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Tuesday, 17 April 2007
Spirit of Self-Defense
 As NER's designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn't anyone rush the guy? It's not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness' sake—one of them reportedly a .22.
At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad.
Yes, yes, I know it's easy to say these things: but didn't the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything? As the cliché goes—and like most clichés. It's true—none of us knows what he'd do in a dire situation like that. I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I'd at least take a run at the guy. Posted on 04/17/2007 11:32 AM by John Derbyshire
Comments
17 Apr 2007
Scott Hughes We've all been taught to respect authority not to stand up for ourselves. The spirt of self-defense is dead. 17 Apr 2007
 Bram
One Professor died blocking the classroom door - Israeli (no surprise): http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152812105&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Others may have rushed him only to be gunned down. Hard to know what happened in the other classrooms. The fact that twice as many people were killed as wounded with a handgun is very unusual. Not sure if he was shooting the same people multiple times or was an excellent marksman with that pistol. 17 Apr 2007
tschafer From what I understand, there was at least some resistance, and as Bram points out, we don't really know exactly what happened. But one thing is for sure; thanks to the "Gun-Free Zone" at VT, the shooter knew that he would be facing a disarmed group. One well-placed shot from a law abiding gun owner could have saved an awful lot of lives. 17 Apr 2007
Reactionry Not enough time has elapsed after this tragedy for me to indulge in rants about arming teachers and pilots, but I hope that all people of good will agree that much of the blame should be placed upon a certain National Review writer who linked to the following:
21 Apr 2007
Paul K.
I heartily agree with your post and I have to say I found Jonah Goldberg's response unworthy, but then I have never been particularly impressed by anything he had to say. In the 1998 school shooting by Kip Kinkel, one of the school wrestlers, Jake Ryker, despite being shot himself, tackled the shooter while he was reloading, got the gun away from him and held him down.
Better still would be to allow those who have gun permits to carry concealed on school grounds. In 1997 in Pearl, Mississippi, a 16-year-old Satanist murdered his ex-girlfriend and her friend and wounded seven other students at his high school. As he was preparing to leave the high school and kill children at a nearby junior high school, assistant principal Joel Myrick got his .45 handgun from his car, put it to the killer�s head, and held him at bay until the police arrived five minutes later. Dan Rather noted that "Myrick eventually subdued the young gunman" without mentioning the .45. Myrick was not charged with violating schol policy for having the gun, as this would obviously discredit the policy. |