If the students who were attending Virginia Tech in 2007 had been allowed to carry weapons, legally of course, on their person, could the outcome have been different? We’ll never really know the answer, but we can imagine. Let’s imagine that what happened in Virginia Tech was about to happen to a college in Utah, the only state in the Union that has allowed guns to be carried on campuses since 2004. We’ll make the setting for our scenario 2004, directly after the ruling approving guns to be carried on college campuses.
A deranged shooter is having thoughts about killing his fellow students at the campus, and reveals his intention to kill others. Before he has the opportunity to carry out his sick and twisted homicidal fantasy, he is shot by a fast thinking student who has had a permit as soon as he could get on legally. The danger has been averted, the fast thinking student is a hero, and the tragic deaths of students stuck at the wrong place at the wrong time did not happen. The institution has given the students the option for counseling to allay their feelings of being in harms way, but the ending to the story is pretty much a happy one.
Police to the rescue
The state of Virginia, along with the other 48 states, don’t allow college students to carry firearms onto the campuses. We all know the result of the Virginia Tech student with a death wish. What we’ll never know is what would have happened if the students were allowed to defend themselves.
