VT Massacre: Could it Happen at Hampden-Sydney???
Title
VT Massacre: Could it Happen at Hampden-Sydney???
Description
Submitted by JohnMaxfield on Tue, 04/17/2007 - 7:30am.
<b>Would this have happened at a school like Hampden-Sydney? That is the question.</b>
And the answer must be dealt with <b>delicately</b>, in the aftermath of such a horrendous massacre that hopefully we will never see repeated in our history. But the fact remains--could this tragedy have been down scaled and at best, diffused, if students were allowed to possess firearms on school campuses?
I noticed Cliff Garstang's blog going through the aggregator. He had a <a href="http://democracyinvirginia.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-tragedy.html">post up about the tragedy</a> and I thought for once, that he might have a kind word to pass along to the families in mourning. Instead, it ended up being a diatribe about how <i>guns are <b>bad</b>, guns are <b>evil</b>, <b>conservatives</b> are <b>wrong</b> and <b>reactionary</b>, I'm <b>right</b> and <b>you all are wrong</b>, etc. <b>etc.</b></i>
He went on to say how conservatives are of the mindset that if perhaps either some of the students or faculty had been armed, then this might have stopped the shooter. Of course, he disagreed saying, "<b>Put a gun in the hand of every college kid in the country? That's not only absurd, it's just crazy. Arming the citizenry will mean more gun-related deaths, intentional and otherwise, not fewer. The sane approach is to make sure that there are fewer guns. Not more.</b>"
<b>What?</b> So here is where my question comes in? Do you think that this tragedy would have happened--better yet--do you think the students would have ALLOWED it to happen at Hampden-Sydney College? Of course not. Why, you ask? Because Hampden-Sydney promotes and allows the use of firearms on campus! Students sleep with shotguns under their beds! They hunt, fish, and target shoot on school property. The Admission Office houses a literal armory of firearms and weaponry under neath that building in their vaults. Statically, the college flaunts, enough firepower to defend the campus against a small country. In talking with a friend after the incident who goes to school there, he said that had discussed this exact issue. They figured that if a shooter dared tried to commit the same horrendous atrocities like at VPI, they wouldn't last but 10 minutes...alive. So is it absurd, Clifford? Is it a crazy notion? If you was that unidentified Asian...who would you be more likely to attack? A school who prides itself in the respect of the Second Amendment--or schools like VPI, UVA, or William and Mary--that have strict anti-gun polices on campus?
Cliff said that, "<b>Arming the citizenry will mean more gun-related deaths, intentional and otherwise, not fewer.</b>" <b>Really?</b> Well when was the last time of anyone hearing about those gun related incidents at schools that allow and promote gun usage on campus? Why do the 'incidents' only occur in school that have anti-gun policies? One can almost draw this parallel--why are the more violent crimes committed in cities like Washington, D.C. and in countries like Great Britain where firearm usage and most possession is illegal? Are we seeing a pattern here? And, sorry, just had to make this final comment, Cliff says that, "The sane approach is to make sure that there are fewer guns. Not more." <b>So people at Hamden-Sydney are insane?</b> Is that the point you are trying to make? And are the people in D.C. who make the gun control laws <b><i>SANE</i></b>?
More on the tragedy: <a href="http://swacgirl.blogspot.com/2007/04/va-techs-derek-odell-story-of-survivor.html#links">here</a>, <a href="http://swacgirl.blogspot.com/2007/04/george-allens-statement-regarding-va.html#links">here</a>, <a href="http://www.spankthatdonkey.com/spankthatdonkey2/2007/4/17/va-tech-vs-applachian-law-school-take-your-pick.html">here</a>, and <a href="http://kilosparksitup.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech.html">here</a>
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Original Source: <a href="http://www.progressiveu.org/103032-vt-massacre-could-it-happen-at-hampden-sydney">http://www.progressiveu.org/103032-vt-massacre-could-it-happen-at-hampden-sydney</a>
Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0</a>.
