It seems that in a lot of places the self-defense advice they give out is to not resist, to not fight back, to just go along with it and hope you don’t die.
They’re just doing as they’ve been taught, really. You can’t blame people for not fighting back when they’ve been taught all their lives that it’s better to just be passive and not resist.
Not the classroom shooting, the response. I admit I’m confused by it, but that’s a fucked-up thing to say.
You know, most people think blaming the victim is a bad thing, but I’m glad heroes like you won’t even wait until the blood gets washed off the sidewalk before wondering why the students getting shot were so chicken.
We’ll see. There’s evidence that he’d been planning this for a few weeks, so he didn’t have to steal them, but obviously we don’t know yet. The important thing is to stay on message and remember that gun control is always the problem, even when it can’t be shown that a gun would have helped.
In fairness, that’s a pretty common response to most tragedies. I know when I read about a pedestrian being killed in a hit-and-run, my first instinct is to wonder why the victim wasn’t driving a vehicle themselves so they’d be shielded from impact. These ‘pedestrian-only’ zones like sidewalks are just an invitation for people to be run over. If everyone drove all the time instead of walking or riding bicycles, there’d surely be a lot fewer highway deaths.
It is my suspicion that your suspicion is invalid. Plenty of other countries have legal gun ownership without specifying any constitutional right to gun ownership.
This was obviously a carefully planned assault. I’m sure all of us, in our fantasies, would fly out of our desks at super speed at tackle a shooter who walks into the classroom with guns blazing. It is painful to admit that, in all probability, anyone who tried that would just have gotten shot a bit sooner. And any student close enough to have a chance was probably shot in the initial surprise attack with no time to react.
By the way, if this gunman was a Chinese national in the country on a student visa, he sure as hell didn’t buy those guns legally in the state of Virginia.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/343354,vatech041607.article
http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms_PurchaseEligibility.shtm
Item 12.
Not a damned thing. They just use “person of interest” when they don’t want to spook the person they’re interested in. The first I heard the term was the DC Sniper case 5 years ago, it was obvious the moment they used the term that they knew who the sniper was.
Perhaps I am. I’d like to think so.
I’m sure that’s true. And a large group of people carrying guns (even if the people carrying guns are highly trained military personnel) is not going to stop a determined whackjob, as we can also see by the current situation in Iraq.
Please don’t be ridiculous. If the pedestrian had a gun he could have shot out the tires Jack Bauer style silly.
I don’t get involved in gun control arguments because I don’t really care. If people want to own guns, fine by me. I suspect except for the most rabid anti-gun advocate, most people feel that way. But the idea of allowing students on a college campus to walk around with guns has to be one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever heard. Do people honest think this is a good idea?
I guess they wanted it. I mean, when you go to class, you know you’re taking a risk, and you should be prepared. It ain’t murder if it’s willin’.
Get rid of the razors, bruh. Lions are more reliable. Plus, you can use them as transportation like He-Man. And you don’t even need a permit.
You can have my razor blades when you extract them from the flesh of my cold, dead fingers.
Though it’s being demonstrated as being for deer hunting, IMHO this is the only form of personal protection anyone should ever need.
Allowing mature adults who have been subjected to an intensive background check, fingerprinted by the police, found to be in no way a danger to themselves or others and have passed a basic marksmanship test and drilled on local laws to do something they can do anywhere else (except bars) is idiotic? 18 year olds can’t carry anywhere, much less a college campus. While I’ll admit that perhaps a 21 year old isn’t much more mature, if s/he went through all the effort and cost to get a permit, s/he is considerably more reliable than most*.
*Statement not valid in Vermont
Crap, I skipped DtC, sorry
The maniac is sober.
The person walking around shooting people and cackling about it is, I’m willing to bet, very rarely a cop.
Well, if it depends on me you are, if that’s any comfort. I have profound distaste for self-laudatory Second Amendment fetishists, but I’ve got nothing at all against responsible and law-abiding gun owners.
Don’t worry, I realize, being in the LA area, that I am the envy of all you poor people in less fortunate areas. While us good-looking, perfect-teeth angelenos are driving around in our convertibles in February, we sometimes spare a thought of commiseration for the rest of the country.
I hear a lot of talk about your rights to have, carry and use guns - what are your responsibilities regarding owning, carrying, and using guns?
Virtually anybody can fire six rounds from a double action revolver, or a semi-automatic pistol in a few seconds. Those of us who agree with CCW don’t go around expecting “surprise attacks”. In that case, a gun wouldn’t help.
Just one of many scenarios: A woman with a CCW worked late is walking to her car in a dark parking garage, and sees a couple dudes sort of following along, getting closer and closer. She gets to her car, and sees the dudes twenty feet away looking like they might want to mug her or worse. Say one pulls out a knife and starts advancing toward her, she now has an option that might save her life.
Look, man, if somebody gets surprise on you you are fucked, and I am not going to hijack the thread. But you shouldn’t think there are never any situations where CCW might not save you.
eta I also wanted to point out that due diligence and situational awareness in such as I described above can mitigate the “surprise attack”.
That depends upon where you live. 99% of the places that have concealed carry permits require you to undergo firearms training, background check, and fingerprinting before you’ll be issued one. Some places require that you store a gun with a trigger lock, other places don’t. It’s one of those damned hodgepodge things that gives the USA so much character.