~orion~

In the aftermath of the horrible shootings at VTech I was thinking about that whole event mostly about people’s reactions. When a coworker of mine pointed out the final death count, I thought “Man Jack Thompson is going to blame video games on this.” Lo and behold, a mere few hours later, I find this. I really have no idea how he can make that assertation before we even know the identity of the shooter. For all we know this kid could have been on drugs, or perhaps doing a Boondock Saints style cleansing. Maybe this kid thought he was on a mission from God. We just don’t know yet. If Jack wants to make his claims after we find out the killer liked to play video games fine, he’s free to do that (even though I disagree 100%). But to make it beforehand is just ludicrous.

Next, the pro-gun people claiming that if the students there were armed this would not have happened or the death toll would have been far lower. While I would have to agree in this singular instance, I believe that overall if more people had guns there would be more murders overall. They won’t be as many mass murders but there will be way, way more one or two person murders. If more people have guns then more people are likely to use guns. It’s simple more people with guns mean more people are likely to use guns which means more dead people. People will be more likely to resort to violence (and shooting) if they are armed for fear that the other person may shoot them first. Fist fights are different, if you get hit first you still stand a chance of being able to win the fight. However if you get shot first then chances are you’ve just lost. We don’t need more guns.

Last, the people calling for the immediate firing of the university president and university police chief. First, and foremost, it’s way, way too early to even tell if either of them screwed up. Now I believe if either of the egregiously screwed up then my all means fire their ass. But don’t fire their ass just as a scapegoat. I’m guessing that giving the information they had, they made the correct decisions. Now I’d imagine that a school that big you could probably get away with shooting and killing two people, disappear for a few hours, resurface on the other side of campus and go on a rampage. From what I’ve read there were no indications whatsoever that the killer was going to go on that second rampage. People need to stop automatically blaming others and forcing someone to take the fall. Sometimes, there is no one to blame. That’s life.