Yes, "Good Morning America" did let us hear from a member of the VA Tech gun club saying he wished he could have had a concealed carry permit and "that I would not have felt that I was totally just a helpless victim at the mercy of this lunatic." But when it came to people in positions of authority, GMA, during it's first half-hour this morning, aired only the views of anti-gun advocates in a segment on how Cho got his guns. And a senior ABC reporter passed along the lament of those opposing the right to bear arms.
Narrating the segment, ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross [file photo] rolled a clip of Josh Horwitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, who complained: "Virginia's [attitude] is let's sell it and not find out anything about them and that may have led to a tragedy in this case."
That, of course, is palpably untrue, as Virginia like all other states subjects handgun buyers to a background check. That was done in this case, and Cho, who had no criminal record, apparently purchased his guns legally.
Later, NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly seemed to be shocked by the Second Amendment. Speaking of Virginia's approach, he complained: "It is, quite frankly, an easy state in which to buy a weapon. The philosophy is that it appears to be an entitlement to own a handgun."
Well, yes. There is an entitlement. It's called the Bill of Rights. To paraphrase one of Rush's incomparable parodies: the Second Amendment -- yeah, it's in there.
Ross closed the segment by lamenting our constitutional rights: "The fact is, until he stepped on the campus with his weapons, everything about Cho's purchase of those two guns was entirely legal under current U.S. And Virginia laws. Some say, Diane, that's the scandal."
Scandalous, that darn Constitution.
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.
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Evening Newscast:If Virginia
April 18, 2007 - 07:48 ET by rightsideEvening Newscast:
If Virginia had only voted to not allow firearms on campus, this would not have happened!
Excuse me, I have just been handed a memo.
It seems that firearms are not allowed on campus.
In other news, George W Bush is responsible for todays shooting spree at VT... Film at eleven.
Here's a question for the Libs...
April 18, 2007 - 07:55 ET by c5thenWhy doesn't the Don Imus scandle mean that we should pass laws that restrict the freedom of speech? Do they really believe that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, or do they think it's a kind of "guide line" that we can refer to if we want?
If you listen carefully, you
April 18, 2007 - 07:57 ET by richflanjIf you listen carefully, you can hear him muttering "Damn that Bill of Rights!!"
"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." --Hubert Humphrey
What I don't get is how: 1.
April 18, 2007 - 08:03 ET by sarcasmoWhat I don't get is how: 1. his roomates could call the cops on him at least once due to his stalking behavior/weirdness, 2. his teachers could say the things they've said about his mental health, 3A. the mystery-doctor who has no name could prescribe this nutcase 3B. the mystery-antidepressant that also has no name, and still the wonderful background check system put in place by the Brady Law somehow DOESN'T have this loon's name flagged when he legally buys a gun, twice. Does anyone else see massive blame-shifting here from the mental health "professionals" to the gun industry & gun owners, or is it just me?
JMR
Couldn't esist
April 18, 2007 - 10:54 ET by CGatton"...is it just me?"
It's just you.
Sorry, couldn't resist. :o)
R/
Clyde
"...the aspirants to tyranny are either the...men of the state, who in democracies are demagogues,... or those who hold great offices, and have a long tenure.." - Aristotle, Politics, c350BC
In what store can you purchas
April 18, 2007 - 08:06 ET by Gat New YorkIn what store can you purchase cocaine with or without a license? The answer is in no store. But it is far easier to score an ounce of cocaine on the street than it is to purchase a handgun in a store. The point is that in a free market and open society there is always going to be a black market for anything that is banned by law. So blaming the VT massacre on this person’ ability to purchase a handgun is inane.
I read a profile of this person this morning and it was truly frightening. Any clear thinking individual who truly wants to avoid another tragedy like this has to look at three issues:
1. how we deal with mental illness.
2. campus security issues
3. the right to privacy versus the safety of society.
This person displayed evident mental illness in high school as well as in VT. It was evident to his teachers and to his classmates. But was this ever told to his parents and were effective means to help him pursued with vigor? Or are we too afraid of individual rights to pursue such a path?
Hey, something was done. A
April 18, 2007 - 08:16 ET by sarcasmoHey, something was done. A mystery doctor prescribed the nutcase a mystery-dosage of mystery antidepressants & sent him on his way, and we're not allowed to know anything more about it because this is clearly supposed to be about guns and not profitable legal drugs, no matter what the facts...Antidepressants, come to think of it, are probably much easier to get than either an ounce of blow or a 9mm pistol these days.
