Virginia Tech Thoughts, part 1

[greyyguy]

The shooting at Virginia Tech was a reprehensible event. It doesn't make sense for someone to go in and kill as many strangers as possible, so our view of the world is throw into confusion. If people died there for no reason what is to say that won't happen here today or next week or a year from now? Introducing that sort of uncertainty into our

Comments

[antinomic]

If there was a significent chance that any given person was armed, it would certainly be a more polite society.

[greyyguy]

Maybe. Doesn't New York have a concealed carry law? I haven't heard of New Yorkers becoming significantly more polite ;)

[greyyguy]

I don't know... I've met Canadians.

Of course, it is possible that mojo_foley is not the ideal ambassador to the rest of the world for y'all ;)

because I'm a damn fence-sitter on so many things...

[sirena73]

I don't own any firearms, but I do plan to in the future (have to get my permit and the monies together first). The Boy also has a permit and will own guns in the near future as well. Like was said above, the people that I know who own guns are the most responsible gun-owners EVER. But having said that, there are a lot of stupid yahoos out there who ass around with guns, and that makes everybody look bad.
I'm for the concealed carry law, but again, I don't know how this would actually play out in real life. I do think the permit regs for concealed carry should be extremely strict, though.
*sigh* I don't know. I think this is a horrible tragedy, and I think there were failings on a few levels here, not just on the gun ownership thing. (I do have to say, though, I haven't read a ton about this and haven't watched TV since it happened, so I may be missing some info here, too.)

[tange]

My assistant brought up this discussion yesterday. She said that if everyone had a gun, then shootings like the VA Tech one would not happen or would be stopped much sooner. She argued that maybe if teachers had guns in their desk drawers....and I couldn't help it, I started laughing. I told her the temptation to shoot rowdy students would be too great for some of the teachers.

Seriously, I've read that the difference between bad guys and good guys is that the bad guys will shoot anyone without hesitation. The good guys (especially ordinary, un-militarily-trained citizens) *will* hesitate, since their conscience makes them think about the ramifications of what they're about to do. That hesistation, even for a few seconds, makes a big difference.

I do think that anyone who wants a gun and gets properly trained in its use and stores it safely, should have a gun. I personally don't want one because I don't think I would be able to use it the right way in an emergency situation. It would do me no good.

[mojo_foley]

Ok here's a thought, how about instead of using situations like this as reasons to encourage an increase in gun use and/or ability to carry, maybe, just maybe, they might want to look at how the ease with which a person can already obtain firearms, increases violence such as this. I mean seriously, if you voluntarily checked into a mental institution then you are considered perfectly fit to carry a gun, but if someone else puts you there then you can't get one. So, if you you are crazy, you know you are, and openly admit it, then you are fit to carry a weapon as deadly as a gun? But nope those crazies who had to be put there, nope, no guns for you. Neither of them should have a gun! What the fuck? Seriously.

P.S. You know this isn't directed at you as the poster, but at people who support that mentality, right?