It is with the deepest sympathies that I read about the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech. As a serviceman stationed in Virginia, this incident hits a little close to home.
As I read about the 33 students viciously murdered by 23 year old Cho Seung-Hui, a Korean, I cannot help but feel saddenned by the whole experience and yet, at the same time, I find myself angry over those who are using this tragedy as an excuse to pound the soap box on their own political agendas; namely, gun control.
It is very human to want to place the blame on a scapegoat; to find that one person or institution we can reach out to and point our righteous fingers at to say, “it’s all your fault” but herein lies the truth. The blame, the responsibility, for all that occured belongs to one Cho Seung-Hui for it is he who woke up yesterday morning with full intent on killing someone that morning. It’s all his fault but he is dead, by his own hand, and therefore this is where the blame should end. As Harry S Truman stated so eloquently, ‘the buck stops here’. This isn’t the gun owner’s fault. It’s not the gun dealer’s fault. It’s Mr. Cho Sheung-Hui’s.
No gun law would have stopped Mr. Hui from killing someone yesterday because up until yesterday, he had broken no law so why would anyone stop him from buying a gun? Yesterday, Hui had already made up his mind he was going to do it; he was going to kill someone. It didn’t matter whether he used a gun or a homemade bomb, he was going to hurt someone for whatever perceived ill was done to him (an ex girlfriend in this case). He didn’t need to use a gun. He could have used a knife or even his own vehicle. It didn’t matter and it doesn’t matter. It’s after the fact. It’s like trying to replay the Superbowl on Monday morning.
There is nothing that could have been done to prevent this tragedy. We don’t walk around with ready made psychological tests we can use to determine who is and who isn’t going to go ‘over the edge’. It’s nearly impossible to figure that out. Mr. Hui did not have a criminal record so therefore he legally obtained a gun. No gun dealer can know the state of mind of their customers. As I’ve said, it’s impossible.
I grow weary of those who use tragedy to pound the pulpit on their own agendas because for now, and for weeks later, the news will be filled with arguments for and against gun ownership. Everyone remembers the lunatic who used a gun but they forget the thousands of others who own them and never once fire a shot in anger at another person. For that one bad apple, the barrel must suffer and somehow I find that to be wrong.
Those knee-jerkers, however, those who must find that scapegoat, will still find fault however and become reactionaries, responding on emotion instead of thinking things through to their logical conclusion.
I feel sorry for the gun, that inanimate object which, in the hands of the wrong person, becomes the arbiter of life and death. It is not the gun that kills but the person weilding it. I wonder if the ACLU will represent the gun in court?
