Virginia Tech: Maybe There is Something We Can Do
In the aftermath of the tragic events at Virginia Tech, I was reluctantly reminded of the anger and fear I experienced after 9/11. Itâs all just so shattering - to my reality, my sense of justice and my belief in the goodness of mankind. And it really pisses me off. The dark side of me wishes the killer had survived just so we, as a society, could punish him, and cast our venom at him, at our leisure.
Soon enough, the anger, vengeance and frustration are replaced by a foreboding sense of hopelessness, and a sad resignation that this senseless tragedy can very well repeat itself. And that REALLY pisses me off.
But today I got an e-mail message from my friend, Becca Fuller, in which she passed along a suggestion that her brother-in-law, Jeff, made. A light came on at the end of the tunnel. And so I share that seed of hope with you. Thanks, Becca, and pass on my gratitude to your brother-in-law.
Hear me out.
Many American’s, I among them, feel that people should indeed have the right to bear arms. Though I personally prefer to not participate, I completely acknowledge that others are willing and able to own and responsibly use firearms. After all, it is a piece of who we are as a nation of cowboys, explorer’s, gold miners and pioneers.
But I’ll be damned if I think that right extends to the likes of Cho Seung-Hui. Don’t you dare wave the 2nd Amendment at me and decry the rights of everyone to own a handgun. There is no way in hell that Cho had a right to own a hand gun. He was a sicko, and what’s more, LOTS OF PEOPLE KNEW IT. But unfortunately, the guy selling him the gun didn’t know it. And the State of Virginia didn’t know it. And 25,999 of the 26,000 students at Virginia Tech didn’t know it.
I can’t help but think that if any one of the dozens of people who had encountered Cho’s psychotic behavior and violent tendencies (he was arrested and required treatment for mental health issues) had let the gun shops know that Cho was capable of doing something heinous, he wouldn’t have been able to buy that gun that killed 32 people. (And Puh-Lease don’t give me a ration of BS about “Guns don’t kill, people do.” I guaran-damn-tee you that nobody would have died if Cho had been using a slingshot.)
So, why didn’t anybody know that Cho had been in a mental institution and that he had been labeled by the State of Virginia as someone who could do harm to himself and others? AS Jeff asked:
“How is it that a disturbed student who frightened his classmates and teacher; who was reported to the university administration and police because his writings were so disturbed and violent; who was investigated by the police for stalking women; who was judged to be an imminent danger to himself and others as a result of mental illness; who had threatened suicide; who had prescription medication for his psychological problems — how is it that this young man was able to walk into a gun store and, with a one-minute background check, walk out with a gun that he used to kill 32 others and himself?”
Because the all-powerful NRA has effectively lobbied to make it virtually impossible to get this information into the hands of the people who sell the guns. In the name of the 2nd Amendment, this billion-dollar special interest group has stymied every responsible effort to control the unfettered sale of handguns. It took less than 30 minutes after the killings for NRA proponents to hit the airwaves cautioning people to not allow their emotions to allow them to be manipulated by those who seek to “gut the 2nd Amendment”. Wow! Don’t let your emotions about the senseless killing of innocent people by automatic weapons in the hands of lunatics influence your thinking about whether or not we need tighter control of these weapons. God forbid!
Let’s not turn this into a debate about whether or not responsible Americans should be allowed to own guns. They should. But crazy, whacked-out, psychotic, suicide-prone sociopaths SHOULD NOT be allowed to own guns. What’s so hard to understand about that? Does anyone really think it would “gut” the 2nd amendment right of Americans to bear arms if we implemented some effective level of control such that villains like Cho can’t massacre innocent people? Former NRA President Bob Corbin, who is also the former Arizona attorney general, says “they ought to look at the person, not the gun.”
Nice idea, Bob. Except that the NRA gun lobby has made it virtually impossible to “look at the person” until AFTER they shed the blood.
