Fuel for the Fire, VT

[totallycustom]

Do you all thing that the VT shootings will just add fuel to the antis fire or start the ball rolling on more legislation?  I have heard tons of anti gun talk from the news already, and the prime minister of Australia bad mouthed us and our gun laws.  Its got me all nervous.  How about you?

-TC-

[ironglow]

  Can't help getting nervous over it...just another excuse for the antis..

[kodiakemt]

The talk is getting pretty bad. More and more countries are coming out against the US. Being in VA I'm getting more then a little nervous about it. I'll be surprise if something doesn't happen soon, in the way of more laws and restrictions.

[Crimson Mister]

If you see them quoting foreigners about our gun control policies that means they're desperate. Unfortunately, the networks won't ask the Aussie PM what happened when they enacted they're draconian gun control policies. Most people don't believe the lies anymore, look at CNN's own poll. Had we had universal right to carry, the death toll would have been two.

Smart ass remark removed by Graybeard. You've really not been a member long enough to become a smart ass yet.

[alsatian]

Yes, I would expect to see all sorts of new anti-gun legislation emerge from this.  Remember, we have a Democrat majority in both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate.  With this event to provide tinder, the anti-gun fires will get well stoked.

Our government is a democracy.  Everyone gets a vote. How does the electorate decide how to vote?  They get swayed by news media and advertisements.  With perhaps 5% of the US voting population possessing any direct experience and knowledge of firearms use, I would guess that in the not too distant future our Second Amendment right will be a thing of the past.  It is not that I want this to happen.  I am a loyal NRA member, keeping my dues paid up.  I enjoy shooting my various big game and small game rifles and my shotguns, mostly hunting rather than target shooting.  I try to introduce my children into hunting and proper handling of firearms.  Still . . .

I grew up on a farm.  My father was a gun nut.  Even so, while I am very anti-gun control, my sister can argue with me about the value of keeping the "Assault Weapons Ban" in effect.  "Who needs an assault rifle?  Who needs that for hunting?"  My sister is an intelligent woman, raised in an environment where firearms were present and valued by my father.  But she is ready tomorrow to give up her right -- and the rights of all of the rest of us -- to keep and bear "assault weapons" because she can't imagine a purpose for these weapons after maybe 5 seconds of thought.  I offered to her that Korean shop owners who were heavily pillaged after the Rodney King trial verdict might have had a different opinion about the utility of private citizens owning semi-automatic, 30-round clip rifles to protect their businesses.  Similarly with other incidents of civil unrest.  Oh . . . these events are rare.  What about in association with Hurricane Katrina's aftermath?  What about after the earthquake in 1989 in Oakland?  What about after many championship basketball/football/hockey games are completed?  Civil unrest is rare and not worthy of consideration?

Anyway, yes, expect lots of agitation for new gun laws.  And expect that the gun laws will be stupid and that the problems will not be solved.  Look at Iraq.  These guys are killing us not with guns but improvised bombs made from household products.

[Crimson Mister]

Can anyone explain to me why there is a link to the Brady Campaign on the Google banner above this topic?

[Graybeard]

Can anyone explain to me why there is a link to the Brady Campaign on the Google banner above this topic?

Google accepts ads from almost anyone other than on porn or illegal drugs. The ads displayed are those that are "most relevant" to the topic being discussed. So you talk about them and it's not out of the question an ad for them will show up. If anyone like the NRA or other pro gun organization had bought ads from them using same key words theirs too will show up. Companies and organizations by ads via "key words" and when those keys words show up whoever has paid the most to have those key words their ads show up. Don't you think it ironic and kinda funny their money is being paid to show them here where no one is gonna contribute to them?

[Savage .250]

  No doubt this heinous  action by one mentality challenged individual  has whipped up the  winds for more gun control as shown in the newspapers and TV. 
   His chacter and mental health (long before this heinous act) are being brought  into focus. This mornings paper stated in part,".........He reportedly set a fire in a dorm."  " He was accused of stealing." " He was referred to the school counselor for his violent writings." The paper quotes a Professor who referred this guy to the University`s counseling service as saying, " But we`re all alert to not ignore things like this." She also said,".........or what the outcome was."  I take that to mean not sure if any action was taken.
  Is it possible that if this guy had received some help,  maybe........ just maybe, this truly heinous act would not
   have taken place?
   

