Thirty three dead after shooting rampage at Virginia Tech.  All of the victims were unarmed.  The murderer killed himself.

    Virginia Tech forbids students and faculty from possessing firearms on campus, even when they have valid concealed weapons permits.

    News is still sketchy but it appears that a lunatic went on a rampage at Virginia Tech University this morning killing some 32 people
before killing himself.  Early reports indicate that the shooting started shortly after 7:00 this morning in a co-ed dormitory housing some 800 students.  The gunman avoided apprehension after that incident and it is speculated that the same gunman then walked into a classroom building two hours later and began shooting students in classrooms.  Reports indicate that the gunman first chained the doors to the building from the inside and was wearing a vest with numerous magazines attached to it.  The only firearms mentioned in any of the reports were two 9mm handguns supposedly carried by the gunman, but those reports are so far unsubstantiated.

    The campus Police Chief says that officers entered the buildings immediately upon arrival but that there was never any exchange of gunfire between the gunman and police.

    The Virginia Citizens Defense League has sponsored legislation in the last two sessions of the Virginia legislature aimed at forcing state schools like Virginia Tech to abandon their policy of forbidding students and faculty from possessing guns on campus.  Representatives of the colleges argued that their campuses were safe and have little crime...

    As always happens in incidents like this, the media is casting about for someone or something to blame for this tragedy other than the criminal.  Most of the criticism so far has been pointed toward the schools response to the first shootings.  They are asking questions like, "Why wasn't the campus locked down at that time?" and "Why weren't students notified not to go to classes?".  So far no one in the mainstream media has asked the question we want answered: "Why do you force law-abiding students to disarm when on campus?"

    When asked what could be done to avert a tragedy like this, the president of the University responded that, "We obviously can't have an armed guard in front of every classroom every day."  To which the Firearms Coalition responds: If you admit that you can't protect people, why do you insist on taking away people's ability to protect themselves?

    Eyewitness accounts of the shooting suggest that the shooter was firing very rapidly, precluding any opportunity for students to overwhelm him with force and numbers.  The only thing that could have mitigated this tragedy would have been one or more persons armed with firearms within close proximity when the shooting started.

    Instead of pointing out this simple, practical truth, it won't be long until the media takes up the cries that have already begun from the anti-gun forces and start blaming the tools and using this tragedy as an excuse to pursue more restrictions on firearms.  It is up to the pro-gun majority to bring this back to the facts of personal protection - that an individual's security is that individual's responsibility and it is inexcusable for anyone to ever take away anyone else's right to their chosen means of affecting that protection.

We will keep you posted as this story develops.

Yours for the Second Amendment,

Jeff Knox
Director of Operations
The Firearms Coalition

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