Killing in name of stupidity
Campus Times
April 23, 1999
Nothing can ever get so bad that one has to commit suicide. Nor can
any situation get so desperate that a shooting spree is the only answer.
Littleton, Colo., was the host of the latest school killings in a long,
recent list of shooting incidents. This time, however, the murderers were
much more vicious and violent in their planned attack Tuesday.
After the last bullet had been shot and the final pipe bomb had been
detonated, 14 students and one teacher of Columbine High were killed and
another 23 seriously injured. Realizing what was ahead of them, or as part
of their plan, the two gunmen turned their weapons on themselves and took
their own lives, ending a four-hour affair, which once again shakes out
what is wrong in our world.
The two murderers were outcast by their peers. They were part of a small
group of students that wore black trench coats and, fittingly, was called
the "Trench Coat Mafia."
If the two killers were alive to even try to justify the killings, what
would they say? What would they offer as motives?
Perhaps, something along the lines of "They always picked on us,"
or "We did not belong," or "They always made us feel inferior."
That is a cheap way of dealing with issues of every day life. If I could
have sent an old fashion telegram to those two idiots who went on the shooting
spree, it would have read something like this:
Socially challenged,
Welcome to the real world. Stop. You cannot please or get along with all
of the people all of the time. Stop. Life is not a video game, it is real
and very fragile. Stop. Hope this recommendation to a psychiatrist helps.
Stop.
Yours,
Greg MacDonald
Although I had no chance to send them that, those two jokers still should
have never had the opportunity to do what they did.
Two reasons clearly come to mind when thinking about how the situation
could have been avoided.
The first method as to how to avoid a shooting gallery is to have security
guards on staff. At the University of La Verne, uniformed officers can be
seen patrolling the campus during peak hours. Going back a few years to
my high school days, I remember Monrovia High School had security officers
at every entrance to the school, so students could be questioned for any
tardiness, or in this case, prevented from entering the school heavily armed.
The second fool-proof plan of gun control on campuses is just that-gun
control. The last time I checked the calendar, it was April of 1999. Now,
if this were April of 1899, then maybe I would agree with arguments as to
why guns are needed.
But this is a civilized world in which we live. No longer does the average
citizen of the United States of America have to hunt for dinner. Have not
heard about it? It is this really cool place called a supermarket. Say it
with me one time: supermarket.
Protection is not an argument when it comes to gun control because,
to steal a cliché, guns do not kill people, people with guns kill
people. So to subtract guns from the equation would be to limit the ability
of stooges like those two in Littleton to kill.
While driving to ULV on Tuesday afternoon, I was listening to sports
talk radio. And instead of asking Ricky Williams about the recent NFL Draft,
the host, Newy Scruggs, asked the Heisman Trophy winner about the tragedy
in Colorado as his first question. So the ripples of the incident stretch
far into our world.
Maybe we should take this as an indication and watch what we say to
people because the spoken word can be damaging. It caused those two students
to find peace in violence.
However, to think violence and killing are justifications is absurd.
Many families were crippled with the pain of a murdered child, so for that,
those two murderers should have been around to take responsibility for their
actions. Then maybe, just maybe, they would have realized that nothing is
ever that bad.
Greg MacDonald, a junior journalism major, is editor in chief of
the Campus Times. He can be reached by e-mail at gmacdona@ulv.edu.
