So, in terms of the title of my blog, "e pluribus nonnullus," it's Latin for "out of many, some." I guess it's a little pun on the US's time-tested phrase e pluribus unum. You can take it however you want; I didn't put too much thought into its meaning. But I knew that four years of high school Latin would finally pay off.
But on to the content. Last week, as you all know, we witnessed the worst school shooting in American history. Thirty-two Virginia Tech students and faculty members were killed by Seung-Hui Cho, a 23-year old South Korean student.
First of all, I would like to extend condolences to all of the victims' families, friends, classmates, acquaintances, etc., as well as to all of Virginia Tech and Blacksburg. You are in our thoughts and prayers throughout this entire ordeal, which is difficult beyond words.
I also want to extend sympathies to Cho's family. They too lost a child. They have to live both with the awful reality that their son will be remembered as a mass murderer and with the abuse of a few ignorant pricks. They have to spend the rest of their lives re-living this past week and constantly second-guessing their decisions as parents. I'm sure they feel in at least some sense personally responsible for this. And to all of the insensitive people out there sending them death threats, screw you. You're not helping.
From what I have been hearing and what I have seen of Cho from the NBC footage, he suffered from schizophrenia. Now, I am not going to try and excuse what he did, because I know we live in a society focused on blame and retribution. Regardless, schizophrenia is the worst form of mental illness a person can have. It is known as the "cancer" of mental illnesses. This illness pushes its victim into bouts of full-blown madness. People may shake or have little control over their body, may speak or babble incoherently, and suffer from severe bouts of depression and/or paranoia, among other things. This illness is a horrible, destructive pariah. The only way to maintain any control over it is through extensive medication, which we now know Cho did not use. I have no doubt that, if he indeed did suffer from schizophrenia, his profound maddening disease played a large role in dictating his actions.
What Cho did was deplorable and unthinkable, but hopefully it can be used to bring to light the breadth and extent of mental illness in the United States. It is estimated that at least one out of every five Americans will suffer from some sort of known mental illness during at least some part of their lives. We have had a sorry history of understanding and treating these diseases. One recent and blatant movement away from progression on this issue took place during the late 70s and early 80s, when the federal government took steps to de-institutionalize the nation and pull federal funding from mental health programs. Accordingly, thousands of people who knew little or nothing about life outside the hospital were simply thrown out alone into the world. Many of these people could not find or hold down a job and were incapable of dealing with their diseases on their own. This one awful policy decision still rears its ugly head today everytime I see someone with an obvious mental deficiency living on the streets.
Now, to touch on the hot-button issue in all of this. As a college student, I do have a facebook account - a decision I am sure will come back to haunt me a few years down the road. Immediately following the shooting, I began to notice a steady flow of gun rights' supporters creating groups on the website with names like "Gun Control Costs Lives at Virginia Tech," "If students could carry guns, We would all be safer," and "Virginia Tech lives could've been saved it if wasn't a gun free zone." (you can find these groups here: Facebook) I would like to go on the record as saying that allowing college students and other personnel on college campuses to carry concealed firearms - or unconcealed for that matter - is one of the worst ideas that I have ever heard. It will NOT solve the problem. If anything, it may only make it worse. Allow me to make a few points as to why students carrying guns would not have helped this situation:
1.) The first shooting took place nearly two hours before the second one in the engineering building. Police took this shooting as a domestic dispute and assumed that the shooter had fled, because they did not find any indication that he had not (Cho traveled to the post office first and then made preparations for his next murders. He was not there). They had no way of knowing what was to come.
2.) Students were not informed about the first incident until the second incident was beginning. There was no way that they could have prepared themselves or had any armed officers there to protect them.
3.) Cho chained the exits to the building from the INSIDE. In other words, there was no way that anyone could have gotten in who may have been armed to stop him. An innocent bystander who happened to be armed would have been incapable of doing anything once Cho entered the hall. The only way that anything could have happened would be for students or faculty members inside of the building to be packing. If you honestly believe this is the answer, I think you are insane.
As a college student, I see no merit in allowing us to have concealed weapons in the classroom. Knowing that the person sitting next to me may have a pistol in his pocket or in her purse would not make me feel secure. If anything, it would make me scared for my life and unable to focus on anything else.
And let's just think about the merits of arming college students, shall we? Really? College Students? Obviously there is nothing on a college campus that could possibly impair the judgment and decision-making abilities of a student. I know that no one drinks or uses drugs in college, right? That's just what we need. A drunk kid pulling out a gun in the middle of an argument at a frat party, or a guy with a gun in his belt walking in on his roommate and his girlfriend in a compromising situation. Brilliant idea. Obviously no harm could possibly come of this.
Let's try and be logical before we go making decisions that affect the lives of those around us. There is no reason for allowing students to bring guns into a football or basketball game or a class. I have heard of far too many tragedies that took place for exactly this reason. Sure, the shooter may not have been legally licensed to have his gun, but simply having a card in your wallet does not make you incapable of overreacting or making a poor decision.
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