JMR
Vulters
April 18, 2007 - 08:22 ET by E4PukeI live right by this guys parents house. You should see the media vans parked outside his parents townhouse with 4 story cameras mounted on them just waiting for his parents to come out. All this so they can scream at them questions and post that on the evening news. Oh no too much effort to give them a little time to grieve or even avoid the public shame that is no doubt to come over the actions of their son. No they are just waiting outside to scream at them when they come out like freakin vultures.
Parents
April 18, 2007 - 08:33 ET by misterbillI entered a post a few minutes ago about the loss of the students, staff and their relatives. I omitted the parents of the young man who perpetrated this horrible, sad crime. While I believe in the rights of the Fourth Estate, there ought to be a moratorium on their invasion into the sadness of these poor parents life. I can think of only one greater horror a parent can suffer than losing a child to violence. That one greater horror is to be the parents of the person who committed this crime. I guess I would not make a good reporter, for I feel these parents should be left alone by the press so that they can try to cope with the loss of their son and the horrible deed he has done.
May God help them in their time of sadness.
Agreed. And if those media-
April 18, 2007 - 08:41 ET by sarcasmoAgreed. And if those media-hoardes need something to do today, may I suggest the mystery-doc who prescribed the mystery-dose of the mystery-antidepressant (if not the mystery-company making/selling said mystery-antidepressant) as alternative targets for a bit of journalistic attention??
JMR
Yes, blaming the instrument o
April 18, 2007 - 08:46 ET by dscottYes, blaming the instrument of destruction instead of the "person" who used it is inane. I heard on the radio this morning that this incident was not the worst mass killing at an institution of learning. It was back in 1927 in Bath Township Michigan, 45 students and teachers were killed - not by a gun but bombs.
Instead of violating everyone's rights by banning guns under the presumption of guilt, how about having people involved in group settings take a psycological test to determine if they are "at risk" of mental instability and then give them results oriented counseling, monitoring and supervision if necessary. Of course such an action could be abused by PC authorities. The problem here is our lack of trust in a government run system that typically has no real accountability until they are caught screwing up and that after years of prodding and suing in the Courts.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius
I was listening to this press
April 18, 2007 - 10:03 ET by Gat New YorkI was listening to this press conference and what dominated the conference were this person's mental health issues and why more was not done. I never saw so many academics run for cover because at the end of all of it was his rights. This guy was an atomic time bomb and it is now evident that his explosion should not have been a surprise given the fact that he was a month away from graduation and about to confront the real world which he was not prepared for. I'm not a psychologist - just a parent - and I could figure that out.
What I love about this is t
April 18, 2007 - 10:22 ET by sarcasmoWhat I love about this is the fact that someone filled this nutcase up with dangerous mystery-drug(s?) from an un-named but politically ultrapowerful pharmaceutical company and -- of all people here -- I'm about the only one that's ranting about it...
JMR
Sarc, Apparantly not everyon
April 18, 2007 - 10:27 ET by MightyMouthSarc,
Apparantly not everyone here smells the rat that you do. Doesn't mean there isn't a rat, just maybe your "sniffer" is better than most.
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
Never unestimate the nose of
April 18, 2007 - 10:34 ET by dscottNever under estimate the nose of a beagle. ;-)
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius
I think people may be under
April 18, 2007 - 10:41 ET by sarcasmoI think people may be underestimating the political contribution power and ad-buying power of the pharmaceutical industry. The political contribution power is hard to see unless you're a politician and they're giving to the other side, but the ad-buying power should be obvious to everyone here, not just me. I mean, just how many times does Sally Field have to try to sell us all PRESCRIPTION bone drugs (and I won't even mention the constant commercials for boner drugs!) for people to understand that big pharma just might have a bit more media-pull than a firearms industry which literally buys 0-ads? Sheesh, to me it's obvious like a dead skunk in the middle of the road or a '70s paper plant's odor was obvious!! This isn't exactly brilliant insight, it's more like the "duh file." Grrrrr....
