Editorial by Va Tech student
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/80510
Unarmed and vulnerable
Bradford B. Wiles
Wiles, of New Castle, is a graduate student at Virginia Tech.
On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building."
Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.
It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself.
Please realize that I am licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the commonwealth of Virginia, and do so on a regular basis. However, because I am a Virginia Tech student, I am prohibited from carrying at school because of Virginia Tech's student policy, which makes possession of a handgun an expellable offense, but not a prosecutable crime.
I had entrusted my safety, and the safety of others to the police. In light of this, there are a few things I wish to point out.
First, I never want to have my safety fully in the hands of anyone else, including the police.
Second, I considered bringing my gun with me to campus, but did not due to the obvious risk of losing my graduate career, which is ridiculous because had I been shot and killed, there would have been no graduate career for me anyway.
Third, and most important, I am trained and able to carry a concealed handgun almost anywhere in Virginia and other states that have reciprocity with Virginia, but cannot carry where I spend more time than anywhere else because, somehow, I become a threat to others when I cross from the town of Blacksburg onto Virginia Tech's campus.
Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness.
That feeling of helplessness has been difficult to reconcile because I knew I would have been safer with a proper means to defend myself.
I would also like to point out that when I mentioned to a professor that I would feel safer with my gun, this is what she said to me, "I would feel safer if you had your gun."
The policy that forbids students who are legally licensed to carry in Virginia needs to be changed.
I am qualified and capable of carrying a concealed handgun and urge you to work with me to allow my most basic right of self-defense, and eliminate my entrusting my safety and the safety of my classmates to the government.
This incident makes it clear that it is time that Virginia Tech and the commonwealth of Virginia let me take responsibility for my safety.
Unarmed and vulnerable
Bradford B. Wiles
Wiles, of New Castle, is a graduate student at Virginia Tech.
On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building."
Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.
It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself.
Please realize that I am licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the commonwealth of Virginia, and do so on a regular basis. However, because I am a Virginia Tech student, I am prohibited from carrying at school because of Virginia Tech's student policy, which makes possession of a handgun an expellable offense, but not a prosecutable crime.
I had entrusted my safety, and the safety of others to the police. In light of this, there are a few things I wish to point out.
First, I never want to have my safety fully in the hands of anyone else, including the police.
Second, I considered bringing my gun with me to campus, but did not due to the obvious risk of losing my graduate career, which is ridiculous because had I been shot and killed, there would have been no graduate career for me anyway.
Third, and most important, I am trained and able to carry a concealed handgun almost anywhere in Virginia and other states that have reciprocity with Virginia, but cannot carry where I spend more time than anywhere else because, somehow, I become a threat to others when I cross from the town of Blacksburg onto Virginia Tech's campus.
Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness.
That feeling of helplessness has been difficult to reconcile because I knew I would have been safer with a proper means to defend myself.
I would also like to point out that when I mentioned to a professor that I would feel safer with my gun, this is what she said to me, "I would feel safer if you had your gun."
The policy that forbids students who are legally licensed to carry in Virginia needs to be changed.
I am qualified and capable of carrying a concealed handgun and urge you to work with me to allow my most basic right of self-defense, and eliminate my entrusting my safety and the safety of my classmates to the government.
This incident makes it clear that it is time that Virginia Tech and the commonwealth of Virginia let me take responsibility for my safety.
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This guy needs to be heard. 0 -
Thanks for posting this.
If someone would have been in those classrooms with a handgun and was able to shoot back there would have been lives saved. as it was there were no one there to shoot back so the murderer finally had to do it himself and shot hisself in the face.0 -
It is a down right shame that any of this had to happen. our constitution applies to the citizenship of this country. The shooter was an immagrant alien. I don't believe that aliens, leagal or illegal should be able to purchase here, just as i believe that they should not be able to draw benifits such as medicaid, welfare, and social security. This country wouldn't be such a magnet for those people if all of those benifits were only available for the CITIZENS of this country.
I do empathize with Mr.Wiles. Had he or anyone else who is eligble to carry concealed, had a weapon, this could have been stopped a lot shorter than id had been. I guess litigation against institutions, workplaces, and businesses that infringe upon our rights should be imminant in the future to get this turned around.
You hear about all the countries like Great Britian, and Australia's politicians chiming in about our lax laws on firearms. I suppose they need to be asked in front of the same media exactly what their outright bans has done for their crime rates, and for the numbers to prove it.
