It was only a matter of time
April 16, 2007 – a day that will long haunt our nation.
On Monday, April 16, 2007, 23 year-old Cho Seung-Hui (Cho being the surname), a South Korean residing legally in the US since 1992 and enrolled as a student at Virginia Tec, walked into a residence hall and murdered two people. The police received a 911 call at 7:15 a.m. EDT and responded to what they at first took to be a “simple” domestic case. But at 9:45 a.m. EDT they received a second 911 call with reference to gunshots fired in Norris hall. Cho Seung-Hui had killed a total of 33 people (including himself) by the time the police reached the second floor where he was.
Quite predictably the mass media immediately started speculating about the weapons used and bemoaning the expiration of the illegal “Assault Weapons Ban” that had been instituted by Congress during the reign of William Jefferson Clinton in the US White House. Apparently, to hear some of the reports, fully automatic, auto mobile weapons of mass destruction with cavernous reservoirs of ammunition had propelled themselves onto the campus at Virginia Tech and ended the lives of 33 people and sent many more to the hosptial, seriously wounded. Like I said, it was quite predictable. Far be it from the US and International media to recognize that some people simply do evil things. And it matters not if they have access to firearms or not.
Let’s look for a moment at the issue of “readily available firearms”. I live in a country where the least expensive firearm will set you back four months wages, calculated at the national minimum wage – which the vast majority of the people do not earn. In order to purchase a firearm you have to jump through numerous hoops composed of red tape. You have to fill out the form requesting permission to obtain a weapon. You have to provide a letter stating why you need a weapon. You have to submit a doctor’s statement that you are physically and mentally fit to handle firearms. You have to provide a certificate of completion of a weapons handling course. You have to provide a paper from your local municipal government stating that you live at a certain address. You have to provide an affidavit of employment or a letter from your employer. You have to provide a color copy of your national ID card that has been blown up 150%. You have to provide two letters of recommendation from individuals stating that you are trustworthy to obtain a firearm. And you can only purchase a weapon (legally) from the Army store at your local army base – your selection being limited to those weapons that the national command has deemed worthy of manufacture or importation. And once you obtain your weapon you are limited to 100 rounds of ammunition for it every 6 months. At horrendous prices. A six month ration will cost you half a month’s salary – or more if it is a caliber that is not produced within the country.
So, this should be a safe and secure country by most journalistic standards. After all, none of the unwashed masses has ready access to firearms! But recently the local police did a publicity stunt to show how well they are protecting us. Since firearms are difficult to obtain the local thugs have started carrying all manner of cutting instruments and the police have collected over 5,000 such weapons since the beginning of the year – claiming to have prevented over 5,000 muggings and murders by doing so. A look at the weapons spread out in the city’s main park shows some interesting items. Pieces of hacksaw blade sharpened and with the plastic part of a Bic lighter used as a handle. Common kitchen knives. A variety of cheap, chinese made pocket knives. Machetes in all states of use, abuse and wear. Even halves of pairs of scissors and scraps of metal sharpened with a rag wrapped around them to protect the user. Screw drivers sharpened to points. ALL MANNER OF IMPROVISED WEAPONS! And I know many people who have been mugged by thugs wielding such weapons. My wife and I met a fellow on a dark street one night who was carrying such a weapon. We were not mugged because of my air of self confidence and “I’ll dance the dance you call the tune for” attitude. The potential mugger who was openly carrying the weapon in his hand merely asked for a coin and I politely refused – while my eyes never left his face and my attitude projected a “Don’t make me feed that to you” statement. In fact, I never clearly saw the weapon since I was locked onto his face from a distance back. It was afterwards that my wife said “Did you see that KNIFE he had?” to which I said “Yes”, because I was aware he had something in that hand but had made up my mind that he’d never get a chance to get close enough to use it.
But I digress. My point is, in the absence of firearms those who would commit mayhem will do so with anything else that is to hand. Any piece of scrap iron, glass or even wood or plastic can be shaped into a dangerous weapon in the hands of an experienced mugger. A wide variety of tools can be used not only to build things but also to take lives. It is not a matter of whether a person has access to weapons, it’s a matter of what they do with them. And that depends on the person. Many friends of mine gathered in Arkansas recently. They had hundreds of firearms of all kinds, from muzzle loading to fully automatic. Untold thousands of rounds of ammunition were sent down range. And yet no one threatened anyone else nor did anyone attempt to cause harm to another. The camaraderie was evident and the goodwill expressed would be incredible to those believe that weapons and those who possess them are evil.
