LIE: “Va. Tech more secure a year after massacre”

By Jim Irvine

In a recent story titled, “Va. Tech more secure a year after massacre,” USA Today promotes lies and the exact feel good head in the sand mindset that helped a sick man kill 32 innocent people a year ago.

The sad fact is that the school is NOT more secure today than it was. School administrators have spent a lot of time and money on everything but the real issue; enabling those facing a deadly threat to stop it. They trample on the most basic freedom; to defend one’s own life. They fought to ensure they students remain helpless victims.

The story notes that VT President for Administrative Services Sherwood Wilson says, “such a horrifying crime is unlikely to happen again regardless of the security improvements, but he hopes the measures can quiet fears.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?? Has he seen the story about six students being gunned down at Northern Illinios University in February? It was another place where the victims are not permitted the ability to respond in kind to a gun man. Do we see the trend here?

Wilson’s comment is basically, “If I bury my head in the sand, no one can see me.” If this is what we call “higher learning” in this country, we are in big trouble. Shame on USA Today for giving cover to apathy. The 32 deceased students and faculty deserve so much better.

There is only one thing that stops a killer on a rampage. It is a bullet fired from a gun. If you can’t afford to put an armed guard with every student, you better let every student provide for his/her own protection. Nothing else will work. Nothing.

Alarms, emails, chains, deadbolt locks, video monitering and police a mile away do not stop killers. Studying how or why someone commits such a cowardly act may help in many ways, but it will not prevent all future attacks. Pretending it will not happen only makes it easy for the next psychopath to kill.

There is nothing “wrong” with most of what the university and intelligentsia have done. Anti-lock brakes, rack and pinion steering, good headlights and other safety equipment on cars may help prevent accidents. But it does not come close to eliminating the need for crumple zones and safety belts. We know it is not possible to prevent all car accidents. We also know that we can’t stop all killers from killing. Innocence and naivety are beautiful in a four year-old. They are deadly when the adults making the rules have not advanced beyond this thinking. It is shameful that the our “mainstream media” can’t do an adequate job of reporting.

Candlelight vigils now seem to be required to show we care about what happened. I’m sure they help people deal emotionally with the hurt that every survivor feels after a tragic loss. But shouldn’t we as a society be insisting on policies that make the need for future vigils less likely?

The story ends with a quote from Maggie Maddox, a freshman attending her first year at school. “I’m encouraged that they are taking steps to make us feel safer...” Looking back to VT’s policy a year ago, it’s another example of how little has changed.

The very anti-self defense the State of Virginia had in place that ensured Seung-Hui Cho's 32 victims would all be defenseless when he came to slaughter them was based on making people "feel safe" rather than ensuring that they would BE safe.

After the State of Virginia declined to extend self-defense rights to college students who were properly trained and licensed through consideration of HB 1572, a Virginia Tech spokesperson had this to say:

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus."

I believe that the 32 lives lost were important, and that while placing 32 stones in a semi-circle is a nice gesture, it does nothing to protect lives.

In 2004, Gerard Valentino, Buckeye Firearms Association Central Ohio Chair, wrote that "it's time to ask how many more people must needlessly die before gun control activists and legislators realize that disarming law-abiding citizens leaves them easy prey to criminals. ...so-called gun free zones only benefit criminals."

The body count continues to rise, and the question for our politicians remains:

How many dead bodies do they need before it becomes politically acceptable to change our law?

Jim Irvine is the Buckeye Firearms Association Chairman.