Virginia Tech - The Real Tragedy
April 17th, 2007 . by TexasFredA couple of days ago, our nation suffered the worst shooting tragedy in modern history with the mass murders that were committed at Virginia Tech, and I want to begin this by again expressing my condolences to the families of the dead students and faculty.
At this writing, 32 innocent people are dead, and I am sure these folks were decent, thinking, educated and progressive people and their loss is a tragedy that is almost beyond belief.
On Monday, April 16th, 2007, Cho Seung-Hui, a native of South Korea and a 23-year-old senior majoring in English at Virginia Tech obviously lost his mind as he went on a killing rampage the likes of which this nation has never seen, and undoubtedly he took his reasons to the grave with him.
One crazed individual attacked the Virginia Tech campus and killed 32 people before taking his own life, one man, armed with 2 pistols, murdered 32 people, shot them down in cold blood, took their lives from them, took every hope and dream and aspiration these victims ever harbored, he robbed them of everything they could ever have when he took their lives.
One individual was able to perpetrate this heinous and unbelievable act of violence, uncontested, simply because there wasn’t so much as one student on the campus of Virginia Tech that was armed and allowed to carry a LEGAL firearm, even though the state of Virginia does have a concealed carry law, the college itself has specific rules against the carrying of weapons by students, they, Virginia Tech, have their own very stringent gun laws on the V.T. campus.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! I guess Cho Seung-Hui didn’t get that message, and part of the blame for there being no LEGALLY armed students on campus rests with the Virginia General Assembly,
Gun bill gets shot down by panel, perhaps had it been legal for some student(s) to be armed, this heartbreaking situation could have been avoided, or, at least lessened. And already the biggest subject now is how the USA must enforce even more stringent gun laws than those we already have, well, let me give you a wonderful example of what stringent gun laws do for you: Japanese Mayor Killed by Mobster, this incident happened Tuesday, and from that story I give you this paragraph; “The shooting was rare in a country where handguns are strictly banned and only five politicians are known to have been killed since World War II.”, the bold is mine, but let me ask you this, if handguns are strictly banned in Japan, shouldn’t the mayor of Nagasaki still be alive?? And even this ‘No Guns Allowed’ part of the Virginia Tech travesty is NOT what angers me the most. Again, I stress this fact, this diabolical attack was carried out by one individual, armed with 2 pistols, ONE person, and he murdered 32 people in cold blood, while literally hundreds of others ran for their lives. Didn’t anyone consider rushing the fool?? If you know the guy is going to try and kill you any way, why go quietly?? He had to reload the weapons, he couldn’t just keep on shooting continuously, he wasn’t a trained assassin or a Spec/Ops combat veteran, he was a maniacal nut-bag that was ALLOWED to murder, unhindered and unchallenged. The MSM keeps on referring to the shooter as being heavily armed, well, apparently the MSM has never been to a real gunfight, going to a gunfight with a 9mm pistol and a .22 pistol does NOT qualify as being heavily armed, if this monster had truly been heavily armed, or trained in the art of war, there would have been an even worse death toll. Excuse me, but maybe it’s my instincts, my training, the way I was raised, my desire to live, the strain of whatever idiocy it is that runs thru me that says I will not just roll over and die, I will not surrender and I will not submit, I will NOT go quietly, but for the love of God, didn’t ANYONE think of fighting back?? Did 32 people just say ‘Oh well, he has a gun, I’m guess I’m going to die’?? Did no one have the GUTS to RUSH this guy and try to save themselves or their friends?? Apparently not, and for that lack of action, there is no excuse. If your life is threatened it’s amazing how creative you can get when it comes to fashioning a weapon from the material at hand, and there were chairs, desks, pens, pencils, nail files, God knows what else available, were there no fire hoses or fire axes in that entire hall?? Was there no one with a pocket knife?? Yeah, I know, the guy had a gun, but in a matter of life or death, a knife is a viable weapon. My Son and I were discussing this situation, and just so you know, my Son is an Iraq war Vet and a Law Enforcement officer, and he looks at this pretty much the same way as I do, his reaction was, “Damn Dad, it looks like they just rolled over and took it, they didn’t even attempt to fight back, they just gave up and died… Dad, you didn’t raise us like that and the Army and the Department doesn’t train us to be like that, my God, I can’t imagine just letting some SOB kill me.”, and that’s from a Son who is in the exact same age group as most of the victims. I am going to say this in plain English, this debacle was brought on, at least partially, by the political correctness and feel good politics that our children are being taught at home and in our liberal controlled colleges and universities, our students are taught to NOT fight back, our children are being taught that there are no losers in life, that we’re all equal and it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game, they are taught to just submit and accept the consequences, and I personally feel that this attitude is as much responsible for the massive loss of life as anything. Our children are not being well served by this progressive teaching, and it’s that same progressive teaching that is going to be the complete undoing of this once great USA, we’re becoming a nation of well educated wimps, and if we don’t reverse that trend, wimps is all we’ll be in 2 or 3 more generations…
Texas Fred
You have written a very inflammatory and extremely politically incorrect article. GOOD FOR YOU! It’s about time somebody started asking these questions!!!
