VA Tech shootings

My take, for the record.

I really don't have much to say on this one, beyond the obvious "it's a terrible tragedy" and "my most heartfelt condolences go out to the victims, their families, and the entire VA Tech community."

There's already a whole bunch being said about the University's "slow" response to the original shootings in the dorm, two hours before the unbelievable carnage took place in Norris Hall. I think this is hindsight and the overwhelming human need to blame someone, and I think it will fade shortly. It's difficult for me to see what the University could reasonably be expected to do in response to two isolated shootings in a dorm room. Should they have locked down the entire campus? Cancelled everything? That's obviously tremendously disrupting and extremely hard to do, what with some students driving in, others rolling out of bed and going straight to class (remember those days?), and classes already underway. I don't think it's a reasonable expectation, given what was known prior to gunfire starting in the classrooms. Now, its obvious. Then, not so much.

We'll hear plenty from the anti-gun lobby: How could this foreign national have obtained handguns? If handguns were illegal, this never would have happened. And we'll hear plenty from the other side, who will want to know what would have happened if the professors and/or students had been legally carrying concealed weapons.

Both sides miss the point, in my opinion.

Once a person decides he/she is ready to die, and wants to take as many others with him/her as possible, there isn't much anyone can do. Whether its a handgun, a Kalashnikov, a Semtex-and-roofing-nails body suit, a fully-fueled American Airlines 767, or an Abu Fayed -autograph-model suitcase nuke, once a person decides to make the ultimate statement (political, personal, religious, or otherwise), he/she is probably not going to worry about any deterrent, be it legal, physical, or emotional.

The day is coming when college students wear IDs on lanyards around their necks, just like most of Corporate America does today. It won't surprise me to see metal detectors and bag searches at all public building entrances as well. None of those things are bad ideas, none of them infringe on your rights all that much, and all of them represent the state of our world today.

Do you think that will make us totally safe?

You do? Can we talk about some real estate I'd like to show you?