First off, I send my deepest condolences to the victims and their families of the worst single shooting spree homicide in United States History; The Virginia Tech Massacre.
While watching the news coverage today, I tried to imagine how horrible it must have been for the students sitting in their classrooms, listening to the barrage of gun shots that rang out. I myself attended college and law school. That is the last place on earth where you would think that some loony toon would walk in and start murdering people by shooting them. I could not imagine the horror that the unarmed students went through.
I then thought about the fact that we are a nation presently at war, and how stories like this might give fodder for our enemies to become copycats.
Going further, I thought about the fact that this tragedy could have either been prevented or diminished had just one or two of the adult students or teachers at the University had concealed carry permits to carry their own guns.
I am an advocate of the 2nd Amendment Right to Bear Arms. There are many people out there that seek to ban firearms by using incidents such as this as proof that banning guns would prevent such tragedies. I beg to differ.
In fact, in nations or States that freely allow their citizens to carry concealed weapons; the crime rates are much lower.
There are some that argue that if you ban handguns than it will be much harder for criminals to get guns. This may or may not be true. Drugs like cocaine and heroine have been banned for years. Is there a cocaine and heroine problem in the United States?
Criminals by nature are criminals. They will get guns whether they are banned or not. So the real victims of handgun bans will be law abiding citizens who follow the law. They will be victims of the criminals that do not follow the law.
Going back to the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution; the Supreme Court has interpreted the 2nd Amendment to mean that government cannot ban all guns, but that they can ban some guns based upon a compelling governmental interest. They have left it up to the States to enact their own legislation with respect to regulating guns. Some States make it easy for law abiding citizens to obtain concealed carry permits to protect themselves, and some have made it difficult.
In California, the issue has been left up to the Sheriff of each county to issue concealed carry permits. In places like Los Angeles County, and San Francisco County it is virtually impossible to get a concealed carry permit, even though the crime in these counties by criminals carrying guns is basically through the roof.
It is my humble opinion that tragedies such as the one that happened at Virginia Tech could be avoided by more people being issued concealed carry permits so that they can protect themselves in case a loony toon decides to walk into a place and start murdering people. First off, the loony toon might think twice about doing their dastardly deed if the knew that the people that they are going up against may be armed, secondly if they still decide to go on a murder rampage, someone could stop it before 30 plus people end up dead.
In the vast majority of crime situations, the police are not there to protect you. The police act as a deterrent to crime, and are only usually there after the crime has already been committed. Secondly, you cannot sue the police for failing to protect you in an emergency.
I firmly believe that all free law abiding Americans should have the right to bear arms pursuant to the United States Constitution, so that they are able to protect themselves.
I have not heard of one instance of a person carrying a concealed weapon legally with a concealed carry permit, using the weapon to commit a crime. I have heard of thousands crimes against innocent victims.
It makes sense to me that we should be able to carry weapons to protect ourselves against criminals. If this is not the case, than we should be able to sue the police for failing to protect us. Right now the vast majority of Americans are getting the short end of the stick. It’s time to give us back our constitutional right to bear arms.
God be with those poor souls of Virginia Tech that did not even have a chance.
By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2007
Welcome, my name is 
Well, if one had a carry permit (so had a gun on him) and was well versed in shooting combat style, and most importantly, mentally prepared to take a life, then yes such a person could have taken the killer out quick.
This brings up a something I’ve been thinking about. What if, the CC guy took out the killer and prevented say 30 people from being killed but since the killer was killed, no one would know he saved 30 people. The CC guy would probably be prosecuted for murder knowing how things go in the stupid world.
Yep, I couldn’t even imagine what that must have been like, go to school not knowing it’s the last for you. It reminds me of 911, it was another work day at the office and couple hours later, your jumping out of a window 90 floors up. Wow really sad.
Here’s a blog I read a lot: http://www.claytoncramer.com/weblog/blogger.html
He has a gun blog listed in the sidebar, I forgot the name.
Even if the students had been carrying guns, they would have died. Don’t you think (or you might not want to admit) that Cho would have used other means to kill the students?
Knowing that other students are armed, he could have used a hand grenade or a homemade bomb to blow up the class room. He certainly would have not entered the class the same way as he did if the other students could defend themselves.
That is certainly the truth that the NRA doesn’t want you to know.
