Photo from Black Prof websiteFormer Mayor of Fort Wayne Indiana Paul Helmke now President of the Brady Campaign issues a press release on the shooting at Virginia Tech.
Blacksburg, VA – Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following statement:"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the Virginia Tech University community, and to the families of the victims of what appears to be one of the worst mass shootings in American history.
"Details are still forthcoming about what motivated the shooter in this case to act, and how he was able to arm himself. It is well known, however, how easy it is for an individual to get powerful weapons in our country.
"Eight years ago this week, the young people in Littleton, Colorado suffered a horrible attack at Columbine High School, and almost exactly six months ago, five young people were killed at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. Since these killings, we've done nothing as a country to end gun violence in our schools and communities. If anything, we've made it easier to access powerful weapons.
"We have now seen another horrible tragedy that will never be forgotten. It is long overdue for us to take some common-sense actions to prevent tragedies like this from continuing to occur."
Bag news note provides us with a slideshow.
We could be talking about the need to get tougher on domestic violence, or about how to better identify mental illnesses that could result in the injury or death of innocent people. We could be talking about a general alarm system that could be implemented campus-wide to immediately alert the staff and student body in such emergencies so that the people being directly affected would know to either hunker down and bar themselves in or evacuate the campus. We could be talking about making such large and public institutions prepare a link to any video/audio monitoring equipement so that police can immediately see or hear who, what, where and as a result be better able to respond to intruders exhibiting deadly intent.
ReplyDeleteBlaming guns will not prevent this type of crime from happening again. Just as blaming the car would not prevent a drunk driver from getting behind the wheel again. We need to have a honest look at practical measures that will allow for rapid alert and effective response on all school campuses in our country.
marti wright, i mean marti simmons, or martin sims.
ReplyDeleteFirst a gun unloaded does no harm. The moment it is loaded it is a deadly weapon. One is loaded and placed in the hand of an individual, it can cause serious harm.
Second, the person who took that harmless gun on campus loaded that weapon and had the intent to do harm.
Anyone who owns a gun has it loaded has the intent to do harm. Many may not have the opportunity, but many had them for just in case. And defense is a reasonable defense, is their legal defense in justify their need to plug the trigger.
Those who carry weapons have the right to do so. But, I would watch my back.
Sorry, I forgot to write about the other suggestions are good points.
ReplyDeleteIt was that gun defense that sent me over the edge and I got to typing my counter defense.
Thanks for sharing.