[jmckinley]

I posed this same question to Tim in a PM last evening and here is my take on this subject. Yes we should worry about the Anti's raising their heads but the big issue should be those 32 innocent victims and families of this nut case. The only thing i'd change, if you aren't a citizen you can't buy any firearm period. It's a shame we worry so much about a group of Anti's when the vast majority of American support the right to bear arms if we stick together and act to protect thoses rights then the Anti Lobby will never win. Being a History teacher the irony of all of these was the Professor who survived the Holocaust only to die teaching his students. He escaped death as a child and choose to protect his kids and gave his life so they could reach their potential. Gentlemen if that is not the definition of a Hero then I do not know what the word means. We should remember the heroism of that day and the young and old who lost their lives at VT. The gun contol discussion can come later. it is time to mourn the loss of 32 innocnet people. Just one man's opinion.   God Bles, Jess

[jgalar]

This isn't the first time there has been a school shooting. Where were the campus police and local police. It seems the police policy for these types of shootings is wait until they run out of ammo then move in.

If I were head of a college, after Columbine, I would have pulled the head of security into my office and told him to have a detailed plan of action on my desk by morning. IF the head of VT didn't do this he/she should be removed.

We plan for terrorist attacks, make counter plans and contingency plans, train and perform exercises,  but still one stupid kid with one handgun can kill over 30 people. What if there had been a car full of terrorists with grenades and sub guns think of how many people would have died.

We can not depend on government for our personal protection. The lawmakers who refused to pass the bill to allow the students and faculty to carry on campus grounds are partly responsible for the deaths and injury that occurred.

[Crimson Mister]

Smart ass remark removed by Graybeard. You've really not been a member long enough to become a smart ass yet.

There's where you are wrong, sir. I've been a smart ass all my life.

[Graybeard]

Smart ass remark removed by Graybeard. You've really not been a member long enough to become a smart ass yet.

There's where you are wrong, sir. I've been a smart ass all my life.

While I don't doubt that for one minute the fact remains you've NOT been a member of this site long enough to get by with smart ass postings. A continuation of such won't be treated so friendly as this warning was.

[muzzleblast525]

I will say that, at least at the police department that I work for, that our chief has made it a priority that ALL officers attend a 3-day MANDATORY training class on an emergency response to shootings in progress.  I just attended it last month.  It was as life like as you can make it without actually killing the bad guy, we used Seminutions.  The guns we used were modified Glock 22's and it fires a round sorta of like a paintball.  We would have to hard charge into the building and go to where the "bad guy" was doing he shooting and take care of him. 

But, I just read where this guy at VT had sent a video, letters and pictures to NBC and there was a story on the waves.  Seems like he was detained a couple of months ago on a Mental Warrant, but the judge released him later, saying that he was only a threat to himself and not to others.  Interesting how that Judge can make the decision, and would be more interesting to see what he based his facts on. 

And reading all this garbage about gun control and such, wanting to make new laws.  Heck, why doesn't the judge and jury enforce whats already on the books and lets take care of business.  Here in Texas its a Class A misdemeanor, one grade below a felony, if you are caught carrying a handgun without a license, and punishment is up to one year.  These gun toting gang-bangers are getting off on probation.

Just last month a Dallas Police officer was killed in a shoot-out with a real bad guy.  This guy had been to prison before, had 17 prior felony arrests and the great Tarrant County District Attorney's office gives the guy probation last year for possession of a large amount of Methamphetamine.  Its obvious, at least to us smart people, that this guy shouldn't be on probation because of all of his priors, and if he had been where he was suppose to be, this Dallas Police Officer would still be with us today.

Its late and I'm starting to ramble, so until my next sign on........

[Heavy C]

Funny how the liberal media have not mentioned the defeat of the bill that would of allowed concealed carry on the campus.  Instead they are going off on the owner of the gun store that sold the weapon to this idiot.  The store owner did everything by the book and now he is being interviewed constantly, had to shut down his website because of threats and is now receiving phone calls threatening bodily harm.  It amazes me that people insist on implementing more of the same failed policy.  These anti's should move to Canada or better yet Australia. 

There was an obvious disconnect with how the university, health professionals, and the university police dealt with this individual in the years leading up to this incident.  This tragedy could have been averted, but they were more concerned about his privacy.  That is just assinine!

[DWTim]

There's so much baloney surrounding the whole disaster, it's hurts to think about it.

We have a whole social theory regarding preemptive justice that just fails in practice. There were plenty of chances to stop this guy, but no one wanted to be blamed for overreacting and curtailing his freedom. That's an understandable, and a civilized course of action. (However, it was safe to pick on the CCWs, the defacto guilty, an assumption that was acted upon by those that arrested the wrong guy after the first murders.)  Additional regulation isn't going to fix anything, it's just going to bog down the legal system more. Would this guy have been any less dangerous if he couldn't buy a gun with a plastic frame, a barrel shroud, a pistol grip stock, black paint, a muzzle break or Russian parts? The majority of these regulations are just bogus, and we all know it.

In reality, there's no nuance to it: Had someone just shot the b******, there would have been about 30 less dead students.

Firearms have been with us for 500 years, they're not going away. If someone proposes to disarm you, but arm those on their team, there's a political motive behind it.