I read on the CNN news ticker than the gun control issue is being brought up again. It is a sad affair to think that our elected representatives would question our constitutional rights. Even sadder to think that it could come to a vote regarding our rights to bear arms. Norm is much to kind calling this Cho a looney toon. Cho was smart and as we could see he had mastered the English language. I am still floored by the fact that Cho shot and killed two students and then went to the post office and mailed his manifesto to NBC at New York in a overnight Express mail envelope and went back to shot 30 more students to death and wounded 17 more students. Yes, the Proffesor from Isarel was a hero. His son stated his Father survived the Holocaust and gave his life at VT to save his students. Yet again, we see Cho was a green card visa. Legal to be here in the USA and he purchased his weapons legally as well. I do think had a teacher been armed the outcome might have been different. I feel strongly that the USA lets too many people in our country with green cards and the illegals need to be sent back home.
I think the students that were saved by the heroic teacher should arrange a permanant tribute to him, that’s the least they could do.
I agree with Gary as well. I do not know many people who would give their lives so freely. May he rest in peace after the hard life he lived on this earth.
I agree that more people should apply for concealed weapons permits. Yes, they are getting harder to obtain. Being born in Kentucky, guns are a part of life there. No way would the good people of that Great State allow their weapons to be taken away. It seems like more criminals are finding it easier to obtain illegal weapons. Last night on Larry King on CNN it was stated that one of the two weapons used by this VT shooter had the serial numbers filed off. I am waiting to see if this shooter was a citizen of the USA or here on a student visa. I feel strongly that our government leaders must act immediately and stop letting all of these people in the USA. The shooter at the Salt Lake City Mall was from Bosnia. The VT shooter is described as Asian. Our good colleges are full of students from other countries. I live near Florida Institute of Technology and there are so many students from the Middle East. This Technical college is nearly 75% foreign students. We educate these students from other countries and they take what they learn from us and go back to their Homeland and use what they learn from us, against us. We need to start taking care of our own citizens and close the gate. Most of the students from Iran, come here with what seems to be a suitcase that is bottomless and full of money. We teach students from the Middle East our technology, medical and engineering. I think we should teach our own young people. We have so many that are unable to go to college because of money. I have a daughter in her third year of college, she wants to be a Registered Nurse. I find that I am having a difficult time. I fall in the area of not being “poor” so no free ride. I am not “rich” so it is hard to pay the tuition. After tuition there is the added cost of nearly $2,000 for books and lab fees a semester. My child is a 3.4 GPA. Florida has so many people here illegally and we pay for their costs of living, medical etc. I think it is unfair. Let these people stay in their countries and go to school there. Remember Desert Storm? Bush 1 went over there and dropped bombs. They used our retired F14 Fighter Jets to fight us back. That is a sad situation. A young man that graduated from high school in 2003 with my daughter is going back to Iraq for the third time since Bush 2 went over there. This young man has stated that the Iraq solders have better boots than our soldiers. Our young men dig holes in the ground to sleep. We live in sad and sorry times. I feel for everyone who lost a loved one at VT. I feel for the families that had to worry and were unable to reach their child. God Bless Everyone.
Well, I will tell you what. If I had a CCW and some looney toon came into my classroom shooting, I would take him out and worry about the consequences later.
The kids on the classroom did not even have a chance.
I agree with you that the person with the CCW should be trained and even then they might freeze. You never know what you will do in a situation such as this!
What about that teacher who held the door while taking rounds so his students could escape. That is heroism!
Norm
I don’t know Allan, about what Cho would have done had he thought that he would not be walking into a turkey shoot with no resistance, but I do know that one properly trained teacher or student packing a legally concealed carry weapon could have save a lot of lives that day.
I do know that I and many other law abiding Americans would want the chance to defend ourselves against criminals that do not follow the law. That is my whole point.
With 32 students shot dead by a mad man, who methodically walked into class rooms and started shooting students and teachers, what other solutions are there?
Norm
I agree Gary. It takes a special kind of human being to lay down their lives so that other may live.
Norm
Yes of course. It’s only honest people who don’t carry when the sign says “no rights allowed”. Cho was mad. There is no reason to believe he would have been intelligent enough to use an alternative method to kill people. It’s possible, same as it’s possible that he would have chosen a different venue. It’s also possible he would have capped off at what he considered the source of all the evil in his world anyway.
Legal ramifications for offing a madman on a shooting spree? Who cares! I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6 any day. I can live through a trial ya know?