Virginia Tech Shooting: 33 Dead
Posted by: tony on 04/17/2007 10:54 AM
Updated by: tony on 04/17/2007 10:54 AM
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Expires: 05/18/2007 12:00 AM
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Let us take an opportunity to pray for those who died at Virginia Tech, and for those family members they left behind.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
And may perpetual light shine upon them.
May the souls of the faithfully departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
Amen.
This next part is sure to anger some people, I know I am angry myself (though for a different reason).
There is going to be the obligatory outrage from the punditry regarding the private ownership of firearms. There will be new calls for gun control legislation, and there will probably be a new law called something like "The Virgina Tech Slaughter Prevention Act of 2007".
Virgina Tech was already a "gun free zone". This means that the shooter was already breaking the law. There was a bill introduced into the State Legislature of Virgina to allow college students and teachers to legally carry guns on campus, but it was shot down without ever making it to a floor vote.
So congratulations, Virginia Legislature. Your decision may have doomed those 33 people.
Even with our fallen nature, I believe in the basic goodness of my fellow man. This means I trust him or her to carry a gun for his or her own protection, and to come to the aid of innocents. Currently, when a maniac, criminal or terrorist pulls out a gun in a "gun free zone", the law abiding citizens are reduced to sheep to the slaughter. All they can do to defend themselves is run and hide, or maybe some brave, though unarmed, soul can take his life into his hands by rushing a guy with a gun who has shown a compunction to use it to deadly effect.
Were law abiding citizens allowed to carry concealed, any number of citizens could pull their weapons, and if not disable or kill the attacker, could at least pin him down until the police could arrive.
I think the time had come, not to tighten controls on private handgun ownership, but to loosen them. Sure, require a permit to carry, and even require mandatory range time and possibly combat training, but allow law abiding citizens to carry concealed if they wish.
The bible says: Thou shalt not murder. It does not say: Thou shalt not defend thyself or helpless others.
A nice side effect will be the reduction in violent crime (as has been shown in municipalities which have passed ordinances requiring gun ownership).
To me, gun control means being able to hit the target each and every time.
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