Virginia Tech was locked down today with reports of a man holding what could be a weapon underneath a sheet.
Virginia Tech
When three teens staying at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University (VA Tech) campus noticed a man holding something under a sheet, they notified officials and the school was locked down and multiple police agencies were deployed to search for the gunman.
The search continues, with classes cancelled, as of 10:27 a.m. PST. (reported by MSNBC)
April 16, 2007 was a dark day for America, when 23 year old undergraduate student, Seung-Hui Cho, massacred 32 people and wounding 17 others. The result was a mass swelling of support and unity, not just at the school or in Virginia, but across the nation.
A young generation and firearms
On January 8, 2011, Jared Lee Loughner, a 22 year old high school dropout, walked up to Tucson Congressman Gabrielle Giffords and calmly shot her in the head. In the end, 6 people were dead and 13 other people were shot. Miraculously, the Congressman was among the survivors.
Closer to home, on February 12, 2008, 14 year old Brandon McInerney, armed with a .22 caliber gun he had used for target practice, walked up to 15 year old gay student Lawrence King during class and shot him twice, eventually killing the boy. The two teens were students at E.O. Green middle school in Oxnard, CA.
Young killers
The case of the E.O. Green shooting here in Southern California is another tragic example of gun violence perpetuated by youths with a trouble past.
Although a minor, 14 year old McInerney is being tried as an adult here in California. As the trial continues, attention is being drawn to the distraught nature of the shooter. It raises the question, how sympathetic should our society and judicial system be to the architects of heinous crimes?
Attorneys for McInerney argue the boy was molested, that the boy McInerney shot humiliated McInerney by hitting on him. Teachers noted how effeminate and inappropriately dressed the gay teen was, while the shooter, although troubled, had demonstrated a lot of good.
A common gun rights slogan is “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”
Bordering on cliche, the statement contains some clarity. McInerney killed a gay teen. Lughner killed 6 people in Tucson. The gun didn’t kill 32 people at VA Tech, Cho did.
What lacks clarity is justice for victims versus the troubled history of a murderer. Do we let emotion sway our decisions, or uphold the clarity of our judicial system?
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