Monday, April 16, 2007

The Carnage at Virginia Tech

I was thinking about blogging about this throughout the day but it so overwhelmed me that I couldn't. There are so many aspects to it that I couldn't clear my thoughts enough to comment. The thing that struck me was how unprepared college kids are to confront someone holding a gun. I hope that this is a wake up call to colleges to better prepare their students for this type of situation. I found this account (scroll down to the update section -- it's an email from a student who was in one of the classrooms) to be quite chilling. I think barricading the door should have been the first thing that the teachers would have done.

As a mom your thoughts go immediately to your own children and that gives you great empathy toward the parents. I pray that God will shower them with his love and comfort during the coming months as they have to deal with this heinous act that was committed against their child. I pray also for those who were injured that they will be healed of their emotional and physical injuries.

Those who think that this incident proves that we should enact stricter gun laws are wrong. I think it proves the exact opposite. If these kids had been armed and trained on what to do in this situation, they would have been able to stop the killing spree earlier as the students at the Appalachian Law School were able to do. These are college age kids and should have no problem handling a gun properly.