Posted on 04/20/2007 9:48:58 AM PDT by archy
Unarmed and vulnerable
Bradford B. Wiles
Wiles, of New Castle, is a graduate student at Virginia Tech.
On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building."
Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.
It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself.
Please realize that I am licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the commonwealth of Virginia, and do so on a regular basis. However, because I am a Virginia Tech student, I am prohibited from carrying at school because of Virginia Tech's student policy, which makes possession of a handgun an expellable offense, but not a prosecutable crime.
I had entrusted my safety, and the safety of others to the police. In light of this, there are a few things I wish to point out.
First, I never want to have my safety fully in the hands of anyone else, including the police.
Second, I considered bringing my gun with me to campus, but did not due to the obvious risk of losing my graduate career, which is ridiculous because had I been shot and killed, there would have been no graduate career for me anyway.
Third, and most important, I am trained and able to carry a concealed handgun almost anywhere in Virginia and other states that have reciprocity with Virginia, but cannot carry where I spend more time than anywhere else because, somehow, I become a threat to others when I cross from the town of Blacksburg onto Virginia Tech's campus.
Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness.
That feeling of helplessness has been difficult to reconcile because I knew I would have been safer with a proper means to defend myself.
I would also like to point out that when I mentioned to a professor that I would feel safer with my gun, this is what she said to me, "I would feel safer if you had your gun."
The policy that forbids students who are legally licensed to carry in Virginia needs to be changed.
I am qualified and capable of carrying a concealed handgun and urge you to work with me to allow my most basic right of self-defense, and eliminate my entrusting my safety and the safety of my classmates to the government.
This incident makes it clear that it is time that Virginia Tech and the commonwealth of Virginia let me take responsibility for my safety.
And he is probably in the shower!
; < )
LOL. I carried a loaded 1911A1 all over Europe for years, and never once pulled it out, except at the range.
Been nice if he did.
He'd get him a Texas style attitude adjustment.
L0L
Good thing I shoot better than I spell L0L
He takes showers?
With FR, Pookie, music, and cooking, when does he have time to take a shower?
Maybe we should make murder illegal? Or maybe we should ban guns from campus? Or maybe we should not let loonies buy guns? Or maybe we should conduct in vitro testing and eliminate all potential future threats to society?
Thats enough chatter from the peanut gallery! ;0)
Aye, aye, Cap’n.
I think I’ll go mow the back yard now.
He was probably in the kitchen cooking chile while dancing, singing and laughing showering by spraying himself with the sink sprayer, scrubbing with Hoppes powder solvent!
; < )
Next, you fail to take into account the effect these randomly distributed, armed students and teachers would have on Cho. He wanted to go out with a bang, if you'll pardon the pun. That doesn't happen if someone shoots him before he really accomplishes anything. Cho was a miserable failure in life. He was a waste of skin and he knew it. In his mind, his one chance for fame and immortality was to kill as many people as possible. He didn't want some "redneck with a gun" to interrupt his moment of glory. He wanted the field to himself so that he could kill and terrorize as many people as possible before the cops showed up. In the back of his mind, he knew that had ~15 minutes to do just that. Not knowing where the "redneck with a gun" might be hiding ruins the whole plan; it add uncertainty. His 15 minutes could have been reduced to 15 seconds. (And this uncertainty is, in fact, how concealed carry reduces violent crime in areas where it's allowed. Criminals don't know which potential "victim" isn't a victim at all.)
Finally, you fail to see the tactical situation that would have confronted the first cops to arrive. The show would have been over. Even if Cho had gone ahead with his plane despite the uncertainty involved, odds are that out of the hundreds of students and teachers in that building that day, one of them would have been armed and able to respond. Cho would have either been shot, cornered, or driven off. Why? Because the first responder would have been an armed citizen instead of a cop. That armed citizen would have arrived on the scene in seconds, not minutes. Yes, some people would have died, but not 32; Cho needed time to kill that many. The unavoidable lag time before the police could get there gave him that time. A student or teacher with a gun inside the building gets there much faster. The police can't be everywhere; armed citizens can.
It is so easy to pick out the ones who understand it like you do verses those that don’t.
I look forward to seeing you at the next shoot. Hopefully I won’t have the flu and will be better company.
You were fine company even with having the flu. I just wish you had felt better.
It was great to see you and yours again. Look forward to next time!
Much has changed in the world. Especially in the U.S. I no longer consider it bizarre. It's message may be the only method to salvage and restore civilization and to keep it from falling in the hands of the death worshippers and tyrants.
And its message is simple.
Fight or flight.
But there is no safe place to flee to anymore.
Mankind was created to live -- and to live FREE, without fear. We, as individuals are tasked with creating and maintaining the environment to do that. If we fail, all is vanity and for naught. And is becoming apparent with each passing day that we are on the brink of failure.
We create governments to assist us in that task. When they fail, we must do it ourselves.
And that's where it's at today. Basically, I'm a very lazy person and would rather be sailing. But I believe there is s a time for all things, and this is the time to clean up the mess we've allowed to accrue all these years.
I also convinced that as America goes, so goes the civilized world. For progress or for self-extermination.
I choose the former, and I hope we have the numbers.
I am glad that I made myself clear enough to be understood! LOL!
I hope you are feeling better now and that next time we get together you are not sick. It had to have just about ruined your perfect weekend.
I read that speech and Wayne mentions unsupervised youth access to guns, the Eddie Eagle campaign and juveniles. Nowhere in that speech does he mention colleges. Since when does a college student need Eddie Eagle?
So you believe children should be able to bring guns to grammar schools and secondary schools? Do you believe kids should have shootouts over lunch money?
Oh, yes... I remember *HIM* all right...
the infowarrior
Shut up, and be like lambs...
And who will prosecute them? School administrators are above the law. Any law. And they know it.
Perfect analogy.
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