The Virginia Tech Mass Murder and the Debates on Gun Control

All over the US, people are troubled by the loss of 31 students of Virginia Tech U following a rampage by another student, Cho Seung-Hui, also deceased. 32 students died in the shooting. May these young souls rest in perfect peace. May the Lord grant their families the heart to bear these irreplaceable losses.



People should understand that violence is not a way to solve problems. Violence is only going to aggravate things. It is very irresponsible and cowardly to try to settle a dispute with an unarmed person with violence.

A lot of argument is ongoing on many websites about whether or not guns should be allowed in private hands. I have followed some of these arguments, and even engaged colleagues in some. Both sides are passionate about their convictions. The one I have followed most closely is on NVS. (Link 1, Link 2) Both parties, arguing for and against Gun Control, have some valid points, but we have to think of what is realistic in America. Gun Control should not be about stopping responsible citizens... people who have been declared stable by psychoanalysts, social workers, spiritual leaders, Crime experts… enough to carry firearms. Private ownership of firearms do have their advantages that often go unreported.

Below is a story that 1) shows how private ownership of firearms saved a situation 2) A gun violence involving a Nigerian.

A Tragedy Compounded
Jim Oliphant
Legal Times
06-20-2002


Peter Odighizuwa is an accused murderer, sitting in a jail cell near Roanoke, Va. And to some watching his case, that's only the beginning of who he is and what he has become.

To them, he is also an example of the difficulties Nigerians face in assimilating to the United States. Or a reason why immigration to this country should be curtailed. Or a lesson in why it is safer for American citizens to have guns.

In trying to understand, explain, and perhaps exploit the three murders that Odighizuwa allegedly committed earlier this year at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va., lobby groups and cultural critics have made an example of the 43-year-old Nigerian former law student. His case has become a platform for the pro-gun forces and the anti-immigration front. It also has Nigerians in this country closely examining the pressure and frustration that come hand-in-hand with the immigrant experience.

In January, Odighizuwa, after failing out of the law school for the second time, allegedly returned with a semiautomatic weapon and shot and killed the school's dean, former Justice Department official L. Anthony Sutin, a professor, and a student while wounding two others.
[…]
In his letter to the judge, Odighizuwa says he wants his case moved from Buchanan County because of concerns about "my race, ethnicity and national origin." Negative publicity makes a fair trial in Grundy impossible, he writes.
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Prosecutors have vowed to pursue the death penalty.
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When Odighizuwa allegedly went on his shooting rampage Jan. 16, the incident didn't look much different from similar horrifying events at schools across the nation.

But two things have worked to set this episode apart: Odighizuwa's nationality and the controversy over the manner in which he was apprehended.

Odighizuwa's Nigerian background has played into the hands of far-right critics of America's open immigration policy, such as Warrenton, Va.-based VDARE, which, on its Web site, says "the white West welcomes losers and misfits like Mr. Odighizuwa into its midst, pretends they've assimilated, boasts about the 'diversity' we're creating and ignores any and every indication that they don't belong here and that their presence endangers others."
[…]
The students, Tracy Bridges and Mikael Gross, […] ran to their cars and grabbed weapons when the shooting started on the second floor of the law school.

They, along with two other students, approached Odighizuwa in front of the law school. Bridges and Gross both told reporters that they raised their guns at Odighizuwa and he dropped his weapon, after which the group tackled and handcuffed him.
[…]
"This is a good example of what happens often," says Patricia Gregory, a spokesperson for the National Rifle Association. "What gets the national coverage is that this nut went into a law school and killed people. But this guy was not a law-abiding gun owner, and he was apprehended by lawful gun owners. It's the NRA story."

John Lott of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in the District, says that there were more than 280 stories on the Grundy shootings during the week after the incident, but only four carried details about the law students being armed.

Lott, who studies issues involving media reporting and firearms, says the successful defensive use of guns goes frequently unreported, but says he isn't sure why. "The bottom line isn't why it's done, but the impact it has on people," Lott says. "You rarely hear about the benefits people have with guns. It colors people's views of what can be done."

Aaron Zelman, executive director of the Wisconsin-based Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, is more certain. "It's not by accident that it's not getting reported," he says. "The powers that be don't want people thinking in terms of taking the law into their own hands."
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