Thought I'd share this interesting article.
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SOURCE: http://1787network.com/2011/06/leaving-the-sheep-unguarded
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Since the year 2000 there have been 33 shootings on college campuses in the U.S. and all of the campuses where these shootings occurred had something in common. They are gun-free zones. Sixty people were killed in those shootings and the victims all had something in common. They were unarmed.
The most notorious of these shootings was the Virginia Tech Massacre in which Seung-Hui Cho killed thirty-two people and wounded fifteen others. Police responded to the first incident where Cho shot two students in a dorm, but two hours later Cho barricaded himself in a lecture hall and proceeded to kill 30 more students and faculty and leave 15 wounded before killing himself. (Plus ten others who were injured trying to escape)
Despite the fact that police were already on campus (and had been for two hours) it took them 6 minutes to respond to, and gain entry to, the building where Cho was slaughtering the helpless students and teachers. By the time the police found Cho, it was too late.
If only one student or faculty member had been carrying a gun that day, it is possible that many lives could have been saved. In fact, five years earlier, at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy Virginia there was another shooting. Three people were killed and three others wounded when Peter Odighizuwa opened fire in the Deans office.
But something was different in this case. Two students heard the gunshots, ran to their cars, and got their personal guns. When challenged by the armed students Odighizuwa surrendered and was handcuffed and held until police arrived. He was tried and plead guilty to the murders and was given to three life sentences plus 28 years for his crime.
The media made little mention of the fact that the two students were in possession of guns on school grounds (in violation of the law and the school policy) and they were never charged. How many more people would have died that day if it had not been for those students breaking the law? How many people could Odighizuwa have killed in the five or six minutes that it would have taken the police to respond?
After the Virginia Tech Massacre a group was formed called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. They argue that, historically, gun-free zones dont work. The one hundred and ten people killed in school shootings (including primary and secondary schools) across America in the last ten years certainly seem to support that argument.
If even one of the teachers had been armed at Columbine, or North Hopewell Winterstown Elementary School, or Santana High School, or Granite Hills High School, or anyone at Northern Illinois University, or at the Louisiana Technical College, or at the University of Central Arkansas, or the University of Alabama in Huntsville, (the list goes on and on) how many lives could have been saved?
When are people going to realize that a gun-free zone only gives the illusion of security? Students and faculty who are licensed to carry guns and do so on campus are the ones who will save lives. Not the police and certainly not a sign announcing that all the potential victims on campus are guaranteed to be unarmed because the school is gun-free
SOURCE: http://1787network.com/2011/06/leaving-the-sheep-unguarded