Remembering VT

When I sat down to write this post it was with the conviction to write about something positive on this day of sad remembrance, but quite honestly, I"m not sure I have it in me. Today is the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, a tragedy that hit close to home. My husband and his brother are VT graduates, and our neighbor's daughter was attending the school when the shootings took place.

I remember the day in 2006 when my husband and I took a side trip and toured the VT campus on our way to visit his family. It was my first time there. The sprawling grounds, the duck pond, and stately buildings were the epitome of peace and tranquility on that calm, December afternoon. It's difficult to reconcile that image with the senseless tragedy that shook the school and the nation a year ago. My heart goes out to the families and friends of those who were injured or lost their lives in the shootings.

They say, that something good always comes from something bad.
I'm skeptical of statements that include the words "always" and "never". Certainly, I personally have experienced something good coming from something bad. If we really think about it, we all might be able to identify a silver lining in what otherwise was a bad time in our lives. Maybe it's simply too soon for me to see a glimmer of a silver lining in the VT shootings. And I may not live long enough to see one in the Holocaust or 9/11.

In the interest of looking hard for that bright spot, I'm focusing on an interesting item I ran across today that relates to the VT shootings. I can't decide if it's the beginning of a silver lining—something that might deter future shootings—or maybe just the reflection of sunlight hitting the barrels of many more guns on college campuses, possibly in the hands of others like Cho Seung-Hui, the VT shooter.

According to Green Bay, Wis.'s WFRV-TV, "the Web-based firearms and sporting goods dealer that sold a gun and accessories used in the Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University shootings is continuing his fight to give students the tools they need to protect themselves from future tragic incidences on campuses.

"Working through Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), Eric Thompson, president of TGSCOM, Inc., is sending hundreds of holsters donated by his customers and gun manufacturers to almost 30 colleges and universities for students to participate in the SCCC"s second-annual 'empty holster protest.'"

Next week, SCCC members nationwide will wear empty holsters to class to object to laws and school policies that do not allow licensed and trained individuals to carry a firearm in supposed gun-free zones on campuses.

WFRV reported that Cho used a TGSCOM Web site to purchase a Walther P22 firearm used in the shootings. Steven Kazmierczak, who killed five people at Northern Illinois University on February 14, received two 9mm Glock magazines and a holster he ordered from another TGSCOM Inc. Web site.

WFRV said, "Since the NIU shootings, Thompson has said he has 'a special responsibility to do all he can to try and prevent further loss of life.' He has become a leading advocate for allowing law-abiding, trained individuals to carry a firearm to protect themselves and the people they love.

"'I am heartened by the outpouring of support that folks from all over the country have shown for this worthy protest,' said Thompson. 'They believe what we believe: we must be vigilant in looking for solutions to prevent senseless deaths. Allowing properly-trained students to carry firearms and defend themselves and their peers on campus is a solution worthy of merit.'"

I understand Thompson's rationale, yet I also see the self-serving facet of his involvement in the endeavor: more gun owners mean more gun sales. Giving Thompson the benefit of the doubt, I imagine he sincerely wants to help atone for the fact that guns his company sold killed and wounded innocent victims.

Lest you now are thinking that I'm opposed to concealed carry, let me share a personal story. Many years ago, two men broke into my mother"s home one night. Only she and my youngest sister were there. As the intruders went around the house taking what they wanted to steal, my mother and sister pretended to be asleep. When she was able to do so, Mom opened her nightstand drawer, reached in, and pulled out a pistol her father had given my dad in the 1950s.

My grandfather was in law enforcement, and he taught my mother how to handle and shoot guns. As the last intruder passed by Mom's bedroom door on his way out, she got up, took off after the guy, flipping light switches on as she passed them. Carrying this gun, Mom—weighing all of 98 lbs.—was able to apprehend and hold the burglar until the police arrived. Granted, he didn't attempt to wrest the gun from her, but I have no doubt that had he done so, she would have shot him—or been shot trying.

There is no surefire solution to prevent criminals and disturbed individuals from gaining access to firearms and using them on innocent victims. I'm just not sure that a proliferation of weapons among those trained and thought-to-be sound of mind is the answer.