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There is no excuse for killing innocent people. None. Why did this gunman decide to force his way into history in such a bad way?
Yeah, you probably think I am a person who does not look at reality. But, the question still remains, why?
Think about all of the anonymous and unknown people who leave comments on your blog. Sometimes I don't like the words they say, the attacks they use. I don't like it. At times, it has angered me, because I think, 'these people don't even know me.'
Yet, I don't try and find them in order to get some sort of crazy revenge. No. I cope, and I think things through and put them in the proper perspective. However, there aren't many people putting things in the proper perspective. That's obvious. Because today, around 3pm CST, at a Northern Illinois University campus lecture hall stage, a man dressed in black, opened fire on a group of people trying to get educated. Trying to learn to be better people.
This man in black robbed six people of a future, of children, grandchildren. And on top of that, he injured 16 others. Why?
I hate to write this, I'm glad one of the dead was the gunman. But, in that respect, it leaves the survivors of the dead with many unanswered questions. The key question being, why?
I don't know. Maybe this had something to do with racism. Back in December, there were racial threats written on the wall of the womens' bathroom, and the University had to shut down. Still, too many unanswered questions remain, and there are six families now planning funerals instead of graduations.
Posted February 15th, 2008 by Offbeatnews
Why?
It's almost imposible to know the "why" and try to "rationalize the reasons" the person did it. We search for reasons because we fear and hope to find a clue in preventing the next school shooting. There are statistics that seem to show patterns that help profile the shooter, but those patterns don't really help you figure out and prevent the situations from happening, because our society is so diverse and there are so many people out there, it's easy to be anonomous, upset and act out on some real or imagined grudge.
We often hear of the "reasons" being that they are angry with someone and themselves. They reject themselves and often do it as a "statement" when committing suicide. It's a hateful way to "get even" with "all the others" who "hurt, offended, rejected me". However it's important to note that these feelings aren't the only reasons people do this. Some might say, "if we show them love" then they will not do it. If we could give them all a hug. Others might say, "if they were in a meaningful/sexual relationship with someone, then they would feel connected" thinking sex is the answer. Others may say they need to have good self esteem. This doesn't account for the situations where shooters are spurned from a relationship, blame all women and go out to get revenge. Were picked on, and there's always a few out of every hundred that are cruely looked down on and teased and labelled, but many of these live as productively as they can in the fringes, even while being teased. Or even some "hate mongering" against the "west" by someone from a different culture or religion that is looking to cause terror and get even with America. You can't predict who would snap. Wackos are like a bunch of bed springs under pressure, when the pressure gets to a certain point, they may snap.
One thing certainly holds true for most of the shootings. If your in a "gun free zone" you can be certain nobody with a CCW will be present to take on the shooter at that moment. You'll be at the mercy of running away, screaming and hoping he runs out of ammo while you wait for the police to arrive. Even if you had a police officer three classrooms away, by the time he figured out where the stuff was happening and got to a classroom, perhaps 90 seconds would go by, and that's if you had a cop in every three classrooms.
There's also obsessions and strange hurtful activities that people get into that could cause them to hit a profile of being statistically able to be a killer (perhaps not a shooter). For example homosexuals compromise about 50% of the serial killers. They are involved in strange or deviant sexual behavior and may at times either from rejection, hate or even sexual linking to violence act out. Rapists will kill to hide their crime and may become serial killers as well. There is no way to "profile and figure out how to prevent" these things. In Michigan something like 3 or 4 people out of every 100 have a CCW. Who knows how many of them carry. I go to a range and at times many of the guys there, seem to have CCW's. Almost none of the crimes committed are by CCW holders. Most CCW violations, something like 15 in the state of Michigan a year are related to non-violent problems, like drinking and driving. Most of these guys seem friendly and they often state a wish that they had been present at the scene of one of these types of shootings and had an opportunity to put some lead downrange into the shooter. People who have CCW's seem to not be as fearful and concerned about "random shootings" because guns are definately not a solution to most problems, but when one is needed nothing else can solve the problem.
It's important to realize also people who do this are often affected by mind altering prescriptions drugs. Things to keep them in line. This also might be an attempt by family members to deal with strange psychotic members of their family and the drugs don't solve the problem. People who become criminals often have a bad family life and come from single parent homes or absent parents, they have no empathy for others and cannot connect with others. They may always be angry at the world, manipulative, yet smart, intellegent, and trying to cheat and get ahead. I have some young relatives that fit that description. These may be prone to smoke dope, run around with the bad crowd, sell dope, etc. They have no sense of family or community pride. There are many that fit these profiles and may be statistically more apt to snap, but that doesn't mean that a guy who seems angry will actually go out and snap.
Consider some typical strange characters I've seen. A guy who obsessively smokes at bars, talks to others randamly, and talks to people who aren't even there. This guy has always been weird. He could easily be picked out as a guy who could snap. How about a guy who is overweight, at the gun range and makes a comment that shooting a gun gets rid of stress and is better than shooting his boss, and jokes that he had a bad day at work. You may hear a lot of joking amoung your gun toting hunter friends that is purely juvinile kidding and harmless. How about guys blowing off steam saying someone should be shot at work, when frustrated? How about a gal saying I can't believe someone doesn't shoot this *fill in the blank* politician, because they are so bad? I've seen all these people, act out in these ways and none of them went out and shot anyone. Even after hearing the strange remarks they made, I wasn't under the impression that any of them was dangerous, except perhaps the chain smoker. I figure the guy at the range who made the comment was under stress and might fit a profile someday. Who knows if you say things like that to strangers, is it a joke or is he ready to snap. How about a guy who rants because his gun isn't ready in time for hunting season, swears at the gun shop staff takes his gun gets into his truck and drives off quickly? I've seen that when visiting a range. He seemed really upset and acted rudely? He could go out get a gun and go back in and start shooting. But of course there are six armed guys behind the counter, so even if he was upset, that might be a deterrent. Still if any one of the above has a death wish, they can go anywhere with a gun and start shooting until taken out by police, someone or themselves with the final bullets.
There is no "logic" to protect you. There are only a few things you can do to be a little more secure. YOu can hide from the world as a hermit. You can get a vest and wear it, as it's legal to wear a vest in most locations if you don't have a criminal history, you can get a CCW and carry and only go to locations that allow CCW holders. This leaves out states like Illinois, where free men are not free when bullets start flying, because everyone in Illinois is safe from CCW handguns. We know that the gun control crowd has protected some of us, like Illinois citizens from guns. So if you believe in gun control, you can rest assured it worked in many campus shootings. The rules keeping guns out worked well as we can see.
Of course if a maniac visits a restraunt where most of these CCW holders are eating after going to the range and decide to take out customers, you may be in for a shock. I think I'd rather be in a free state where CCW's and handguns are allowed.
Guns are not the answer to problems, and won't really solve most situations. To the maniac, violence is some kind of twisted solution and that can be done even without guns. Most classes in self defense mention and stress that a CCW type gun is often not the best and should only be deployed when it's absolutely necessary. People do need love and prayer and concern for others as well. I'm not trying to say violence or impulsive acting out will solve all the worlds problems. A rationale safe and loving CCW owner nearby can be a very comforting thing. The mainstream press rarely publishes the amount of criminals and crimes prevented by legal gun owners on crooks criminals and others. For example one NRA publication reprinted a story of a guy who was stabbing a women as she left a grocery store and poured gasoline on her and had a lighter. He didn't even have a gun. Yet a CCW owner stopped him and held him for the police, preventing her from being lit up.