The American Spectator

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In the Face of Evil

4.18.07 @ 12:01AM

GUNNING FOR THE SECOND
Re: John Tabin's A Disarmed Campus:

Tucker Carlson had the wisdom to say on MSNBC that there is nothing at the core of the massacre; the acts are senseless and meaningless.

It reminds me of Walker Percy's novel Lancelot (which actually came true to some degree in the making of the film Hurricane). The main character was searching for an answer to the evil with which he and the world are afflicted. When the author has the main character come upon the fact of a man having sex with a teenager, the author informs us through the mind of the main character that there is nothing there. In the book, the Lancelot quest for the answer to moral evil echoes the answer of St. Augustine: Evil is nothingness, evil is a mystery, evil is incomprehensible. One can note the word "diabolical" also: it means "tear apart." Evil fragments meaning and community. God and the good are "symbolic," in the sense that they bind communities together with meaning.

The rest is silence.
-- Richard L.A. Schaefer
Dubuque, Iowa

John Tabin hammers the X-ring with his observation of Virginia Tech's defenseless student zones, known euphemistically as "gun free school zones."

Second Amendment rights and the desirability of licensed concealed carry without limitations of "defenseless student zones" aside, there is one other consideration in the present circumstance that appears to gain zero attention. That would be how the Left's success in secularizing our country has nurtured a mindset that makes it possible to escape the consequences of mass murder by committing suicide, whether by one's own hand or "by police."

As a God fearing Catholic, and not a particularly good one at that, I do understand that murder/suicide is the one unforgivable sin on the books. The act of suicide is not escape, but rather a deliberate leap into an eternity of pain and suffering that renders any disappointment or provocation of mortal life infinitesimally trivial in comparison. The certainty of such punishment puts the affairs of mortal life into perspective, thus allowing one to tolerate what might otherwise have been considered intolerable.

It is that perspective that was lost, if it ever existed, on the Virginia Tech killer and the Columbine killers.

America does not need any legislation to impress the above perspective. That is not the role of government. But it is the role of our moral "leaders," who have apparently abdicated their responsibilities, in pursuit of other not so holy grails, to their immense shame.
-- Frank Natoli
Newton, New Jersey

Congratulations on reaching a new low in political opportunism and sucking up to the NRA.

In his commentary, "A Disarmed Campus," Tabin attempts to draw a connection between the tragedy that occurred yesterday at Virginia Tech and the common ban on concealed weapons on college campuses. Tabin actually laments that state legislation which would have allowed students with concealed handgun permits to carry guns on college campuses, died in subcommittee.

Tabin goes on to state that "thirty-two people are dead -- not including the shooter, who committed suicide -- and at least fifteen are injured. Mightn't a law-abiding armed student have stopped the spree in its tracks? We'll never know."

The suggestion that allowing students to carry licensed concealed weapons on campus could have prevented yesterday's tragedy is predictably ludicrous, if not downright irresponsible. Are you suggesting that students carrying guns should consider themselves deputized in the case of similar emergencies? Do you really think that allowing college students to carry concealed weapons at college sporting events and fraternity parties will actually decrease the number of on-campus shooting incidents?

You are all dangerous fools.
-- Joe Flahtery
Boise, Idaho

Mr. Tabin asks, "Mightn't a law-abiding armed student have stopped the spree in its tracks? We'll never know."

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