Blue Collar Muse

In the wake of several University shootings in the US to add to the incidents of violence at high schools around the country, the country finds itself asking whether or not it would be wise to permit weapons on campus.

People who understand that our way of life is governed by the Constitution and not by the opinions of fearful men and women argue for permitting people to exercise their rights should they choose to do so but do not insist that others must follow their example. Opponents of the clearly worded 2nd amendment insist there is no need for citizens to be armed with anything more dangerous than a razor sharp intellect while at school. Given the state of public education these days that would still leave many teachers and students unarmed. Those who fear gun violence will be happy, however, since they, unlike their opponents, will have successfully forced their views on yet another group of Americans.

The problem, of course, is that 2nd Amendment foes cannot seem to understand the difference between defense and offense. Nor can they envision values other than their own. Since they cannot conceive of having a weapon for any reason other than a murderous rampage, anyone who wants a weapon is a time bomb waiting to go off. Keeping weapons out of the hands of anyone makes the whole world a safer place. Anyone believing otherwise must be opposed for their own good and for the good of the populace. The fact that the vast majority of gun violence is committed by criminals and not citizens exercising their rights is lost on them.

Unfortunately, such folks can produce little or no evidence supporting their views. They generally respond there is no evidence (well, none besides common sense) supporting the view that a weapon in the hands of a trained shooter would reduce the violence done by a random shooter. If that was ever the case, it is not any longer.

Comcast News is reporting that in Jerusalem, a gunman

… walked freely into the yard of the school, a modern 5-storey complex, shot dead a guard and then sprayed bullets from an AK-47 rifle and a pistol at young men marking a festive period with study in a ground-floor library.

The school was a seminary. The students were young men in the prime of their life. All of the silly recommendations given by well meaning experts to hide or break furniture up and attack the gunman with home made clubs did nothing in this situation. The good news is that only 8 students were murdered.

That’s good news because the body count would definitely have been higher had the gunman had his way. A 5 story building packed with students and he’s the only one with guns! Except he wasn’t. An off duty soldier, had a weapon, heard the shots and ran to the scene.

Yitzhak Dadon, the soldier who told reporters he shot the gunman, said the attacker wore torn jeans: “I saw the gunman and he fired a long burst in the air. But then he disappeared.”

“I saw him again when he approached the door of the library. I shot him twice in the head. He started to sway and then someone else with a rifle fired at him, and he died,” he said.

This is not real hard to parse. An evil man with evil intentions, was not dissuaded from those intentions despite laws clearly forbidding his actions. With malice aforethought, he went to a school and brutally murdered 8 young men. He clearly intended to murder many more. He was unable to do so. Not because he was overcome with grief at his actions. Not because he had bagged his limit on unarmed seminarians. Not because some ninny who thinks guns in anyone’s hands are dangerous staged a quick, effective intervention. He only killed 8 young men because two other people - normal, everyday people who weren’t evil and didn’t wake up that morning planning gun violence - had weapons and went looking for the bad guy. When they found him, they didn’t reason with him, they didn’t warn him, they didn’t shoot to wound. They shot him. In the head. More than once. Until he died.

In doing so they not only saved lives, they provided a clear lesson for anyone willing to examine the issue dispassionately. Guns in the hands of ordinary, good people who find themselves in the midst of a shooting rampage by someone of extraordinary wickedness will, without question, save lives. Those same weapons pose no threat to the innocent around them. Rather, they stand as silent guardians, quiet until needed. Any other conclusion, regardless of how noble it may sound, is pushing an agenda and not engaging in reasoned debate.

Until campus killers volunteer to only shoot at other deranged people with guns, perhaps in a special campus facility, the best way to deter campus violence and to reduce its extent when it happens is to make sure citizens can be armed on campus and to highly publicize that fact.

Blue

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