In my poor poorness, I've been plagued with a case of the non-cable. I didn't know anything about the Virginia Tech shooting until I happened upon it on a news site. I was, of course, horrified to tears.
I remember Columbine. I think those who were in high school at the time will always remember it. Not just because of the horror of it, but because of how it came to literally effect us. There were speeches, hand outs and fire drills on a nearly constant basis. For the following 6 or so months, the "Trench Coat Mafia" and "Those Crazy Kids In Colorado" became a part of our regular vocabulary. There was good old American finger pointing and over reaction. Then the topic entirely disappeared. That bothered me.
This brings us up to 2007, almost seven years ago to the day. It's been pretty quiet in the world of school shootings, so it seems that the country has had it's guard down. No more scary fire drills twice a week and no more extra security measures.
Suddenly, this kid at Virginia Tech brings it all bubbling back to the surface.
What bothers me is that there were two shootings, with enough time to grill and release a suspect. There was no evacuation, no worry. They actually decided to warn people via the internet. Now, I spend a lot of time online, but it still took me a day to uncover this information and it was everywhere. It's already got its own Wikipedia page. It just wasn't enough to stick to emails, since it obviously didn't do any good.
Could some of the carnage have been prevented had Columbine been six months ago? Is security only tightened when it's directly related to a current event? What does it take to feel safe from the possibility of getting murdered in a classroom, high school or otherwise?
The two most prevalent examples didn't occur in a ghetto, they occurred in suburbia. Shouldn't this show that nobody is safe, and that the worst case scenario should always at least be considered? I'm not saying that there should be a Patriot Act for the school system, just that these schools have made clear mistakes that should not be repeated.
I'm sure that Virginia Tech is going to be scrutinized, and it isn't alone. I guarantee that he could have accomplished his task at any school in the country. The question is, does it have to take the worst mass murder in American history to take the necessary precautions, all the time?
Until today, I was unsure about my take on gun control. I am official for it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Sorry, been out of the loop for a while. The only problem that I see with tougher gun control is that if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. Not to say that they shouldn't control it better...remember how they would choose the rainiest, snowiest days to do the drills. And remember how our jackets would be in the lockers so we'd be freezing our butts off?
I agree with you. Just like drugs, there will never be a successful complete banning of it because our society values it too much. Sad, but reality.
My issue is the Virginia Tech. dude had to wait a month to get his second gun. If there hadn't been the 'just one a month, kids!' rule, and instead, say just one gun issued a year... maybe the carnage would have been cut in half.
And I just hate that it takes something substantially horrible for our country to start acting the way it should have been all along.
Yes. I remember the fire drills. I shall never forget them.
Especially the ones at Memorial where they herded us into the big, open field at the bottom of a huge hill. I remember feeling like if there had been an actual shooter, we would have been easy picking.
Our tax dollars at work.
True that, true that. The shooter wouldn't even had to aim. Anywhere he shot at he was bound to hit somebody.
word verification called me a gocbyo.
Post a Comment