I applaud much of what the NRA does and I’m glad we have their perspective and their energy on many issues. I want the right to own a gun, whether I actually own one or not. And I want the freedom to protect my family and myself from violent attacks. But, the NRA seems to take the case that tragedies such as the Virginia Tech massacre are acceptable consequences to ensure that this right is totally unabridged. Indeed, the rhetoric that I hear attacking gun control efforts asâ an un-American attack on the constitution of the United States” sounds a whole lot like the diatribe I’ve heard characterizing criticism of the Iraq war as “hating America” or “not supporting the troops”. Such mindless dribble only serves to deflect important and responsible discussions about how to preserve what’s good about the 2nd Amendment while ALSO dealing with the senseless slaughter that we have experience all to often at the hands of screwed up lunatics.
This isn’t about whether or not Americans, as a society, should have this right. It is about how we stop the Chos of the world from using that right to brutally attack that very society. The NRA and its supporters are unwilling to engage in that discussion. Indeed, they consider any attempt to control the sale of handguns is an all-out assault on their mission. What a shame that responsible hunters, sportsmen and shooters get painted with the same brush as sickos like Cho because the billion-dollar gun lobby refuses to support responsible gun control policies.
So, back to my friend Becca, and her brother-in-law, Jeff. Jeff suggested the following:
“My tribute to the victims is a $33 contribution — one small dollar for each life lost — to “www.bradycampaign.org” — to help … fight for strict gun control laws. I urge all who are outraged by Monday’s monumental tragedy to do the same.”
Sounds good to me. Maybe if millions of people translated their anger and grief into a few dollar donations we could combat the deep pockets of gun manufacturers and the NRA. Maybe we could look forward to a world where we don’t have to live in fear of sending our kids to high school or college. You can make a donation online using your ATM or credit card and what’s more, a generous anonymous donor has agreed to match all contributions this year up to $500,000! Your gift will be worth double today!
I pray that good, intelligent, loyal Americans of all political parties and persuasions will take a public and vigorous stand against this senseless violence. By all means, have your guns if you must. But for the sake of our society and our children, don’t ignore what has happened just to preserve your right to have those guns. Do something. Please.
Fred Tutwiler
http://www.articlesbase.com/news-and-society-articles/virginia-tech-maybe-there-is-something-we-can-do-134119.html
October 9th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Who gives a flying CRAP about the Virginia Tech killings? There are bigger problems!?
Why are people so upset about the Virginia tech killings but aren’t even phased by the carnage currently happening in the Middle East? Why should I treat the 30 students any differently than the 180+ that died today from terrorist bombings in Baghdad? Why should I treat them any differently than the hundreds of US soldiers dying every year in combat? Or what about the 20 Iraqi police officers that were just executed and beheaded on film? Yeah, that’s right, I shouldn’t treat them any differently, and that’s why I don’t care that much about the rampage at Virginia Tech.
Maybe this will wake our stupid country up and we’ll stop blaming the movies, stop blaming rap music, stop blaming violent video games, and START blaming the sophisticated & deadly weaponry that is so easily accessible. Forget gun control, it needs to be ILLEGAL to own anything but hunting rifles.
Did you know U.S. corporations produce over 250,000 9mm pistols per year? Not only was a 9mm used at VTech, but the 9mm is a favorite amongst inner-city gangs and thugs. So much of a favorite that you can hear 50cent sing about them in his rap songs! So many weapons are produced in this country that, if you can’t get one legally (which you probably pretty easily), you DEFINITELY can get one on the black market for not much more. This problem can be obviously remedied by cutting off the supply and making guns ILLEGAL once and for all! Please, lets make our streets a LOT safer and make guns illegal!
October 9th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
people died
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Amen Brotha, but the Virginia Tech shooting was still a tragedy.
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I take it you hunt?
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Ignoring your crap about making guns illegal, you make a good point. The only reason we’re seeing this wall to wall coverage of the VT shootings is so the media outlets can compete with each other to try and pull in as many viewers as possible, which of course means more money.
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
ugggh.
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
You already asked this question. It still speaks a lot about you as a person that you don’t care.
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Amen.
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
What a heartless loser you are!