Bravo TexasFred! I was thinking the same thing. The university milieu is just for sheep, not one ram among them.
Denizens of the Ivory Tower are notorious for their lack of action. The peaceniks ought to learn the lesson of the consequences of disarmament.
Fred - while it has not happened yet, I am waiting for someone on my campus (here in TX) to say something about how guns should be banned. I have DEMOLISHED that argument countless times and I cannot wait to show them STAT AFTER STAT AFTER STAT where criminals are armed with stolen (or otherwise illegally obtained) weapons. Second, I agree with you that while normally bringing a knife to a gun fight is stupid, in a situation such as this, I cannot help but wonder what caused the abject fear that crippled students who should have been able to fight back. Much like those lost on United Flight 93, I will NOT go silently into that good night, I’ll take as many of the SOB’s trying to kill me/my family/my friends DOWN TO HELL before I leave and go to join my Saviour. God Bless Fred, and I’ll have my two cents worth up soon.
Thank you Fred, for saying EXACTLY what I’ve been thinking. Today, I was ridiculed by my co-workers because I *CHOOSE* to have a gun. What the hell is wrong with having a gun? Apparently we’ve become so soft that we think *LAWS* and *RULES* are going to protect us. Yeah right. Only WE can protect ourselves. What are we going to do when some dirtbag decides to shoot at us, our children, and our friends? Yell out, “HEY, THAT’S ILLEGAL! STOP IT NOW, or I’ll Run away!!!” ?????
Yes, this is a tragedy. But don’t let this tragedey allow us take leave of our senses and even *BEGIN* to think that laws are going to protect us from the insane and lawless.
Right on the money Fred. Our institutions of “higher” learning have been instilling this crap for years, and it’s showing in every section of society. Sad, and frightening.
Fred,
I too was discussing this very element of the tragedy, on the day of…
I hope we are NOT so stupid as to further employ gun bans! VT was a microcosm of the society at large and we WILL have this again if we try to ban firearms altogether.
JR
Very Good
At least the lefty politicians are (for the most part) stating that they will not use this as an opportunity to push for even more gun control. The MSM on the other hand, is all over it. Jerks.
Personal accountability is a thing of the past for the left, and the press specifically. There’s no shortage of social targets for the left to blame this on…while ignoring the fault of the nutjob that perpetrated this.
AMEN!!
Fred, one can only wonder why few fought back. The Israeli professor blocked the door with his body and was killed for his effort, but his class all survived, he was a hero. He was also a nazi concentration camp survior and I would say that he embodied the spirit of “Never Again.” We have to learn to fight back. Period.
Absolutely right. Why didn’t someone fight back? If this is the mentality of the next generation of this country it doesn’t bode well for the future of our nation.
I think what I found almost humorous about the news coverage is that the MSM has been choking over the fact that this guy had legal guns.. (Though I am curious about why he filed off the numbers?)
A couple of very simple points and issues:
1. Mr. Stupid had a reason but it doesn’t much matter. Everyone from now until doomsday will attempt to find a “reason.” It doesn’t matter. Evil exists. Bad shit happens to good people. It happened. Period. Life really IS that random sometimes.
2. Two handguns is NOT heavily armed. It is two handguns. Persons like me CAN be heavily armed. But not against students.
