UT Shooting: Everything’s Bigger in Texas

I’m not sure if the media’s grabbed onto this morning’s shooting at the University of Texas library because A) it happened in Texas, B) the U of V shooting has everybody spooked, C) UT has something of a history with shootings, or D) two or more of the above. But latch onto it they did.

For the record, all the details are still coming in. What we know so far is that the perp walked into the Perry Castaneda Library on campus, went to the sixth floor (what is it about “sixth floors” and Texas?) and began shooting with an “automatic weapon.” (Could be anything from a semi-auto pistol to a full-auto AK-47. We don’t know, and reporters are notoriously dense about the differences between semi-auto versus full-auto and pistols/carbines/rifles/shotguns.)

Apparently, our little nimrod went in to the library, began shooting indiscriminately, with his(?) big finish, where he offed himself. Genius.

Conflicting reports indicated that the shooting began outside, with the shooter dressed in black and carrying…you guessed it: an AK-47. (What . . . no duster?)

The entire campus is “locked down.” Note to law enforcement: I get the lockdown, but doesn’t that turn a “target rich environment” (a.k.a.: “gun-free zone”) into a bunch of sitting ducks?

There may – or may not – have been a second shooter. Police are investigating.

All of this confusion is completely understandable. Adrenalin and memory don’t mix any better than drinking and driving. You could do something sensational (the streaking fad of the 70’s comes to mind) and ten witnesses would give you ten, wildly-inaccurate descriptions of the perp.

I’m waiting to hear the words “assault rifle” in the next round of reports over this idiot. Not sure what this guy’s motivation might have been (Stanislavsky he wasn’t.) If you’re gonna commit Hari Kari-by-AK, why shoot up the joint first? Then again, if assassination/cold-blooded murder was your thing, why shoot yourself first? (There’s an Aggie joke in there somewhere.)

All in all, this sounds like you’re garden-variety, run-of-the-mill college shooting. And if the previous sentence doesn’t give you pause, then congrats, Bunkie, you’re officially inured to reality.

You see, violence IS inevitable. What the anti-gun geeks don’t grok is that if you could take away all the guns, then you’d have to move on to knifes, baseball bats, small statues, crowbars, tire irons, et cetera. (I can hear it now: “baseball bats don’t kill people, batters do!”) However—and this is one BIG HONKIN’ HOWEVER—the way we deal with violence in our society—specifically guns—needs a radical rethink.

Statistics prove that states where citizens can legally carry have lower crime rates than states where it is difficult or impossible to get a gun. It’s also pretty apparent that close to the statistically-improbable 100% of recent Mass-Shootings By Nutjobs (MSBNs) have taken place in what the Left likes to call “gun-free zones”: schools, hospitals, and military bases (and isn’t THAT ironic). Perhaps if we eliminate these gun free zones, these places won’t become the next killing fields.

As a confirmed “less government = best government” kinda guy, I’m loathe to propose the Feds doing ANYthing more than they already do. However, if they are duty-bound to be intruding into our lives, I’ve got an idea for them that might actually make things better.

Pass a law whereby every citizen over the age of 21 who is not a convicted felon or judged to be mentally ill must take a gun safety class where they learn how to shoot and safely handle a gun. And I mean EVERY citizen who qualifies. At least that way, when some idiot starts ranting about how we should make the entire country a gun-free zone, they will have had the benefit of having shot a gun in practice, and not leave their knowledge of guns to stem from reruns of Starsky and Hutch. Just sayin.’