JMR
He was supposed to be taking
April 18, 2007 - 10:29 ET by Gat New YorkHe was supposed to be taking anti-depressants. It's not clear what kind or if he was actually taking them. But stuffing a kid with pills and thinking that is the solution to this is path of least resistance for the college and the doctors. His writings, his set a dorm room on fire, his stalking girls, his bizarre interpersonal actons (or lack of) with teachers and students should have demanded much more action on the part of the college get this kid help and isolate him out of the student population. Like I said, this is not an issue of gun control. It is an issue of how we deal with mental health and how that conflicts with protection of rights of people.
Is this what you're talking
April 18, 2007 - 10:37 ET by Challenger GrimIs this what you're talking about?
Couple of things:
If it's unnamed, how do you know which drug company it is and how politically powerful it is?
What possible motivations would the doctor or drug makers have to spark an event like this?
If the drugs are a mystery, how do you know they are dangerous?
Also, I should point out that what doctors prescribe and what patients take can vary by wide margins. The killer could have overdosed, underdosed, mixed his medicine with other drugs (THAT is a big no-no if you don't have the all-clear from your doc), etc. Believe me, mom's a nurse and dad's an EMT so I always hear lectures and horror stories of people doing such things. It will take some time to unravel whatever drug cocktail might be running through the crazy's system so some of us might be waiting for more details.
What I did today.
No, I'd never seen the link
April 18, 2007 - 10:52 ET by sarcasmoNo, I'd never seen the link. Did the shooter have writing on his arm or something?
I know whichever drug company is powerful, because these days any drug company that's left is politically-powerful. They must be powerful to survive, due to increased government involvement in medicine. The doctors' motivations are to say they did something without doing anything time consuming or difficult, and filling this nutcase with drugs fits the bill perfectly. The drug company is motivated by profit, just like the media that wants to put the emphasis on firearms rather than people who buy loads of ad-time. The drugs are dangerous because the correlation between said drugs and school shootings is so strong that I was able to predict either "religion of peace" or "antidepressant drug user" on this site BEFORE it was revealed. Go research various other school shootings if you doubt me.
And I'd love to wait patiently for details if I could trust 'em EVER coming out despite the financial interests of the media I already outlined, but I can't due to previous school-shooting mediabias experiences. So far, we've got all sorts of details on the firearms and 0 details on either the name of the drug or the name of its prescriber, and I've felt the need to point that out, repeatedly, to a clueless media via this site.
JMR
instead of limits
April 18, 2007 - 11:42 ET by tumbler_2007Isn't the Left constantly bleating about high cost of drugs; our citizens deserve lower-priced prescription drugs, we're the only country in the world without ample drug availability to the poor, etc., etc., --?
Let's elect Hillary. She'll provide plenty more at lower prescription prices. (And ban hand guns in the bargain.)
As I already said, it's lik
April 18, 2007 - 11:48 ET by sarcasmoAs I already said, it's likely the shooter had an easier time getting himself prescribed antidepressant drug(s?) than he did either getting the 2 guns or than he would have had somehow getting an ounce of coke. All Hillary would do is slightly-increase government involvement to a full 100%, but I doubt this dude personally paid a cent for the mystery antidepressant(s) from the mystery-doctor under the current system.
JMR
Hillary would have ensured th
April 18, 2007 - 12:00 ET by Gat New YorkHillary would have ensured that no one has guns. So instead this guy would have set off some molotov cocktails and Hillary would ban alcohol and matches. So instead he would have bought fertilizer and made a bomb and Hillary would then ban all fertilizer. So instead he would use box cutters and Hillary would ban all eating utensils and stationary supplies. The issue is that this guy was over-the-line disturbed and should have been committed and separated away from the student population. The problem is that everyone was afraid to take responsibility for what was necessary and were concerned what the ACLU would have done.
Ross
April 18, 2007 - 08:07 ET by pocomocoTo liberals, the Constitution is An Inconvenient Truth.
I love that line! I’m going
April 18, 2007 - 08:22 ET by USA4freedomI love that line! I’m going to use it the next time I have a argument with my A$$ hole brother-in- law.
These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc.
Ronald Reagn- 40th Anniversary of D-Day
poco,Bingo!Excellent line....
April 18, 2007 - 10:52 ET by bigtimerpoco,
Bingo!
Excellent line....so true too.
i wonder
April 18, 2007 - 08:10 ET by E4PukeI wonder what would happen if the right wing used crap like this to push a pro capital punishment platform. Probably be eviserated by media pundits calling them ghouls. Oh wait a minute wouldnt that make them hypocrites?