<b>Would this have happened at a school like Hampden-Sydney? That is the question.</b>
And the answer must be dealt with <b>delicately</b>, in the aftermath of such a horrendous massacre that hopefully we will never see repeated in our history. But the fact remains--could this tragedy have been down scaled and at best, diffused, if students were allowed to possess firearms on school campuses?
I noticed Cliff Garstang's blog going through the aggregator. He had a <a href="http://democracyinvirginia.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech-tragedy.html">post up about the tragedy</a> and I thought for once, that he might have a kind word to pass along to the families in mourning. Instead, it ended up being a diatribe about how <i>guns are <b>bad</b>, guns are <b>evil</b>, <b>conservatives</b> are <b>wrong</b> and <b>reactionary</b>, I'm <b>right</b> and <b>you all are wrong</b>, etc. <b>etc.</b></i>
He went on to say how conservatives are of the mindset that if perhaps either some of the students or faculty had been armed, then this might have stopped the shooter. Of course, he disagreed saying, "<b>Put a gun in the hand of every college kid in the country? That's not only absurd, it's just crazy. Arming the citizenry will mean more gun-related deaths, intentional and otherwise, not fewer. The sane approach is to make sure that there are fewer guns. Not more.</b>"
<b>What?</b> So here is where my question comes in? Do you think that this tragedy would have happened--better yet--do you think the students would have ALLOWED it to happen at Hampden-Sydney College? Of course not. Why, you ask? Because Hampden-Sydney promotes and allows the use of firearms on campus! Students sleep with shotguns under their beds! They hunt, fish, and target shoot on school property. The Admission Office houses a literal armory of firearms and weaponry under neath that building in their vaults. Statically, the college flaunts, enough firepower to defend the campus against a small country. In talking with a friend after the incident who goes to school there, he said that had discussed this exact issue. They figured that if a shooter dared tried to commit the same horrendous atrocities like at VPI, they wouldn't last but 10 minutes...alive. So is it absurd, Clifford? Is it a crazy notion? If you was that unidentified Asian...who would you be more likely to attack? A school who prides itself in the respect of the Second Amendment--or schools like VPI, UVA, or William and Mary--that have strict anti-gun polices on campus?
Cliff said that, "<b>Arming the citizenry will mean more gun-related deaths, intentional and otherwise, not fewer.</b>" <b>Really?</b> Well when was the last time of anyone hearing about those gun related incidents at schools that allow and promote gun usage on campus? Why do the 'incidents' only occur in school that have anti-gun policies? One can almost draw this parallel--why are the more violent crimes committed in cities like Washington, D.C. and in countries like Great Britain where firearm usage and most possession is illegal? Are we seeing a pattern here? And, sorry, just had to make this final comment, Cliff says that, "The sane approach is to make sure that there are fewer guns. Not more." <b>So people at Hamden-Sydney are insane?</b> Is that the point you are trying to make? And are the people in D.C. who make the gun control laws <b><i>SANE</i></b>?
More on the tragedy: <a href="http://swacgirl.blogspot.com/2007/04/va-techs-derek-odell-story-of-survivor.html#links">here</a>, <a href="http://swacgirl.blogspot.com/2007/04/george-allens-statement-regarding-va.html#links">here</a>, <a href="http://www.spankthatdonkey.com/spankthatdonkey2/2007/4/17/va-tech-vs-applachian-law-school-take-your-pick.html">here</a>, and <a href="http://kilosparksitup.blogspot.com/2007/04/virginia-tech.html">here</a>
--
Original Source: <a href="http://www.progressiveu.org/103032-vt-massacre-could-it-happen-at-hampden-sydney">http://www.progressiveu.org/103032-vt-massacre-could-it-happen-at-hampden-sydney</a>
Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0</a>.
Creator
John Maxfield
Date
2007-05-26
Contributor
Brent Jesiek
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
Language
eng
Citation
John Maxfield, “VT Massacre: Could it Happen at Hampden-Sydney???,” The April 16 Archive, accessed November 23, 2024, https://april16archive.org/index.php/items/show/255.