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I’m sure 32 families would disagree, not to mention the students who had to watch their friends die in front of them and wonder if they would be next.
They did not sign up for that. They did not go through boot camp to prepare for that.
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
I understand your point but at the same time the V-Tech incident is heart wrenching and an eye opener of a war going on within our very own country. As people with compassion, our hearts go out to the families who lost loved ones or have wounded ones at V-Tech, along with the entire college. And our hearts still go out to our troops who are fighting a pointless war and losing lives daily. The Iraqi war has been publicized for 3+years now while its only natural for V-Tech to gain so much publicity b/c it just happened. I have family members and friends in Iraq so I feel you. None of this is fair but now we see the result of a growing problem in our country and our feeling the effects, here and in Iraq.
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Me
October 9th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Way to use this as a platform for your anti-gun BS. Did you realize that more peoplr die each year due to the automobile than ALL firearms whether accidental are intentional. Maybe we should make the car illegal.
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
I agree with you on this point. The people dying in Iraq are just as tragic as the 32 deaths in VT. More tragic are all the other deaths that are not reported because they do not affect the United States or are not of interest to the major news conglomerates. Don’t fall for the old argument that if there were no guns that there would be no gun deaths. I don’t even own a handgun and I know this. You would not be able to even argue that point if he had used a natural gas leak to blow up the entire building or a bomb strapped to his body. The fact is that this guy was a total mess and needed help. I am not convinced that there would be much that could have been done. That being said…what you have said could be construed by the families and friends of 32 gunshot victims in Virginia Tech as a big fat slap in the face. Take the information you see and hear everyday as it is and please do not choose to insult the innocent. That is truly a plain shame.
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
That would make you a soulless butt head. These kids were just trying to get an education, to be really smart, make a difference.
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You suck
October 9th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
even if handguns were outlawed they would still be available on the streets, just as they cant get the drugs off the streets the same would be true for guns the guns didnt kill those kids the psycho holding them did if he hadnt been able to get a gun he could have made a bomb and blown the place up and it probably would have been cheaper for him
this is a big deal to us (especially here in va)because these were our kids in our country and they werent killed because of a war or because of religious fanaticism they were killed because some screwed up punk lost his marbles and went on a killing spree in a school and took all those lives for no apparent reason war is dangerous the religious animosity in the middle east has been going on forever none of it is really surprising anymore but college is supposed to be a safe place stuff like this isnt supposed to happen there and as a parent i know it scares the crap out of me to here these things
while in a perfect world where our legal system worked all the time your theory is a good one, unfortunately this world is far from perfect so it would never work
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Your so right!!! go right to the source—– ,the N.R.A.! hey mr charlton heston,get off yer stupid a** and stop promoting gun use,its on account of you that people are getting killed left and right! You are afraid of getting tough and telling your members to stop pushing guns and rifles. Its bad enough that the people that live down south from virginia to florida can legally buy a gun or a rifle,and them ship them up north or to wherever the h**l you choose,to pass these weapons off to every known criminal and sh*tbrain in this sick world of ours.so please quit pushing guns,america doesnt need anymore and help our poor helpless armed forces! rubberstampr
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
At a time like this when many people are mourning the lives of loved ones, this question appears to be really thoughtless and a little rude. That being said what you said after the first paragraph is right.
Because it was a tragic event that happened at a place where most people feel safe and do not see this kind of tragedy. I agree that the media should not over sensationalize what happened, but still a life is a life and it should not matter who died. Unfortunately since this happened in a country not used to this kind of attack the deaths in Iraq barely made a blip on the radar screen.
No one is asking you to treat anyone differently. It is still a tragic loss to those who lost loved ones, it was totally unexpected. I think the element of surprise is what made it worse. Unfortunately it has become common nature to pick up any newspaper or turn on any news show and here of more Iraqis or Soldiers being killed. America is at war and with war one has to expect causalities.
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
You stated " Forget gun control, it needs to be ILLEGAL to own anything but hunting rifles." You should see what a hunting rifle can do to your head asshole.
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