Mr.Wiles is to be commended for his editorial.0 -
quote:Originally posted by MVP
Thanks for posting this.
If someone would have been in those classrooms with a handgun and was able to shoot back there would have been lives saved. as it was there were no one there to shoot back so the murderer finally had to do it himself and shot hisself in the face.
Suzanne Hupp (from the Luby's Texas shooting) was just on Fox and said the same thing.0 -
That needs to be printed in every major paper in this country.... 0 -
Who knows, maybe common sense will finally break out....
Someone is going to give, one way or another......0 -
quote:Originally posted by William81
That needs to be printed in every major paper in this country....
A portion of it (the important points) appeared in today's Rocky Mountain News. I was surprised.0 -
I think that down the road ... when this all settles down, just the opposite
will happen. I've got a suspicion that VA gun rights will be null to nothing
after the politicians get done with it.0 -
quote:Originally posted by PC800 Suzanne Hupp (from the Luby's Texas shooting) was just on Fox and said the same thing.+1
Her situation crossed my mind before I finished reading your initial post.
Hupp is an excellent spokesperson on this issue. She's educated, articulate, logical and has first-hand experience. The lady is tough to argue with.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71YpogEUCDI
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It only takes one person to mess up and it only takes one to change a situation dramaticly. If had one person been carrying might have been avoided. 0 -
That's the best thought I have heard. The student has the right ideal. The key words are licensed and qualified. He should be on every news channel with his thoughts. 0 -
I respect and appreciate the police. But they simply cannot stop most crimes. With that said............
It is almost laughable to watch the news when the police show up after a shooting such as VA Tech. Dozens of police cars, armored vechicles, two way radios being constantly talked on, most LEO's carrying a sidearm AND a fully automatic rifle or a shotgun, body armor, Kevlar helmets, LEO's moving hunkered down and all "combat ready" and taking cover, etc.
Folks, those weapons, armor, radios, etc were needed BEFORE OR AS those victims were being killed one by one. And BEFORE the murderer killed himself. If just ONE of those victims who knew anything at all about guns had had JUST ONE of those cop guns, a lot of innocent people might have been saved.
I am not ragging on cops. I know they can't stop such carnage. I am trying to highlight who the true "first responders" really are; or at least should be. They would be the intended victims, when they first realize they are in danger.
Those victims are the "first" on the crime scene. They, without any 911 calls being made to the police, already know there is a major crime in progress. It does not make sense to require those "victims in progress" to phone the police for salvation as if they were ordering a pizza.
After you get the basic laws in place, the threat of strong punishment for violence against innocent people for example, then addition laws (especially more gun control laws) are nothing more than an effort to create a paper safety barrier for future intended victims of violent crime.
Those future victims need to possess the same "tool" that their attacker is using to kill those victims. They need a gun. They DON'T need a paper safety barrier. They need a steel safety barrier in the form of their own gun.
JMHO0 -
PC800 said, "I never want to have my safety fully in the hands of anyone else, including the police."
No disrespect to LEOs...
But, if that is what our laws demand of us (entrust the police to defend us) shouldn't we expect them to do more than "hunker down" with all their gear in a defensive position? Pi$$es me off to no end. Get in the fight or give the citizens the right to.
Truth is, no cop or anyone else is going to storm the building and come to your rescue or mine until the situation is evaluated and a plan formulated at which time it will be too late.
Given the choice, I'd take my chances with ANY armed CHL carrier before subjecting myself to BS SWAT tactics like we see during these unfortunate events.0 -
quote:Originally posted by BT3
That's the best thought I have heard. The student has the right ideal. The key words are licensed and qualified. He should be on every news channel with his thoughts.
Yes... but will the press let him talk???0 -
quote:Originally posted by smyrna
PC800 said, "I never want to have my safety fully in the hands of anyone else, including the police."
No disrespect to LEOs...
But, if that is what our laws demand of us (entrust the police to defend us) shouldn't we expect them to do more than "hunker down" with all their gear in a defensive position? Pi$$es me off to no end. Get in the fight or give the citizens the right to.
Truth is, no cop or anyone else is going to storm the building and come to your rescue or mine until the situation is evaluated and a plan formulated at which time it will be too late.
Given the choice, I'd take my chances with ANY armed CHL carrier before subjecting myself to BS SWAT tactics like we see during these unfortunate events.
Totally agree.0
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