So, what happened at VT? A mentally unbalanced person walked into an area that had been declared “Gun Free” and took the lives of 32 innocent people before ending his own existence. The last I heard no one had come forward with a good explanation for “Why” unless it was because of a problem brought on by romantic attachment to a fellow student. But certainly this COULDN’T happen! After all, THE COLLEGE ADMINISTRATION HAS FORBIDDEN THE CARRYING OF WEAPONS ON THE VIRGINIA TECH CAMPUS!!! Surely the very fact that the Administration PROHIBITS firearms should make folks safe! Unfortunately such decrees only provide “thug friendly” atmospheres. Huh? Yep, you heard right. Declaring “No one may carry weapons here.” is just a notice to thugs that they can do what they want – unimpeded by the law abiding. After all, only the law abiding would abide by such a law, regulation or whatever you want to call it.
The non-law abiding are the ones we have to worry about though. This simple matter is one that is all to often overlooked. It is already illegal to rob, rape or murder. In some jurisdictions the last two crimes STILL warrant the death penalty. In other words, everyone KNOWS they are serious matters and they are dealt with in a serious way for the most part. And yet, there are still robberies committed, people killed and women (and men) raped by those who regard not the laws of men or God. And our society is currently producing more and more such criminals. Each year thousands of murderers and rapists are set loose on society. In our infinite wisdom as a nation we have deemed ourselves too “civilized” to execute the proper punishment for murder or rape – the death penalty. We as a nation think that we’re smarter than God who commanded that those who shed the blood of man or who force a woman to have sexual intercourse with them should be put to death. After all, we are “compassionate” – but towards those very people who have no compassion on our society and who commit heinous crimes against innocent people.
And so we continue to stick our heads in the sand and pretend that nothing is wrong, everything is OK. After all, it’s those evil, horrid weapons that are to blame. And we create more and more places where people can be easily preyed upon by those who do not recognize society’s laws as applying to them or regulating their behavior in any way. We as a nation want to feel safe, and so we say “In this or that place we are safe – don’t you DARE try to provide for your own self protection within these holy boundaries!” Airports, churches, schools, court houses and more have been declared immune to random acts of violence. We are to pretend the emperor has clothing even though it is obvious he’s stark naked! Not only that, we are to depend upon the government to provide for us protection – even though time after time it has been proven in courts of law that the police have NO duty to protect any individual. That’s right, they don’t HAVE to show up just because you dial 911. And even if they DO show up they can take minutes or hours to respond – giving any perpetrator ample opportunity to escape. After all, that’s what apparently happened yesterday at Virginia Tech. The police arrived, locked down the dormitory and started to investigate – while the perpetrator was re-arming himself and preparing to inflict even greater levels of destruction upon the defenseless populace.
So, how can we prevent such incidents from happening again? The simple answer is “We can NOT prevent such incidents from happening.” However, we CAN ensure that people have at least the opportunity to fight back rather than cower and await the inevitable. On August 1, 1966 Charles Whitman went up in the Tower at the University of Texas, took the lives of 15 people and wounded 31 more. The death toll was not higher because individual citizens brought out their own personal weapons and assisted the police in pinning down the sniper until he was finally killed. If only some of the students and faculty at VT had carried personal weapons, perhaps many deaths would have been prevented. Instead, Cho ran wild like a weasel in a chicken coop – largely unopposed. One professor, Liviu Librescu, however, stood up to him by holding a door while many students escaped through the window. He gave his life so that others could live, setting an example just like Todd Beamer and the rest on Flight 93 did on September 11, 2001 – to bad more folks aren’t paying attention.
It was only a matter of time before a tragedy like this one happened. For too long people have ignored the facts and pretended “it can’t happen HERE!”. The sad news is “Yes, it CAN happen here too!” It is time people started taking control of their own lives and quit depending on ineffectual government agencies for their well being.
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