Remarks given at the VCCS Campus Safety Forum

Annandale, VA, 9 October 2007

· INTRODUCTION: Student at NVCC, second time around. First one was in the early 1980s. PTK in 1982, might’ve been 1983. IT professional, downtown. Army veteran. Been shooting since age 8, carrying since 1995. Starting NVCC chapter of SCCC.

· VCCS POLICY: “FIREARMS AND OTHER DANGEROUS WEAPONS
Bringing firearms and other dangerous weapons onto campus is prohibited. It is a violation of the rules to carry weapons or to leave them in a car parked on the campus. The only exception applies to duly sworn Commonwealth of Virginia police officers. While civilian-attired police officers have the authority to carry firearms, they must do so by keeping them concealed so as not to alarm others.”
“So as not to alarm others”???!!! Are the denizens of Academe, then, so pussilanimous that the mere sight of a weapon, will cause them a fit of the vapors? Do tell.

· GUN-FREE ZONES: Are, essentially, meaningless without airport- or courthouse-level security. Virginia Tech is, at least for students and faculty, a gun-free zone. Didn’t bloody work, did it? Cho was a student. Didn’t he realize he was supposed to check his guns at the police station? How many people will be willing to spend their money at an institution that strip-searches them at each building entrance?

· “FEELING SAFE”, as opposed to actually doing something for one’s security, is an example of “magical thinking”. To think about, and prepare for something, is to bring it about. Therefore, blot it from your mind. Expel the K-12 student who draws a picture of a Buck Rogers raygun in the margin of his paper. Do not, by any means, actually do any effective preparation for attack.

· PERMIT CARRIERS: I’m in about the middle of the bell curve. I’ve been through 30 background checks, give or take, since 1995. Most recent was my permit renewal in August. FFX County shoots 60 rounds for score, once or twice a year. I average at least 200 a month. Been shooting since age 8. Been carrying since 1995. Been through the military, and several NRA courses.

· WHO STOPS SHOOTERS? At Pearl Mississippi, it was the Principal, who ran a quarter-mile to where his truck was outside the gun-free-zone. He then stuck a gun in the face of the shooter, and held him for police. At the Appalachian School of Law, the shooter was stopped by two students… who had retrieved guns from their cars. At the Edinboro, PA graduation dance, the shooter was stopped by the restaurant owner, with a shotgun. At Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City, the shooter was stopped by an off-duty, out-of-jurisdiction cop, who’d ignored the mall’s “No Guns” signs. Ever notice that mass shootings take place in “gun-free zones”?

· IN THE EXTREME: When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. Good luck to the Tech victims’ families, in suing the police for nonfeasance. They’ll lose. “No duty to protect”… Lockdowns? How about hollow core doors, and drywall classroom partitions? The bottom line is that we are responsible for our own protection.

· PREPAREDNESS: I carry a first-aid kit. I have a couple of kits in the car. Got a fire extinguisher. Keep my FA and CPR certs up to date. Got a survival kit – food / shelter / warmth – in the car. In the same vein, I carry a gun. I have one in the bedroom, too. I sincerely hope never to have to use any of it. On the other hand, it is better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

· WHAT TO DO? I encourage all present to join SCCC, at concealedcampus.org or concealedcampus.com. Turn out, in two weeks, for the Empty Holster Protest, the week of 22-26 October. Lobby your delegates for a preemption bill, like Utah’s. Do NOT settle for an emergency plan that consists of, “Cower under your desk, and bleat like a lamb for mercy”.