I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Friday, December 21, 2012

Irony

While Wayne laPierre was getting all flecked with spittle, in PA there was another "mass" shooting (I'm not sure if 3 people plus the shooter still qualifies for "mass" shootings, maybe it's like the $1 menu of mass shootings). Three state troopers were injured in the melee. While not all the facts are in, yet, if only there were armed guards available to stop the rampage… oh, wait.

Look, if you have combat shooter experience/training, sure, I'm somewhat okay with that. But if you're not putting 200 rounds down target at least every other month, you aren't prepared.

The whole fantasy of the random armed citizen putting down a determined shooting is nonsense. Columbine HS had an armed guard. Virginia Tech had a whole police force. Don't believe me? Okay, ask your local policeman if they support the concept of citizens returning fire. As for armed guards, guess who would be the first victims.

2 comments:

Phiala said...

That's about 45 miles from me, and pretty unusual for this rural part of the country. Shootings here tend to be domestic.

We had a knife attack on campus last week. Nobody died. I don't know what it means that knife attacks are rarer than shootings even though knives are even easier to get.

Verification: "199 assWom" which is pretty much what I think of the new blogger verification system.

Steve Buchheit said...

Phiala, I had a feeling that was close to State. And out here in the sticks of Ohio the shootings also tend toward the domestic. It'll be interesting to see if it was the State Police that put an end to the shooters rampage (it sounds like he was driving along the road shooting at random people), or if it was self inflicted or vehicular.

Knives are a more personal weapon. There's a big psychological barrier there that the distance of firearms doesn't have. And it generally takes a lot more to kill someone with a knife (few people even know how to commit suicide properly with a knife). From what I can tell, most mass killers (not serial killers) reach a point where their actions catch up with them and they break down (which is why many end up taking their own lives). With the closeness of a knife fight, killing that way becomes intimate.

WIth a gun you can mentally distance yourself from the death in a way you can't with a knife.