Chinook
by George Hosier II - May 3, 2007

Shock and Outrage

I beg my readers’ indulgence for leaving the humor out of this article. I’m not yet in the mood for funny. The fact is that I drank deeply of the nation’s shock and outrage as I listened to the news breaking from Virginia Tech on Monday the 16th. Gripped by the stark void of bereavement, I realized that another day of infamy had been added to our history books, scrawled in the blood of innocent victims. My prayers immediately went out to the extended network of family, friends, and acquaintances of the victims whose lives were forever changed by this tragedy.

In the hours and days that followed, I listened to conversations on the subject. I read the Internet blogs and discussion groups that blossomed around the event. As I digested the dialogue swirling around the shooting, my shock and outrage swelled to become a fixture in my consciousness. Let me tell you why.

I am shocked and outraged that 76-year-old Liviu Librescu, an international aeronautical engineering expert, survived the Holocaust and escaped from Communist Romania, only to be gunned down in a university classroom. He died protecting his students, just a stone’s throw from two of the most poignant icons of American security: Langley Air Force Base, home of the CIA, and the Naval Amphibious Base at Little Creek, the East Coast headquarters of the Navy Seals.

I am shocked and outraged that Professor Kevin Granata’s career was senselessly brought to a random and abrupt end, terminating not only his life, but also his valuable research on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy. I am shocked and outraged that in the microsecond of time it took to pull the trigger, the number of biomechanics researchers in this country with Granata’s level of expertise was effectively reduced to four.

I am shocked and outraged that 18-year-old freshman Austin Cloyd, a dedicated Christian and athlete did not live long enough to volunteer in another of the beloved mission trips and Appalachian service projects that were so close to her vibrant young heart.

I am shocked and outraged that Matthew La Porte was robbed of the opportunity to embrace his promising future. The young man had turned his misdirected life around at Carson Long Military Institute in New Bloomfield, Pa. to become "…one of those elite cadets who went above and beyond the call of duty during his tenure as a cadet in Air Force ROTC at Virginia Tech." What a waste that he should die so young in a random act of violence.

I am shocked and outraged that 20-year-old home-schooled Lauren McCain was prematurely sent to Heaven, even while she performed her last conscious act--forgiving and praying for her killer.

I am shocked and outraged that Cho Seung-Hui who allegedly committed this atrocity, in the video he mailed to NBC between the first and second shootings, fancied himself a martyr and compared himself to the same Jesus Christ that Lauren McCain proclaimed on her MySpace page to be the “love of my life”.

I am shocked and outraged at the inefficient bureaucracy at best, and incompetent cowardice at worst, of law enforcement officers who responded to the scene in droves but were unable to neutralize a lone gunman until he had killed 32 people and taken his own life.

I am shocked and outraged that House Bill 1572 proposed by Delegate Todd Gilbert on behalf of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which would have allowed weapons on college campuses, was gagged in the Virginia House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety before it even reached the floor of the legislature.

I am shocked and outraged that Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated, stating “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”

I am shocked and outraged by the people who either from fear and ignorance or from political opportunism are taking advantage of this hour of national grief to rehash the gun control rhetoric.

I am shocked and outraged that the only one of the faculty or students of Virginia Tech who packed a weapon that Monday morning was the killer himself. Who can look at the faces of these victims and say with complete intellectual honesty, “When the killer began lining people up against the wall and shooting them at close range, I would not have wanted another gun to be available in that room. I would have vigorously opposed giving one of the victims the means to stop that massacre.”

I am shocked and outraged that so many Americans hate guns for the principle of it without regard to the documented fact that guns stop crime. We never hear about the mass shootings that were thwarted by an honest citizen with a gun. Do the research. Absolutely EVERY mass shooting has occurred in a “Gun-Free” zone.

A thirty-year veteran police officer once told a friend that in his entire career he’d never prevented a single crime, only investigated the aftermath. He advised the friend to get a gun and learn to use it, because he’d rather investigate the death of a criminal than the death of a friend. You see, the police can’t always be available, but there is somebody who is ALWAYS at the scene of a shooting—the VICTIM.

Prior to Virginia Tech, the biggest mass shooting in the United States occurred on October 16, 1991, when George Hennard drove his 1987 Ford Ranger truck into a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas then opened fire, killing 23 people and wounded 20 before committing suicide.

