcal climate would be more skewed than anything prior .
And the 2nd Amenedment is not about duck hunting ,it is about being able to repel the governmenet itself if that tragic need arose. Jefferson wrote "Let the tree of liberty be watered with the blood rebels and tyrants ,it is it's natural manure" ,does that in any way imply not fighting? We modern people may be horrified at that but it may be necessary . Does anyone think ,Andre,that voting actually wil keep the bastard ( the politicans) at bay? I sure the hell don't.
*An open apology to Andre Louis*
When I'm wrong I'm wrong. I said,"Try to buy one legally, I promise you can not." Apparently, you can. I went to Guns Galore to pick up a sight for my recently purchased 870 Remington shotgun and for fun asked to purchase a fully automatic weapon. He said it would take about a month to wade through the paperwork but it could be done. WTF!! I'm going to devote my next post to the whole gun thing. But, in the meantime, my apologies, it's a crazier world than I thought.
Hey John,
Thanks, you make several points very well. I think a lot of Americans have the belief it could never happen here, but so did Russia, Yugoslavia, and too many more to count.
P.S. What happened to the two episodes we recorded? Did I finally cross a line even you guys didn't want to cross?
Nic,
What do you do? Cruise sites looking for debates? (jk) Dang trouble-making youngsters.
Ha. No, not @ all. There's simply nothing to be gained if everybody is always in agreement. In this respect, I'm more curious than anything else.
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