3. The reasons the students “went” so willingly is simple: who raised them? Their parents. What does this generation primarily consist of by that age? Pussified males. Made so by women who want men to be like women. Guess what? They’re getting their wish. Men bailed out of windows leaving women behind. Get over it. You want equality? You got it now so STFU and it’s every PERSON for themselves.
4. The bill that got slaughtered? Think there might be some lawsuits wafting about in the Virginia breeze?
BZ
Excellent piece, Fred!
Good piece. I have a survey up at my site about packing, maybe you’ll want to go weigh in.
Great points, Fred. I couldn’t agree more.
Thanks for the great comments so far folks, I know there will be some that think me a monster for my views but there is no way in HELL that I can accept the fact that somehow the 61 people that were killed or wounded, 32 killed and 29 wounded according to the MSM, there is no way I can believe that this many people couldn’t have taken this guy OUT, even if he’d been armed with an assault rifle, 30 rounds and you have to reload, that allows at least a few seconds to react, after all, he wasn’t a TRAINED weapons guy…
There was, at least in my opinion, some extreme cowardice exhibited in the overall situation and in most of the victims, and at their average age, I DO blame the parents and the educational system…
The children of enabling PC wimps become enabling PC wimps…
Fred, keep going on this, along with your son,; I think people need to understand the VAST difference between someone who is trained and someone who is not. Ignorance is PREVALENT on this kind of thing. TV shows and movies are largely to blame where everyone with a gun is a crack shot with an infinite supply of rounds. With VA Tech, we’re talking about moving targets in a “real world situation” with 2 pistols, not a lot of fire power — so much could go wrong for an amateur, even one with deadly intent. I know people will have strong reactions to this type of analysis, but so what. People don’t know how many lives are saved per year and incidents avoided due to a good citizen packing and/or fighting back.
I agree, if students had been allowed to carry their own personal weapons, things might have been different.
It teachers had been allowed to carry weapons, things would have been different.
Many of these students were trained in the use of weapons, according to reports, but not allowed to carry them on campus.
On fighting back, one does wonder if someone could not have rushed him, tackled him, and removed his weapon. But we will never know what was ‘possible’, since we were not there.
Pauli, training doesn’t play into this nearly as much as COURAGE…
I personally know of cases where a small woman kicked a big mans ass over threats to her children, it’s called GUTS, and in MY opinion, there was a serious lack of GUTS at VT on Monday…
You’re right Debbie, we weren’t there…
Ya don’t have to BE THERE to see what happened, all you have to know is WHERE it happened…
Fred, your son’s reaction was the same as my sons’.
All good points made that will have the libs in a twist as they are pouncing upon this …hell we know the drill. Tragedy strikes opportunistic Libs strike as well.
If there was ever a case for conceal carry this situation is it, just one armed jagoff like myself that afternoon woulda ended that shit quick, in fact the bravest man in the whole episode who was responsible for saving the lives of many kids was legally able to be armed as a teacher that SOB woulda’ been dead on arrival after the first 2 shootings instead of being dead himself from a coward shooting blindly through a door.. Its high Time to think about arming one or two teachers on each floor in every school if you ask me.
Freaking losers like that would think more than twice if they knew you and I are packing an equalizer or two- as we all know.
Good piece Fred. Send it out. Piss off some liberals for us.
Virginia Tech - The Real Tragedy…
Courtesy of Texas Fred’s (visit and read all of this article - it is one of the best out there…):
A couple of days ago, our nation suffered the worst shooting tragedy in modern history with the mass murders that were committed at Virginia…
I agree with much of your op-ed Fred. To be fair, it may not be an all or nothing proposition. Perhaps not all students had a ‘reasonable’ option regarding self-defense. If the first person killed was confronted with an individual pointing a handgun at point blank or close range, it is possible the shock hesitation would have been enough of a delay to seal their fate. If anyone was fatally wounded in the back, or other vulnerable position/location, the criticism may be unfair. If someone decides their best option is to flee rather than confront the attacker in some way, I don’t know that it is fair to judge that choice. That said….
I would like to think I would not go quietly. I would like to think I would successfully avoid the initial attack and be able to find a way to hinder, delay or stop the attacker. If and when that happens I will know, until then I am just guessing.
