So Many Things

Illness:

First, I have been ill since Monday night (today is Saturday). I have had a temperature over 100 the whole time. Shortly after becoming ill, I read a story indicating the flu season is pretty bad this year. Really? (sarcasm heavy here)

I may edit later when I am in my right mind, but for now, here are my thoughts on some topics:

University Shootings:

There was a shooting at a University where a former student entered onto a stage in a lecture hall kind of classroom armed with a shotgun and 3 handguns and opened fire on the instructor and the students, killing 5 and wounding over a dozen.

The following is a quote from a story on MSNBC.com:

Vulnerability exposed in today’s open campuses
'Can we stop it anywhere?' The answer, chillingly, may be no

Now, I don't want to offend or be too politically incorrect...oh wait...I do.

This comment is CRAP! Can we stop a gunman well in a "gun-free zone" like a school, hospital, sports arena, etc.? No. Does that mean we should just give up and call it a day? NO!!!

I don't know how many students were in that lecture hall. It sounds like quite a few. I would guess over 100. If even 10% were armed, and if only 50% of those felt comfortable using their weapons, that would be 5-to-1 odds. Even if those 5 were horrible shots, the shooter would still have been forced to keep his head down. Nothing makes you look for cover like being shot at.

We have chosen to make these target areas where everyone knows that they can bring a simple handgun and be the most heavily armed person. The fact that we advertise this is criminal.

The best way to stop a shooter is to shoot the shooter. In places (like a recent church shooting attempt in AZ) where someone has been armed and paying attention, large body counts have been avoided. From what I can tell, the only reason there isn't a higher body count on this one is the murder's use of a shotgun. I saw numerous pictures of people who were sprayed with shotgun pellets, but not killed by them. If he had used some of his limited military training and used something with more killing power, in a group that large, body counts would have been much higher. Good for us all that he was psycho and stupid.

We created these areas where the good guys can't shoot back...where good guys can't appropriately defend themselves. Criminal.

Now, I know I'll get feedback like "what about accidents", "what about people who turn into bad guys", "what about guns (even good guy guns) going off in a crowd like that", etc.

I could go into exhaustive arguments on these topic, but I'm not going to. I'm ill and those arguments lack merit. Here's what I will say to nay sayers: I dare you to look into the faces of the parents of the young adults who just died and tell them that their son or daughter shouldn't have had the right to defend him/herself. (Don't really do that. If you are reading this and from Berkeley, I know you are on the phone already.) Your right to feel safe does not trump anyone else's right to actually be safe. If you feel differently, you are selfish in the extreme.

We created "gun-free zones" on planes. Then 9/11 happened. Now, pilots can be armed and there are Federal Marshalls to protect us. I guess we could go that route. Let the staff/faculty of a University be armed and station armed law enforcement in classes. (Can anyone see any way the last part of that is practical?)

Starship Troopers 3:

I don't know where I've been. Starship Troopers: Marauder (3) is in post-production (according to IMDB). It will be starring General Johnny Rico (once again, played by Casper). Johnny took Starship Troopers 2 off.

Now, I've never been a huge fan of the movies (other than the general "it has soldiers and guns and killing the enemy"). But, compared to the book, the movies have been bad. Really bad. The movies deomonstrate that the directors have no idea what Heinlein was talking about in his book.

So, without much information about the movie, I don't have much hope that it will be wonderful. But, I am amazed that they are still going. Who would have thought that there would be two more after the first one? Not me.


Finally, despite the fact that I was ill, my wife and I took note of the fact that we have been married for 14 1/2 years, as of this past Valentine's Day.


Well, that's all I've got for now.

Aloha.