The Vultures Come Out in the Aftermath of Tragedy

Of all the things said in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting, the one that stood out was something that Governor Keane said in the days following the tragedy.

People who want to take this within 24 hours of the event and make it, you know, their political hobby horse to ride, I've got nothing but loathing for them

In the aftermath of the latest tragedy at Northern Illinois, folks from each side of gun control issue waited about as little to try and score the exact same cheap political points, and I for one am no less disgusted this time than I was last time. On the pro 2nd Amendment side, we have several examples like this...

How many lives could have been saved at Northern Illinois University if law abiding citizens not bent on murder had been armed?Some, for sure.

Barack Obama refuses to address the issue, but instead propounds on the irrelevant issue of gun control and gun shows. Our site, as is usual for conservatives, allows the MSM or a liberal to define the issue and follows suit to discuss the irrelevant issue.

This issue is one for colleges and universities, the leaders of which are probably the most clueless, wimpy, liberal individuals in the culture. But surely one will act to protect him or her self, if not their students after so much ivy tower carnage? Surely one?

Surely one will eliminate the firearm free zones?

Surely one will publicly endorse concealed or open carry policies for teachers?

Surely the students at one college will act to protect themselves or will they remain content to be sitting ducks?

and this...

I was thinking the other day about how much I love my guns. I have six of these iron peace keepers and they are my pride and joy, particularly my antique carbine which hangs on its own special hooks in the rear window of my truck. I like to clean them, oil them, fondle them repeatedly and put them away and then take them out. I like to rub saddle soap into holsters and gun cases. In the army I could disassemble and assemble my M-14 rifle faster than anyone in my platoon.

I was very pleased the other day when presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said that there would be no problems with urban youth gangs shooting innocent people if we allowed everyone to bear arms. Those kids in the lecture hall at the University of Northern Illinois would have made short shrift of that killer if they could have risen from their seats and fired a joint volley at the gun toting nut case on the stage. Think of the surprise of the killer of the little Amish girls if the kids could have reached under their skirts and stuck 38 revolvers in his face. My son thinks everyone should own a gun or we levy a fine against them. Kind of like the Massachusetts health insurance law or the compulsory auto insurance statutes.

The other side attacked just as quickly and obscenely...here is one...

After the Virginia Tech massacure in April 2004 one would think that more would have been done to restrict the ability of unstable individuals to buy guns. It remains far too easy to buy weapons in most states and Virginia is certainly one of the offending jurisdictions in that regard. I will conceed that I have never been a gun proponent perhaps because growing up hunters regularly ignored no trespass signs on our property and made it risky for my siblings and I to go horseback riding on our property due to the hunters' reckless disregard for the rights of property owners. We often marveled that none of our horses were ever shot (I remeber reading a story once in the local paper where a person had been shot in their own back yard while feeding a pet rabbit).

Now, after five innocent young lives [the victims are pictured above] have been snuffed out at Northern Illinois University, it turns out that once again an individual with a history of mental illness was allowed under the lax gun control laws to legally buy weapons. One has to wonder how many people have to die before the NRA and other knee jerk proponents of the 2nd Amendment will admit that reasonable regulations for public safety purposes is NOT a denial of a constitutional right? There were plenty of warning signs that the shooter in this instance had psychological problems. With a child of my own away at college this type of incident is particularly upsetting. Especially when through stricter regulations it might have been avoided. Here are some highlights from the Chicago Tribune

and one last one...

After the horror that was Northern Illinois University Thursday afternoon, Barack Obama announced Friday morning that, as a constitutional attorney, he supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms, thinks it doesn't only apply to the militia, and that he also plans to use California gun control legislation as a paradigm for a national policy to contain the spread of gun violence.

But, is it really possible to have it both ways? Can one support the right to bear arms, as well as implement the kind of national gun control legislation that will stem the flood of shootings on our nation's campuses, streets, and homes? Essentially, the question is, should Senator Obama become President Obama would he be prepared to take on the most powerful, and influential, congressional lobby outside of the tobacco industry, the gun lobby?

After the spate of campus killings at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and now at Northern Illinois, there is little doubt that the former president, and his attorney general brother, Robert F. Kennedy, would be hard at work on gun control legislation now. Obama is fond of this quote from President John F. Kennedy: "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate," but is he any more ready for hand to hand combat with those who put their rifles next to Gideon's Bible in Motel 6's from Idaho to Alaska, those who are the most obstinate opponents of restrictions on the possession, manufacture, and sale of firearms?

The horror hasn't yet settled and yet already opportunists on both sides are jumping over themselves to use this tragedy to advance their agenda. That is one of the problems with being so passionate about an issue. Sometimes the line between thinking you are right and actually being right are blurred. Each side feels completely well within all lines of decency to advance their agenda because to them they don't merely think they are right, but they are right.

Given the clear and stark differences in the commentary the 2nd amendment issues are unclear, and more importantly, using this tragedy to advance them is something all reasonable people should abhor. Yet, that is exactly what folks have done and it didn't even take twenty four hours for this to happen.

To me the only lesson here, just as at V. Tech, is the tragic results of what happens when evil conquers good and takes over someone's soul. The tragic vision of death both at De Kalb and at Blacksburg before, happened because two individuals surrendered to the power of evil. That is the only lesson and all other political agendas should be put to the side, for twenty four hours at least.