Along with analyzing the response of those present in the student/teacher population, other matters are equally important. The response by the school to sound alarms, notify students by email or whatever, lock down plans, preventive strategies and even law enforcement reaction are somewhat puzzling.
One last note, in contrast to Flight 93 where brave passengers fought the good fight against terrorists, those at VA Tech were not a captive audience and had the option to flee. But the fact there is no evidence of anyone directly or indirectly opposing the attacker does raise questions on being prepared for a deadly situation.
Feel free to address my position.
The firstĂ‚Â 1 or 2 victims, I have to agree with you, anyone can be ambushed, but if the next 59 or so victims couldn’t put together some kind of a defense, I call bullshit and have to believe they were victims of their raising, education and cowardice…
Well written Fred, My family and I had a nice conversation about this incident last night. (I have one kid in college and one headed that way soon)
My wifes take on it in the religious context. “Greater love has no man than he lay down his life for another” Luke (I think)
Our thoughts were very similar, why did no one step up? SELFISHNESS in our society, the ME first mentality is rampant.
I don’t like to criticize kids actions or inactions in regards to this incident. however; in order to learn from this tragedy, we need to look at the reasons the amount of casualties keeps growing.
the American public had been taught, “when being robbed give the robber what he wants things can be replaced Life can’t be.”
A very flawed thought process IMO.
MOre Guns - not fewer is the Answer to West Virginia Massacre…
Annie Oakley Hopkins & Allen Wild West RevolverOriginally uploaded by Brian Howell. In the wake of the recent massacre by a lone, depraved psycho everyone is searching for a law enforcement solution to what they mistakenly assume is the problem.The…
You’re either a sheep or a wolf. You’re either a cat or a rat. You’re either a bear or a salmon. Predators always win because they’re hungry and the have the will to kill. Prey is frightened and runs hoping the predator will pick only one victim and not them.
Folks have to get back to basics on this. Life is not sacred, life is not guaranteed just because you’re rich or poor. Life is cheap and if you don’t fight for yours, you’re a fool. The people who settled this nation knew that and every troop that goes into combat knows that.
In my day (Nam ERA) we had a saying, “Buckle for your dust.” That meant to fight for your life and if need be sell it dearly. I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I won’t be shot in the back. They may get me, but my teeth will be ripping out a throat when I go.
We’ve gotten away from that in this nation and have raised far to many prey types. Humans by nature are violent predators and the most dangerous animal on this earth. Despite what all the hand-holders and psalms singers say, humans left to their own devices and not brainwashed into believing otherwise are killers. History proves that!
We do our youth a disservice by telling them that all humans are basically peaceful if you just set down and talk to them. That’s not true now and its never been true. The only way you can interact with some people is by killing them.
One student walks on campus and kills 32 other people and the world is calling us a Country of Guns, we deserved this. We are to blame because of our Gun-Control Laws.
In Iraq and all over Muslims are killing hundreds of innocent men, women and children daily.
Where’s the Fucking Outrage from the world about that?
First off…great article Fred.
Next… I agree with Basti, I would have even had my teeth on this guys throat if I didn’t have an available weapon.
Finally…Eric.
Yes there are sheep and sheepdogs and wolves. What a lot of the current generation don’t understand is that the people of MY VINTAGE, like Basti and Fred were trained to be WOLVES!!
The current generation seems to be mindless I-Pod mewling, selfish babies that expect the “LAWS” and ordinances to protect our butts. Our generation knows that idea, is in reality….impossible, if not completely idiotic.
Most of Freds readers don’t need to read some book on the mindset of sheep and sheepdogs. Our mindset was established in our youth, in our military training and in our values for freedom and personal rights and family.
I agree that we shouldn’t blame the VT victims especially the ones first confronted by the shooter. But there is a certain responsibility relegated to those who by their “mindset” choose to run instead of fighting for their and others lives. The Gentleman who was a Holocaust survivor showed more gumption and courage than many involved. He gave his life so that others could live…he was too old to fight back but he certainly wasn’t a sheep.
Jump from a window to escape…hide under a desk…not bad logic.
However, outnumbering this homicidal maniac and ripping out his throat was better logic.
