Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Dead Men Tell No Tales

Did you know that the victims of the VT massacre were at fault for their own deaths? I didn’t. But thankfully, John Derbyshire of the toilet paper substitute esteemed publication National Review, was on the case to set the record straight:

As NRO's designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn't anyone rush the guy? It's not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness' sake—one of them reportedly a .22.

At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad.

Yes, yes, I know it's easy to say these things: but didn't the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything? As the cliche goes—and like most cliches. It's true—none of us knows what he'd do in a dire situation like that. I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I'd at least take a run at the guy.
See? This is the kind of bullshit I was dreading reading.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Clearly the author didn't know about this young man, Ryan Clark, who was investigating the shots. Though from his bio on NYTimes.com he seems like someone whose primary concern would be for the victims rather than the shooter. He seemed to be a caring person who was going to devote his life to helping people in need - perhaps people like the shooter, who appears to have desperately needed some kind of medical attention.

Once again, we see the media turn to treating symptoms rather than the causes. We should be examining our failed medical system that allowed the shooter to go without treatment. Instead we are chastising the students because more didn't cease some opportunity to risk going down in a blaze of glory.

The author of that piece is a disgrace.