We've all heard about yesterday's tragic mass shooting on the Virginia
Tech Campus that left 33 dead, including the gunman. Our deepest condolences
go out to the families of those victims.
As can be expected, gun-prohibitionists are crawling out of the woodwork
to lay the blame squarely on the availability of firearms. But how
can they?
Virginia law states that holders of concealed carry permits are allowed
to carry on university campuses ( http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/80510
). In the name of "safety", certain persons lobbied successfully
to prevent the carrying of firearms on Virginia Tech's campus. Yesterday's
massacre was the direct result of that lobbying.
Did the rules forbidding the carrying of firearms prevent Seung Hui
Cho's senseless slaughter? Obviously not. In fact, the rules _encouraged_
his rampage because law-abiding citizens were unable to prevent Cho
from completing his butchery.
The blood of those 32 innocents is on the hands of those who lobbied
for victim disarmament, and on the hands of the president of the university
who acquiesed to their short-sighted demands. Their hoplophobia did
nothing but ensure that larger numbers of individuals died at the
hands of a psychotic.
Speaking of hoplophobia -- we watched with interest the reporting
of Nightline's Terry Moran on the slaying during Monday night's special
Nightline edition . He showed classic signs of the mental health issues
outlined in Dr. Sarah Thompson's classic article, "Raging Against
Self-Defense: A Psychiatrist Examines the Anti-Gun Mentality"
( http://www.jpfo.org/ragingagainstselfdefense.htm
).
Despite logic and reason, other gun-prohibitionists will no doubt
callously use this incident to push their "gun control"
schemes, either out of irrational fear, or a desire for control. We
must stand fast and refuse to give in to their emotional rhetoric.
"Gun control" would not have prevented this terrible tragedy
-- "gun control" _caused_ this tragedy.
_Evil people find a way to kill_. It's
that simple.
For perspective, this degree of suicide-killing (or mass-killing
via car-bombs) happens about *three times a week in Iraq.* Terror
bombers kill in a big way in an attempt to drive policy decisions.
Even the U.S. military cannot stop all the bombings in Iraq -- the
people who perform them are intent on making their statements via
mass murder. Likewise, the U.S. gov't won't be able to stop all of
the suicide killings here.
Just as we don't accept the terrorists' killings as policy arguments,
we should not let domestic terrorism events like this shooting be
treated as policy arguments.
The questions are: what can be done to detect the potential perpetrators?
what can be done defensively so that perpetrators cannot do as much
damage? VA Tech's response was lousy: they did not take the kind of
action needed to respond to a multiple murder on campus when the suspect
is on the loose. Likewise, they had assured a defense-free environment,
so that the killer could not be stopped by equal force.
VA Tech's ill-considered policies and responses do not create reasons
to disarm non-violent people as a national policy -- yet that will
be called for.
Now would be a good time to visit our store and pick up one of our
"All in Favor of Gun Control, Raise Your Right Hand" posters
or t-shirts ( http://shop.jpfo.org/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=78
). Don't let the hoplophobes use this incident as fodder for your
disarmament.
- The Liberty Crew
PS Please note that this is the LAST WEEK you can become a member
of the Producer's Circle for our new documentary _The Gang_. Go to
http://shop.jpfo.org/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=16
for details.
