The real lesson of Columbine

[panzermk2wife]

http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle- ... -Columbine" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The real lesson of Columbine
April 20, 9:12 AM

Several of my colleagues are today observing the tenth anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.

As we look back on that terrible day, many Americans try to sort out what led to the event, and what might be done in the future to prevent another such tragedy.

The answer is alarmingly simple, and nobody is going to like it.

We cannot prevent more Columbines. There it is. If we could, there would have been no Virginia Tech. The shooting at Red Lake High School in Minnesota would not have happened. We would never have read about the shooting at Northern Illinois University.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and its state-level colleagues at various “CeaseFire” groups argue that “closing the gun show loophole” will help. That’s preposterous and they know it. While Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris obtained at least a couple of guns from an adult friend who legally bought them at a gun show, in the years since, none of the gunmen who shot up any school or shopping mall has gotten his guns from a gun show.

People call Columbine the worst school massacre in the country’s history, but that’s also a lie. Nobody remembers the Bath School bombing in May 1927 in which a disgruntled school board member named Andrew Kehoe blew up the Bath Consolidated School and killed 45 people, most of them elementary school-age children. He used dynamite, and he didn’t get it at a gun show.

The perpetrator was school board member Andrew Kehoe, who was upset by a property tax that had been levied to fund the construction of the school building.

Can we take steps to minimize the likelihood of future Columbines? Sure.

Step One: Abolish gun-free school zones and those insidious “zero tolerance” rules that victimize and demonize students who are now afraid to talk about hunting, target shooting or competition; rules that prevent teachers or administrators from having a firearm. Instead of firing those teachers, fire the Chicken Little administrators and replace the school board members – and their attorneys – who cling to zero tolerance and gun free zone mandates as substitutes for common sense and courage. (I wrote about this with co-author Alan Gottlieb in our book America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age)

Assistant Principal Joel Myrick stopped a school gunman at Pearl, MS on Oct. 1, 1997 – 19 months before Columbine – by rushing to his car, grabbing a pistol he had there, and confronting gunman Luke Woodham, who quickly surrendered rather than get shot. Myrick hardly gets mentioned these days because he used a handgun to stop a killer, much the same as the armed students who interceded at the Apalachian Law School shooting are essentially ignored.

Step Two: Schools should pin medals on students like Jacob Ryker, the hero teen of Thurston High School in Springfield, OR in May 1998 – 11 months before Columbine – who understood quickly “from his own experience with guns” that teen gunman Kip Kinkel had run out of ammunition and tackled him. Ryker was shot in the melee, but he got in some good licks on the little scumbag before the authorities arrived and took Kinkel into custody. Schools should encourage other teens like Ryker, they should offer classes in firearm safety and hunter education as part of the curriculum.

When his rifle ran out of ammunition and Kinkel began to reload, wounded student Jacob Ryker—recognizing from his own experience with guns that Kinkel was out of ammunition (and understood that this was the best chance to stop Kinkel)—tackled him, and was soon assisted by several other students.

Step Three: Instead of marginalizing gun owners and groups like the NRA, the news media needs a philosophical overhaul, after which it should marginalize gun prohibitionists and groups like the Brady Campaign. For decades, we’ve tried it their way with increasingly strict and intolerant rules that border on the insane, and all we have to show for it is a list of tragedies and a body count.

It should be noted for the record that, like school board member Andrew Kehoe, who murdered his wife before committing his atrocity, Woodham killed his mother and Kinkel murdered both of his parents.

What we learn from Columbine and other shootings is that gun control groups exploit such tragedies for their own political ends. They pretty much dance in the blood of the victims to push an agenda that may, but usually does not, have anything remotely to do with the crime they are condemning. Their goal is disarmament -- victim disarmament, if you will -- and they don't seem to grasp the fact that if people are caught in imminent life-threatening situations and cannot fight back, they frequently die.

The “real lesson of Columbine,” if there must be one is that we should have taken a lesson from Pearl High School and Thurston High School.

Alas, gun-phobic school administrators and teachers, and gun-hating politicians, continue with their heads in the sand, and other dark places, enforce a philosophy and defend laws that haven't worked, and that will only give us more of the same.

[fatherfoof]

Well written indeed.

