Posted on 03/23/2011 5:07:00 AM PDT by marktwain
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Jim Bryce still finds it tough to return to the University of Texas after 45 years. Standing across Guadalupe Street this week, he stared at the exact place a sniper shot his friend, Sandra Wilson.
"There were pops. Pop, pop, pop,” Bryce said. “The bullet that hit her blew off her left tricep."
Bryce had just gotten out of class and was on his way to meet Wilson at a cafe when another student, Charles Whitman, 25, opened fire from the UT Tower.
"We started telling people who were walking up and down all the hallways 'Don't go outside and don't look out the windows, because if you can see him he can see you,'” he said. “Unfortunately, one student decided to go up the stairway into the union, and I saw him shot through the window."
After police shot and killed Whitman, Bryce left the safety of the Student Union. Sixteen people died that day and another 32 were wounded.
"There was blood everywhere on the west side,” he said. “I remember people were coming out in the ambulance. Ambulances were there taking out bodies."
"Since 1997, guns have been permitted in vehicles parked on campus, and CHLs {concealed handgun licenses] have been permitted on campus sidewalks, walkways, parking areas and grounds," Rep. Joe Driver, R-Garland, told a House committee last week about his bill, HB 750 .
Both the Texas House and Senate now have bills to allow anyone with a concealed handgun license to carry their weapons inside campus buildings, even into classrooms. This comes just months after another shooting scare at UT, when another student brought an assault rifle to campus and eventually killed himself.
“I can see the angle of self defense and having it for protection,” Michelle Bowman said as she walked across the UT campus.
"If someone makes up their mind to come to the campus and shoot people, then obviously there's something wrong with them,” said Aaron Freeman, also on the UT campus. “Trying to shoot them back isn't going to help."
Of course, students did shoot back in 1966, and it did help. Whitman was shot and killed by police, while citizens shot back from below, limiting his destruction. One armed citizen was part of the team that assended the tower and took Whitman down, as I recall.
I forgot to hit the excerpt button. This is an excerpt.
Bryce is just one more idgit that will push his own perception of safety and the socialist agenda that disarms the populace just to see more folks murdered in place. Charles Whitman didn’t have a license to carry yet he did. As did all the rest during the recent slaughters of sheeple events.
Paper laws do not stop bullets... criminals by definition ignore said laws aka duh !
Note to states, cities, business, institutions and public places that want my business....I don’t go where I can not protect me or mine with my handgun.
My opinion...
Why is it that the media gives credence to these anti-gun a$$holes just because they were in the proximity (or for that matter were involved) of some criminal event. I was in the mall (or maybe just entering the mall from the parking lot depending on the exact timing still not sure) in 1990 when Calvin Brady - a black man who didn't like whites - walked into the perimeter mall food court and shot some white guys in the back.* One died. I saw the poor guy lying there thinking he isn't going to make it and was sadly proved correct. Does this make me any more qualified than if I had been across the street or in one of the stores nearer the food court. Nothing to do with it. Just the usual government worshipping media whores desperately trying to stir up opposition to removing unconstitutional restrictions on peoples' rights. Any removal of restrictions on the populace reduces the government's power, and the media just can't stand that thought.
*From what I understand it was over pretty quickly, an armed bystander might or might not have had time to return fire. There was a report that a DeKalb plainclothes cop was there, but with his girlfriend and didn't want his wife to find out so he did nothing. The media buried that one PDQ.
Tell you this much Aaron, you go ahead and try to talk the perp to stop, and I will watch from a safe distance. If I have my gun with me, perp will likely be assuming room temperature by the time I am finished.
I immediately moved behind the pillar ~ which suddenly wasn't wide enough.
The deal was a West German undercover cop gave up his cover to seize a gun (very heroically) from a guy who intended to start shooting some of the other people at the table crowded with Turks.
If the guy had gotten off a few rounds he'd hit people BEFORE anyone could do anything. It is still a good idea to be able to shoot back so that further killing does not happen.
I cannot imagine the brain damage that man suffered that makes him think the Texas Tower Killer should have been allowed to continue killing people for the rest of the day. He is sick.
Why do people think victims of shootings are capable of providing objective opinions on gun issues?
This fits with lending weight to the political views of hollywood actors. Both groups are too far removed from reality to offer worthwhile opinions.
My uncle taught there at the time. He came away with the exact opposite opinion after this incident. Of course, he was raised a country boy and guns were always part of his life.
I can’t follow this guy’s logic. If obviously something is wrong with the shooter....how is it that unarmed keeps you safe?
You are correct. Some of these idiots think throwing a book at the shooter will deter further shots. The local AM talk show had this yesterday morning and that was the mentality of some students at ut Austin.
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t an armed, deputized, CIVILIAN help get the shooter at UT?
Much less, from Austin.
I remember this incident well. Civilians on the ground definately shot back; even before the police responded.
They made the guy keep ducking and diverted his attention. They definately DID help.
The media is the biggest collection of censors that the nation has ever seen. I will not speculate as to why; I type the facts as I see them and can prove them.
If the media was right about their individual and collective aversion to guns why has almost every case of concealed carry resulted in reduced violence?
In the old days, pre-Johnson, we learned from tragedies - large, small, and personal; now we don't. Is any further explanation for the decline of America required?
I remember a few details about the incident, but I was still in my teens when it happened. This was just about the only news event on the evening news that day. I remember them talking about the deer hunters shooting at him with their scoped rifles.
That’s my recollection too.
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