Public Safety and Gun Violence in America

We didn't really want to touch this...

But one of our editors comes from a family with a death in the same due to gun violence. She was young, a college student and it was many years ago. But the family still remembers. The man who shot her (not pictured - the photo is of the alleged gun man from the Virginia Tech shootings /massacre of yesterday), was let go by the judge in a bench trial after he told the judge he believed the gun wasn't loaded. This happened in Detroit.

Supposedly, the man was a heroin addict and robbed her for money to obtain the drug. Supposedly, this same man went to work for two very big and notorious gang leaders at the time. Supposedly, one of the gang leaders found out about this and beat the gunman to death with a baseball bat for his "disloyalty". So much for "street justice".

We figure the story is much different here. But, we feel the same sense of horror and emptiness at the loss of so many innocent lives. One of whom, Professor Liviu Librescu, is said to have given his life so that his students could escape.

What is the future of gun violence in America? We are fairly certain the next lone gunman (or team) is out there waiting for his/hers/their time - like a ticking time bomb. But, where is this person? How do we defend innocent lives against this/these person(s)?

Will the campus bookstores have to start selling/issuing Kevlar underwear? Will armed police, soldiers and/or marines have to be posted at all centers of education? Can a device be invented that prevents a gun from being used in an offensive situation as opposed to a purely defensive measure (say, an artificial intelligence chip)? Will guns be banned from the public use and ownership (not now, but in the far future)?

What might have been encouraging (or not - depending on your feelings or point of view) was that no other students were equipped with a weapon to counter this madman. Had any one student had chosen to carry a weapon on their person, would we have seen a less tragic event? Will gun violence awareness be educated at any and all public institutions to stop the spread of this violence?

Of course, we don't know. We hope that if anything can be learned from this tragedy, that this is a real wake-up call for awareness against the next tragic incident.

Updated 4/22/07: Based on the Virginia Tech Massacre, we are starting a movement for "World Anti-Gun Violence Day".. the suggested date is April 6th based on another gun violence tragedy. See our posting at: http://theantizenhandbook.blogspot.com/2007/04/another-tragedy.html.
Contact your senator, representatives, or other government officials to help get this movement going. Thank you for your support.