Dose anybody really believe
April 18, 2007 - 08:29 ET by mlongDose anybody really believe that "tougher" gun laws would have stopped this nut?..he would have got a gun some way or found some other way to kill as 9/11 proved....if you want to kill a lot of people you don't necessarily need a gun to do it.
Depends on what kind of law
April 18, 2007 - 08:37 ET by sarcasmoDepends on what kind of law and what kind of tough. Last year, a VA Tech student was disciplined under VA Tech rules for peacefully bringing a gun to class with a valid state permit. As ye sow, so shall ye reap. Prediction: Even the supposedly-biased Fox News ain't-gonna be lookin' up that punished-student any time soon, if ever.
JMR
As I had said the price we pa
April 18, 2007 - 10:37 ET by Gat New YorkAs I had said the price we pay for a free and open society is that there will always be a black market for things that are banned. So it is always a question of not controlling the commerce of things we ban or controlling things we allow. This guy would have been able to get his guns even if we outlawed guns entirely. if not he would have used molitov cocktails or box cutters or created a bomb from fertilizer. On the otherside of the argument if students were allowed to carry guns in dorms I am afraid that would not have saved the lives of the first two people he killed. The issue is mental health and how we deal with people like this killer when proessional people know, and have known for years, how incredibly disturbed he was and how dangerous he could be.
The real scanal
April 18, 2007 - 08:33 ET by c5thenThe real scandal is that the NYC Police Commissioner is apparently completely unfamilier with the US Constitution.
It's disingenious for the moo
April 18, 2007 - 09:00 ET by NoMoreClintonsIt's disingenious for the moonbat to say "let's not find out anything about them" before they are sold a gun. Virginia does require a backgrund check by the state police. However, I don't think guns should be sold to anyone but legal U.S. citizens, not foreigners.
The Constitution
April 18, 2007 - 09:13 ET by iveseenitallHow convenient the Constitution is for the liberals. In matters of our freedom, only they can interpret it correctly. And the sickening morons are almost always wrong. America is a "free" country because of that wonderful document. If they are allowed to change that, we are doomed. Now the Constitution is a scandal???? I can't stand these s.o.b.'s.
NEVER,NEVER trust a liberal
I believe it was jonah gold
April 18, 2007 - 09:50 ET by Challenger GrimI believe it was jonah goldberg who pointed out that the Bill of Rights is a fundamentally undemocratic document. And we all know how much liberals profess to love democracy...
What I did today.
An ironic unrelated news item
April 18, 2007 - 09:09 ET by ghotifunAn ironic unrelated news item is that the mayor of Nagasaki, Japan was shot and killed in Nagasaki. Japan has not allowed personal firearm ownership in more than five decades.
Kind of shoots (pardon the pun) down the notion that gun ownership by the law-abiding is primarily responsible for gun violence...
MSM
April 18, 2007 - 09:17 ET by pocomocoThey say! Some say! It is said! Just who the hell is saying all of these sayings?
Daily, we hear about the ‘Theys’ in global warming, gun control, and a myriad of other subjects put forward by the MSM.
To be sure, the MSM use such phrases as a copout, because there are no ‘Theys’. It’s just a convenient mechanism used by people like Ross in an attempt to convince viewers to believe that, ‘see’, others feel the same as I do.
To liberals, the Constitution is An Inconvenient Truth. (me)
"They" is We, the MSM
April 18, 2007 - 09:47 ET by Mr. TerryThe "They" of course, is "We, the MSM"...
I have gotten to the point th
April 18, 2007 - 11:38 ET by SouthJersey1953I have gotten to the point that I HATE to hear "some say." Katie started it, and it seems all the other talking heads have since picked it up......
Later in the same report, Rob
April 18, 2007 - 11:44 ET by SouthJersey1953Later in the same report, Robin was interviewing the English tutor. Robin asked her if she felt there was anything that could have been done to possibly prevent this from happening. Remember, this professor had just spent the past few minutes talking about how crazy the guy was and she feared he would do something one day. Part of her answer on what could have been done to prevent it was (paraphrased) "If they had a law against carrying guns on campus..." (duh - they DO! - and Robin didn't correct her) or if they banned handguns in the state." ARGHH!! She had just described the nut job and how she was afraid every time she was with him and she thinks that gun control would have solved it? Listen lady, if Cho didn't have a gun, he would have used a knife. Should we also ban knives?