Can we second guess what they should have done…no, we weren’t there as previously pointed out.
Can we second guess what we would have done…absolutely!! We of the WWII and Vietnam era know what we would have done.
Sheep and sheepdogs mentality…please.
Everyone else can lay down and suck their thumbs over this…am I over the top? I don’t mean to offend anyone with this and if I did I apologize, as I don’t mean to ever trivialize the VT victims deaths.
But Fred’s readers know where I am coming from and will probably agree with me. I think what saddens me and Basti and Fred is how far our generations have come in our “mindset” after so many of us gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep our freedoms and liberties and way of life and now to see it water downed by a generation that has been raised by concepts that encourage us to lie on our backs and expose our bellies to the enemies….whomever they might be.
‘Nuff said don’t like it…suck your thumb and download some Napster music to your I-Pod.
BTW ERIC,
I did like your posting on the comment section…I found it very well worded and intelligent.
Good show.
Great piece Fred. Why do people lay down and die? That question is still being asked about WW II. Why did large numbers of Jews let a few Nazi guards gun them down? The plain truth is people go through life not contemplating the possibilities and preparing themselves for bad situations. In order to react you must condition yourself and think it out ahead of time. I hate to keep using the word apathy but quess what? In a few weeks people will be going on about their business without a care or worry in the world. What are the chances it will happen to you? Slim, but be prepared for the worst people.
Sage,
Thanks. I appreciate the education I received as a GI as well as my education at Columbia. Neither is complete on its own merits, and one complements the other, but if I had to choose one experience for valuable life lessons, my 4 years as a soldier has to be it.
I recommend reading LTC Grossman’s essay here: On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs
I think you’ll appreciate what it is to be a “sheepdog”.
“It was almost like you had to fight for your life. If you didn’t, you died.”
My God, they don’t have a clue of what it means to fight for your life…
Yeah, they held him off, they didn’t let him walk in the door and bash his head in with a chair, they blocked the door so he couldn’t get back in to kill them…
Robert A. Heinlein wrote: “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” -Beyond This Horizon (1942).
BZ
I keep hearing about the pistols and how easy it was to get one. Gee if it were hard you think he might have gotten a shotgun removed the plug sawed off the barrel and then went nuts? Can you say portable claymore? Sheesh…
The one family my heart goes out to is the shooters family. Bad enough that a family member died but then to find out he took all those people with him? Wow, that’s a very heavy burden to carry around.
When I teach I won’t go down without a fight. I promise you that. State Senator Bob Beers here in NV wants to give teachers the right to carry guns. Don’t think it will pass but he sees the danger even before this happened. Keep up the good work Fred.
WOOF!
For some reason my posts have not been coming through. Thanks for the assist on my blog Fred. That weasel is now banned, at least until he can behave himself. Yes folks, Fred and I are on the same page, as usual.
First, and foremost; My heart goes out to all that are suffering from this horrendous criminal act committed by a person that slipped through the cracks so to speak.
Second; What the hell happened to our (speaking collectively) damned kids? Why no Resistance? hint… Political correctness. No being a man. MAN EVIL! No being a ranch or farm girl. Our kids have been trained to be a bunch of damned wimps, period.
Courage, bravery, and honor in the face of death have been scrubbed from the kids minds. Not all, but apparently from all that were there. At least as is being reported so far. I hope that new reports show a different picture.
For now, I choose to withhold my true anger, and simply pray for those that died, and their loved ones.
Isn’t it amazing that schools have kids regularly practicing fire drills, while it seems to me that less of them die in school fires than die from attacks by armed assailants.
Of course they could have fought back and won. However, the school system and their parents have been negligent in teaching them what to do if they ever face this type of situation. You’d think from all the violent video games and movies, that they’d have some idea.
If any students are reading this, you have a variety of weapons on you and in your backpacks:
Fingers, pens, pencils, keys to gouge out eyes; scissors to jab into the throat; teeth to bite with; legs to kick groins with. There are fire extinguishers in schools that you could use to spray into the face of your assailant as he comes through the door. Swarm all over him/them as killer bees swarm their victims
Take a course in self defense if necessary. Think, don’t let fear paralyze you, fight to win.
P.S. Only use deadly force if you think that you or someone else are about to be killed.