Suzanna Gratia Hupp who watched both of her parents die in a pool of blood on that restaurant floor will always curse herself that she left her handgun in the car that day, rather than carrying it in her purse like she normally did. In public hearings she stated that she would rather be sitting in jail under a felony conviction than to have lost both of her parents. Motivated by her regret, she ran for and was elected to the Texas Legislature where she played a key role in passing a law that allowed Texas citizens to obtain a concealed carry handgun permit.

Ironically, just a few months after the Luby’s incident, two robbers in Anniston, Alabama entered a Shoney’s restaurant intent on robbery and murder. They had previous armed robbery convictions, and one had murdered a hotel clerk days earlier, However, a customer named Thomas Glenn Terry, who was liscenced to carry a gun, shot and killed one of the robbers and wounded a second. End of massacre.

In Tennessee a few years ago, a mentally disturbed student entered a University building full of classrooms and offices, carrying a pistol. Two other students, who lawfully held Tennessee Concealed Handgun Licenses, saw him, returned to their vehicles, retrieved their pistols and confronted the first student. Though intent on shooting a professor and others whom he thought had wronged him, he surrendered. The other students forced him to lay on the ground at gun-point until the police arrived. No shots were fired. End of massacre.

In 1997, at Pearl High School in Mississippi, a killer had already shot several people and was leaving that school to attack Pearl Junior High, when Vice Principal Joel Myrick retrieved a handgun from his trunk, pointed the .45 pistol at the killer's head and apprehended him four and a half minutes before police arrived. End of massacre.

In 2002, disgruntled student Peter Odighizuwa, went on a shooting spree at Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va. Six people were shot before Tracy Bridges, Ted Besen, Todd Ross, and Mikael Gross stopped Odighizuwa. When the shooting began, Bridges and Gross ran to their cars to get their handguns. According to Bridges, "I aimed my gun at him, and Peter tossed his gun down." End of massacre.

A restaurant owner who was hosting a school dance for students in Edinboro, Pa., stopped a shooting that left one teacher dead, by pointing a shotgun at the student shooter while he was reloading. End of massacre. The police did not arrive for another 11 minutes.
A February 2000 study by acclaimed researchers John R. Lott, Jr. and William M. Landes concluded "that the only policy factor to influence multiple victim public shootings is the passage of concealed handgun laws." The study conclusively demonstrated that such crime deterrents as more police and wider use of the death penalty tend to curb "normal" instances of murder. However, they do nothing to prevent such school shooting tragedies as have occurred in a number of the nation's public schools since 1997. According to Lott, in the U.S. the states with the highest gun ownership rates have by far the lowest violent crime rates. Similarly, over time, states with the largest increases in gun ownership have experienced the biggest drops in violent crime.
Utah is a prime example. Like many states, Utah enacted a concealed-handgun licensing law in 1995. Unlike most states, Utah did not make schools an exclusion zone for lawful carrying. Not only a teacher on duty, but also a parent coming to pick up a child from school, can lawfully carry a concealed handgun in a Utah school building -- after, of course, passing a background check and safety training.
After twelve years, Utah, has exactly zero reported problems of concealed handgun licensees misusing guns at school, or students stealing guns from teachers, or teachers using their licensed firearms to shoot or threaten students. During this same period, Utah schools also have seen exactly zero mass murders.

Other countries have realized this for some time. When was the last time you heard of a school massacre in Switzerland? Israel has successfully used a combination of security guards, armed teachers, and armed escorts on field trips to protect schools from terrorist attack. Thailand is likewise beginning to allow teachers to obtain handgun-carry licenses in southern regions where schools have been targeted by Islamic terrorists.

Here’s the bottom line. When a crazy with a deadly weapon begins killing people, the healthy human instinct is to stop him. Furthermore, we as sentient human beings have the right and duty to try to stop him before he takes more life. I fear that those who cannot understand this basic principle have had their capacity for rational thought compromised by political rhetoric.
High School wrestler Jake Ryker understood this. He was present when the shooting started at a school in Springfield, Oregon. Several brave students, including Ryker, rushed the shooter, overpowering and disarming him. Ryker was shot, but recovered, and nobody else had to die that day.
To some people, the notion that teachers like Joel Myrick or students like Jake Ryker should engage in active resistance is highly offensive, shocking, and outrageous. I, for one am shocked and outraged by their shock and outrage. As Benjamin Franklin said: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
 

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