Maybe if the gun ban had not been in place some law-abiding student could have stopped this nut job before he made history. Funny thing is that criminals don't seem to want to follow the rules.
My thoughts and prayers are with the students and families.
Did anyone else notice the cowardice of the cops? In this cell phone camera footage, the cops are just walking around outside the building or crouching behind cars, while the killer is inside executing people (you can hear all the gunshots). They didn't even go in until it was all over and the guy had shot himself. How pathetic.
Christina stole my thunder. That's exactly what I was thinking.
"It allows properly trained law enforcement personnel to handle crisis situations rather than gun-toting students."
How much "training" does it take. I'm not trying to Monday morning quarter back, but it seems to me a mob could have rushed him while he was reloading or something. Lining up like Lemmings headed for the window while being shot at is not a great solution to the problem.
This is probably insensitive and it's not the fault of the kids. It's a reflection on society to say, "Oh me oh my we're being shot at, what should we do." They've been trained to dial 911 (or in this case send text messages to their PALS) and wait for the PROS to show up. The PROS let us down this time big time in my opinion.
I see Steve moved the other thread I started about this subject to Rant and Rave. Looks like it may have company soon.
This is a freak event. Legislation either way would not have done anything. The nut case called in bomb threats for a few days and watched how the security people and police reacted. That also explains the reaction of the arriving L.E. units who wandered around outside.
Being an armed victim does not help if you are not motivated to help yourself.
On 19-Mar-1988, two British soldiers in Ireland, accidentally drove into the funeral procession of IRA member Kevin Brady in (he was one of the three IRA yahoos killed by the Milltown gunman, "other yahoos", two days earlier.) TV cameras record how the two ARMED soldiers are dragged from their car, beaten by the unarmed crowd and then shot dead by the local IRA thugs. The footage is shown around the world. Both those soldiers were armed with high capacity handguns, yet they were pulled from their car by a crowd of enraged radical Irish folk who were not armed. The IRA gunman who finally murdered them had to push their way through the crowd.
While I am not advocating mob violence, the most recent crazed murderer would not have gone far in the streets of Belfast.
Wow Christina, I cant tell you how many times ive said those exact words. The police are there to assign blame and clean up the mess.
If you think about it,. the first person to recognize a crime scene is the criminal, the second unfortunately is the victim(s). The police are usually pretty close to last due to them restricting access to the scene of course. This is no fault of the police, just the way it works.
People should have the right to protect themselves.
Christina, I thought I was the only one thinking that. I felt the same way on Columbine. You would think by now the playbook would have changed and they would have equipment to knock down doors and storm in immediately. My perception was that law enforcement was finding a nice cozy spot behind a tree or car until it was all over. A tear gas or smoke canister in each window would have been nice too. Maybe the perception is wrong but that is how I see it.