VT
Disclaimer: What happened at Viginia Tech was horrible and people should be outraged. My point (following) is that we should ALSO be outraged at other aspects of violence in society; I'm not trying to diminish the impact of the VT massacre.
I have 2 points.
1)
In the United States:
The murder rate was 9.1 people / 100,000. (2000)
The gun murder rate was 3.6 people / 100,000. (2000)
The population is ~301 million.
Total Murders:
(9.1 / 100,000) * 301,000,000 = 27,400
(10,800 by guns)
Murders per day (average)
27,400 / 365 = 75.04
(29.69 by guns)
Yesterday 32 people were killed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It has captivated the world and people are shocked with the level of violence. I ask however, why is there not a similar level of outrage in the States at the 75 other people that were murdered yesterday (and today, and tomorrow, and the next day...)?
2)
On a number of web sites I have seen comments to the like of "If another student had been carrying a firearm as well, this wouldn't have happened" or "People would think twice going into a place if they thought others might be armed."
It boggles my mind how people think this possibly makes any sense at all. Cho Seung-Hui killed himself; he was looking to die - so the risk of him being killed by another student isn't exactly a deterrent. As a side effect you also get:
- Fire-fights going on in the hallways.
- Confusion when the tactical team comes in (they're going to shoot whoever is holding a gun.)
- Accidents because you have a bunch of people carrying around loaded guns.
- Escalation of arguments: What was a fist fight is now a gun fight; death instead of a shiner.
Even if putting weapons in the hands of the masses does reduce the number of violent acts (doubtful), it certainly increases the amount of carnage. Lets just say I would much prefer to be punched in the face a dozen times than shot in the face once.
Universities are supposed to be sanctuaries for learning and intellectual discussion; that makes yesterday's violence so very much worse - but let is not forget that the VT incident was one symptom of a systemic problem.
I have 2 points.
1)
In the United States:
The murder rate was 9.1 people / 100,000. (2000)
The gun murder rate was 3.6 people / 100,000. (2000)
The population is ~301 million.
Total Murders:
(9.1 / 100,000) * 301,000,000 = 27,400
(10,800 by guns)
Murders per day (average)
27,400 / 365 = 75.04
(29.69 by guns)
Yesterday 32 people were killed at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. It has captivated the world and people are shocked with the level of violence. I ask however, why is there not a similar level of outrage in the States at the 75 other people that were murdered yesterday (and today, and tomorrow, and the next day...)?
2)
On a number of web sites I have seen comments to the like of "If another student had been carrying a firearm as well, this wouldn't have happened" or "People would think twice going into a place if they thought others might be armed."
It boggles my mind how people think this possibly makes any sense at all. Cho Seung-Hui killed himself; he was looking to die - so the risk of him being killed by another student isn't exactly a deterrent. As a side effect you also get:
- Fire-fights going on in the hallways.
- Confusion when the tactical team comes in (they're going to shoot whoever is holding a gun.)
- Accidents because you have a bunch of people carrying around loaded guns.
- Escalation of arguments: What was a fist fight is now a gun fight; death instead of a shiner.
Even if putting weapons in the hands of the masses does reduce the number of violent acts (doubtful), it certainly increases the amount of carnage. Lets just say I would much prefer to be punched in the face a dozen times than shot in the face once.
Universities are supposed to be sanctuaries for learning and intellectual discussion; that makes yesterday's violence so very much worse - but let is not forget that the VT incident was one symptom of a systemic problem.