Guns for All and All for Guns

I generally don't post my opinions on current events, mostly because I don't spend a lot of time reading the paper or watching the news. I admit, I'm selfish about what I form opinions about, I don't vest my time in every little issue that comes along. Being human, though, tragedy like what Virginia Tech has just experienced does affect me. I watch and read about the events because I have empathy for all who are directly affected, and because I feel like it does affect my world as it is a sign of how our society has evolved.

So I'm watching a news report about the whole horrific event last night, and suddenly they are interviewing students who are angry with Virginia Tech. They are angry because the campus has a policy prohibiting guns at the school. They are angry because they feel this policy left law abiding citizens, student, unable to protect themselves against a raving lunatic. I think their anger is misdirected. I realize they need to feel like they could have done something if only...but that's simply not true.

Even if they were allowed to have guns on campus, would they really be carrying them to their 9:00 French class? How safe would any of us really feel if we knew we were sitting in class with 30 other 18-21 year olds who may have a gun in their backpack? And when in the face of danger, unexpected danger, what stressed-out, possibly hung over, sleep-deprived, young adult barely out of the nest individual has the sense to remain calm and "take out" the offender rather than panic, cause more chaos, and possibly shoot an innocent bystander or get themselves killed. Come on, you can't be serious that you think this is really the result of poor planning on the part of the university rather than what it really is.

And from everything I've read so far, there were tons of warning signs about this kid that everyone who knew him is stating and yet nobody did anything about it. Other students used to joke about how he would one day start shooting, but nobody tried to stop it before it happened. The problem isn't that the other students didn't have guns, it's that our society has evolved into this. We see our friends and neighbors in trouble, and we don't do or say anything until after the tragedy occurs, then we blame everyone else. We don't get involved with each other, we get involved with our causes. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. We don't need more freedom to carry guns, we need more compassion and sense of community at the get-go.