VT Thoughts from DFA
Some thoughts on the VT Massacre by Tom from DFA:
September 11, 2001. Around 3000 people were killed when foreign terrorists attack the United States. The reaction from the Bush administration was swift and severe on the terrorists. Even Americans endure both a loss of Constitutional freedoms and widespread violation of those freedoms.
Now, think about the massacre of 32 innocent victims at Virginia Tech. As an isolated incident, it is horrific—truly a massacre. But in the larger picture, what happened at Virginia Tech is just a drop in the bucket when we are again forced to look at the fact that guns kill nearly 30,000 people per year in the US—through murder, suicide and accidental deaths.
And while we as Americans like to talk about the outrage over events like the Virginia Tech rampage, there is little, if any, meaningful change as a result. President Bush did comment that there will be renewed debate about gun control—but there is absolutely no leadership from the President on this issue.
Many things strike me as odd in the days after the Virginia Tech murders. The media is quick to come up with their catchy titles for their ongoing news coverage. But so far, I have not heard any media source call the Virginia Tech incident an act of terrorism. In an odd way, all of the school shootings, all of the murders, suicides and accidental deaths are political in nature because they SHOULD be urging us to adopt sensible gun control laws. If flag waving Americans are going to start talking about the Constitution, we should point back to the freedoms we have all lost because of 9/11. Shouldn’t it be considered “American†to do whatever it takes to end gun violence? The Constitution does grant the right to own a firearm…how about allowing only the weapons in existance when the Constitution was written–a big and slow to reload musket!
Something else seemed odd to me as I drove home from work and listened to a memorial service for victims of the Virginia Tech murders. The speaker was urging those in the audience not to let the massacre negatively impact their great American quality of life. That could be a major part of the underlying problem—we assume everyone in America has good, if not great, quality of life. I would say it should be obvious that the shooter in Virginia did not have great quality of life. Something, real or imagined, was tormenting him.
And once again, the façade of America is cracked.
Related posts:
Tom is very eloquent in expounding on a belief that I think many of us here agree with. I think that we need to use this time as a moment where we can help uplift a great debate on gun control, all of its ills and whatever benefits. Again, we are faced with a moment in history where we need to help do what is right.
One thing that perplexes me, as a person who studied psychology, is the geographical difference in gun ownership, gun laws and gun fatalities. New Hampshire, the “live free or die” state, gets an “F” grade from The Brady website, and yet they had only 4 gun deaths in children and teens in 2004. Virginia received a “C-” from The Brady website. Most schools with high rates of gun ownership in the student population are in the South, yet places like NH, VT, and ME have less stringent gun laws. What gives? I’m a Southerner, so I am keenly curious about this. Here is the NH data link:
NH gun stats
My research indicated that the greatest factor in reducing gun crime is to apprehend repeat offenders. The crime rate has skyrocketed in this country despite increases in gun control. I am appalled at some of the lapses in certain types of legislation, such as not requiring child locks or not requiring waiting periods, or not requiring licenses or permits, not requiring background checks in secondhand sales, etc. I am not about to challenge the 2nd Amendment here but I do see there is a major loss of reason in keeping kids safe around guns. And the mental health laws seem to be a no-brainer to me. Should mentally ill individuals deemed to be a danger to themselves and others be entered into a database that is reporte to NICS so that they cannot buy firearms? This was not done in Virginia even though the policy exists that court clerks are required to notify state police if an individual has been declared mentally incompetent, a danger to self or others, or if they are involuntarily committed. Perhaps there is some caveat to the law that I am not aware of but Virginia is one of a handful of states that are required to do such reporting. The other states are: Alabama, California, Colorado and Utah.
Certainly Rochester knows the terror of gun violence and I think, more than anything, we’ve come to accept it. Sure we all express outrage and sadness over the violence and deaths, but we also feel powerless to change it.
Something a little more extreme is how we are there was national outrage when 3000 people died in the senseless terrorist attacks on 9/11, but so many people supported Bush’s invasion of Iraq, which has so far resulted in more than 3000 American deaths. Somehow, this is seen as a noble cause…those deaths create more American heros.
I was watching a show called The Agenda on Canada’s Global network last evening and the topic of Virginia Tech, Iraq and gun control. I love those Canadians. They have the nerve to mix those three topics on one show–and they aren’t even connected
One of the panel members said that while she loved America and Americans, she wondered why we thrived on “tragedy of the moment” news and how we could draw a line between Virginia Tech and Baghdad. She wondered why there was no similar outrage over the 187 deaths in Iraq on Tuesday.
I know I’m ranting again.
I am upset about NBC News and the fact they’re saying they repeatedly air this footage because we need to know “why.” Here is my response blog:
Puppet Media
On the D&C editorial blog titled “Puppet Media.”
It’s an unproven hypothesis, and a potentially controversial one, but David Hackett Fischer’s book “Albion’s Seed” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion’s_Seed) provides a compelling explanation of U.S. regional differences in rates of violence, education, divorce and other demographic issues.
If you believe Fischer, Southerners (”Cavaliers” and “Borderers”) are historically more violent than Northerners (”Puritans” and “Quakers”) and the rise of violence in U.S. cities since the 1930s can be traced to northern and westward migration of Southerners.
The only fault with Fischer’s book is that he’s a historian who’s making sweeping sociological claims. Although he makes compelling arguments and his history is first rate, I haven’t yet seen sociological, demographic or criminological studies which test his claims.
Thomas,
I am a Southerner and I had to laugh a little over Fischer’s claims for one reason: Southerners stay put. I have had family in NC since the early 1700’s. I am the only direct family member to ever *leave* North Carolina according to my genealogical research.
The rise of city living and the anonymity cities afford is where the high crime rate stems from. Small towns are full of people who know each other, where you can’t do anything without everyone knowing. Not so in larger areas. Yes, the South is in love with its guns but it is also a polite culture in many ways.
I’ve lived in 3 different regions of the country and the one thing in common I saw in all of the criminal activity was the impoverished and marginalized status of the criminals for the most part. In NC, the crime was mostly in Charlotte, big anonymous city. In L.A. the crime was largely gang-related. In NY, it seems to mirror L.A. What does the South have to do with that?
BTW, ALL old Southern families were originally Northerners from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts because that is where they came off the boats.
I actually think there is a time and place for the video manifesto of the VT shooter. Certainly, I don’t think it needs to be endlessly repeated on any one network for shock value and ratings.
But the video offers the other side of the “quiet loner”…if only to make people wonder about others who may be quiet loners exhibiting strange behavior or silent cries for help.
I agree.