Let's hold off on the over-reaction, shall we?
I'm not sure what the best response should be, generally, to deal with the school shootings. But before people begin to demand bannings, I would note:
1. There are MILLIONS of firearms in this country. What kind of wand makes them disappear?
2. It's already a felony to carry a handgun on campus at Northern Illinois University. That didn't seem to discourage Stephen Kazmierczak from bringing three, plus a shotgun, yesterday. People that murder other people before committing suicide apparently don't worry about that putting a felony on their Permanent Record.
3. Creating effective gun-free zones on campuses is impossible. I have NEVER been challenged to produce identification as a peace officer on campus, and I always carry on campus. Putting metal detectors at the front doors to the lecture halls is untenable. I'm late for class as it is. Think of going into the secure zone of a major airport every time you entered a class. Good. Lord. (Not to mention the cost of manning the hundreds of new posts on campus.)
4. Making this tragedy political would be the lowest of the low.
That is all.
Labels: brooding, crime, death, education, in the news, The Fall Of Western Civilization, Truth, Utopia, worry
posted by Matt G @ 12:25 PM
5 Comments:
I hate to admit it, but I saw the headline as to the campus shooting yesterday and thought, "Oh. Another one," shrugged my shoulders, and moved on.
That's where we are now.
On the other hand, if we quit paying so MUCH attention to them, maybe the "infamy" aspect that appeals to so many of them would go away and maybe it wouldn't happen so much.
Babs...
No disrespect intended, but for those of us who are university police dispatchers, "oh, another one *shrug* " is definitely NOT where we are at.
As to the response, I realize it's impossible to prevent these tragedies. Where I feel my university and others are lacking is how we respond to incidents in progress, how we train for them and how we deal with the aftermath. We might not be able to stop it, but we should make sure we're prepared to react to it when it does happen. From what I've seen, the NIU shooting was over extremely quickly, so some of those communication and command/control issues might not have arisen.
Matt, this once again proves it is almost impossible to get LEOs responding in time. Even if everything was perfect, this is the proverbial two minute drill... My thoughts as prayers are with the families, and also the University LE community that will inevitably be blamed.
People do not want to address the real issues, but play the blame game...
I also agree with Babs, stop the coverage. Look how many less fights there are on the football fields since the networks stopped covering them.
The first chapter of To Ride, Shoot Straight, And Speak The Truth (entitled "Hold! Enough!)Tam's post, a couple of Marko's and this one:
http://joemerchant24.blogspot.com/2007/04/become-just-once-person.html
convinced me I needed to Carry all the time, wherever it was legal (and work to make it legal in more places). I had decided get my permit, but I wanted it so I could OC w/o worrying if my shirt or jacket covered any part of the gun. It comes down to this: The only way to stop these nuts from shooting folk until they get tired of it is for someone with the proper Mindset, Skills, AND Hardware to be present and KILL THEM. The only way to ensure that person is where YOU need him to be is for YOU TO BE THAT PERSON. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I preach it everywhere.
Peter, understood given your position. It's where many of us are though - another tragic headline, one among many, some heinous, some just plain sick. The same day, a 10 year old boy shot his 9 year old sister over a bag of potato chips. And so on it goes. I'm beginning to think I should just follow the path of Thomas Jefferson, who said, "I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it."
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