Friday, April 20, 2007

Grr....


I am so tired of hearing about people with guns and buildings! Right now, some idiot is holed up at JSC (Johnson Space Center in Houston) with a gun. Due to all of this, Clear Creek ISD had to lock down Space Center Intermediate because they are on the JSC grounds, practically right across the street from the building where all of this mess is happening.


Why can't we use our words? Why is it that people choose guns? Why is it that we are the only country in the world that has these types of problems?


If you go back and look at the United States Constitution, at the 2nd Amendment, and read the true content of the amendment, it was only written to allow states to have militias. It was not written for the intent of people having guns. Just for the ability to have guns to arm the militias. Unless you are a part of your local state guard, military or public safety, nobody else really needs a gun. They only ask for trouble. If a student was packing heat at VA Tech when the crazy dude came in, would it really have helped or stopped him earlier? No. There probably would have been more injured, or even dead.


Do we need more gun control? Yes. Is it ever going to happen? No. Why not? Because it is too controversial and nobody would ever agree on a single piece of legislation. How did the Brady Bill get passed? I have no idea. I wish that it was not allowed to expire, because now that it has expired, assault weapons are more readily available than before the Brady Bill. If the Brady Bill were still in effect, the gunman from VA Tech would not have had the gun that he used and also it would have slowed him down and possibly preventing him from harming others. What's going to happen in the future? Who knows....

Monday, April 16, 2007

Virginia Tech Tragedy


Another school was under attack today. School shootings have now migrated to higher education. As of now (130 pm CDT) 31 students have been either wounded or perished, including the shooter. It is just a sad day. The last time that there have been a great tragedy at a school was Columbine in 1999. The last incident like this at an institution of higher education was in the 60's at the University of Texas with the bell tower shooter with approximately 90 minnutes of terror and 16 students dead. It is now the deadliest shooting incident in US History.


This is the second incident at Virginia Tech in the past 6 months. In August, on their first day of class, classes were cancelled and buildings put on lock-down because an escaped inmate came on campus and killed a sheriff's deputy. What would it be like to be a beginning freshman through all of this? This would be a hard introduction to independent living.

Why do we have to face this in our society? Why are people going against others in mass casualties like this?


It is sad because many students are part of Generation Y and have already experienced school shootings at the terror that it can cause at school. After hearing things like this, it makes you a little uneasy and makes you re-evaluate the safety situation at your respective homes and campus.


Here is a first hand prospective of the situation: http://icantread01.livejournal.com/103060.html


It is also interesting how technology has affected this situation. When the phone systems failed, people turned to websites, blogs and social networks like Facebook and Myspace to find news about their friends and about what was going on around them. The link above is a prime example of this. Here is another link with information and other blogs : http://www.cybersoc.com/2007/04/virginia_tech_s.html


This situation is quite unfortunate and our prayers are with the students and families of this situation.