[Rapier1772]

Brooklyn teacher threatens a columbine style shooting spree:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/201 ... mbine.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Brooklyn high school teacher was held Saturday on $100,000 bail after prosecutors revealed she had threatened a machine-gun rampage that would be "Columbine all over again."
Three teachers heard her mention bringing a machine gun to school beneath a trench coat before she warned it would be "Columbine all over again," prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Andrew Stoll asked for Milo's release without bail, insisting she was no threat to anyone.
"She does not own any firearms," Stoll said. "She needs to be medicated."

also at http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/04/02/ ... ne-threat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tparty]

Hmm...there ought to be a law. Wait! Aren't machine guns already illegal for civilians to own in New York?

http://opencarry.org/machinegun.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Doesn't sound like a law abiding type to me.

[Reverend Herc]

I feel like we are in a world filled with stupid people....

[M1P90]

More SAD news! Shooting rampage: former student opens fire at Rio school
Violent criminals PREFER unarmed victims.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/shooting-ra ... netimes_ft" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[M1P90]

:furious: Just found out the shooter believed in "The Religion of Peace".
Jihad Comes to Rio: Muslim Kills 12 @ Kids School, Cites Islam in Suicide Note
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/35530/ji ... cide-note/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ospy]

I totally agree! I would like to also throw something out there that I believe nobody will like. I'm probably going to get beat up for this. This really extends outside of school too. I believe that crimes like this that happen everywhere could also be reduced if dumb ass bad guys going into places like malls to shoot people had a better idea of how likely their plan might fail. We had a kid a few years ago storm into the Tacoma mall and just started shooting people. An armed citizen with good intentions but unfortunate tactics tried to stop the shooter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Mall_shooting" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My way of thinking (and I may be wrong here) is that most of these cowards don't want to go to the mall for a gun fight. They don't want to go ANYWHERE for a gun fight. They want to perform their maniacal plan and sometimes put a bullet in their own head to achieve their perceived hero status. I don't think any of their crazy plans include a gun fight.

I believe if on one marked day on the calendar, if every CCL holder began OPEN carrying (in the states that allow this). My thinking is that after time public places will have a new perception by criminals as places they don't want to start trouble. As it is now, these dumb kids look at a shopping mall as being filled with adult women with children and sometimes their husbands sulking along. What we have here is building full of victims! They have no idea that many of those shoppers are armed! I believe if they did, they'd rethink going in there to start trouble.

You know, most criminals have a problem with authority, like the police department. You don’t often hear of these kooks going into police precincts to start trouble. Why do you suppose that is? Look at the Virginia Tech massacre. A great No Tolerance Gun Free Zone. A perfect place to start shooting people uninterrupted.

We need more people trained to use guns. There are a lot of hand gun owners out there that don’t carry. There are probably a lot of conservatives and liberals that might get on board with owning, getting training and carrying a hand gun if they could be convinced of the good it would do for society in general. They have to lose this perception that more people carrying guns means more gun fights and accidental shootings. I can’t remember the last time I heard of an accidental shooting from a honest citizen carrying a gun. This plan would also include Getting rid of NO TOLLERANCE gun free schools. Teachers should be allowed to be trained to carry a gun and let people know they are, by open carrying a gun.

I do realize that this does open Pandora’s box. Let me be clear! Honest Citizens’, Hand gun training, open carry and ALL AT ONCE. This open carry date would not be done secretly, but publically. Of course for this to happen, the media would be red faced mad about it. The state governments would get involved. Holy Crap! This whole plan would make a lot of people unhappy and would surely be the main talking points on the nightly news for a while. However, I believe gun owners have become timid and we NEED TO TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!

[murphies_finest]

tries not to be a sheeople

[Adjuster]

I think open carry is a good idea.

I have watched how folks respond to open carry, totally legal in Idaho, and it's interesting.

Especially when you are riding a motorcycle. If I have open carry, a pistol on my hip, nobody rides up my tail, or changes lanes into my path.

It's funny actually to ride with someone who's clearly armed. The people around you suddenly have tons of respect for the rules of the road.

A more civil society results.

Imagine that.

[tparty]

It's actually very simple: An armed society is a polite society. Just look at New York city...

[Cyberfly]

It's actually very simple: An armed society is a polite society. Just look at New York city...

A truer statement has never been made.