Sadness, Anger, Uneasiness, Sympathy

That's all I've got really, regarding the events at VaTech.

The discussion at Volokh about the validity of using events like this for discussion so soon is interesting.

You have the Brady Campaign jumping on this right away, and most likely the MSM will spin this incident in favor of tighter gun control. You have 2nd amendment advocates like Reynolds, Driscoll and others suggesting that a few armed sheepdogs mixed in with the sheep might have been able to end this slaughter earlier.

And then you have asshats like Jack Thompson (heard him on FNC this afternoon, I'm assuming it's the same guy, not entirely sure, but it fits his profile) putting himself out there as an 'expert' on school shootings. He's salivating at the notion that the shooter (or shooters, still nebulous) was a fan of violent video games. He's got his hammer, and all these incidences are nails with which to hammer home his pet obsession.

Also, Mary Katharine Ham notices that the 3 main Democratic contenders put together words of condolence messages quickly while none of the three Republican contenders had done so as of the time of her post. Do Democrats feel pain quicker? I don't think so, but I'm cynical enough to think that they comprehend that the urge to 'do something' to prevent future occurrences like this one favor their natural impulse to seek government answers for every possible problem. Just as Hildog saw the Imus mess as a perfect fundraising hook, I think all three Democratic candidates will offer 'tough' solutions on how to get guns out of the hands of crazy, determined and suicidal folks bent on doing harm.

The Republicans have a problem there. If they are true to some very basic principles that all three at least pay lip service to, they can't offer the quick easy solution of 'tougher' laws. The only path open to them is the 'pack not a herd' idea, and advocate strongly for less regulations on the law abiding to carry guns. That's a position that will get chewed to bits by the media, the play field on this issue is far from level.

There are no answers, only questions. But hopefully policy makers and school administrators won't lose perspective. Determined nuts can do great harm in a free society. The answer isn't less freedom for non-nuts. Work harder at identifying nuts, greater vigilance in seeing the incipient signs of these attacks (there's always hints, these never happen out of the clear blue), and don't overreact to each unfortunate occurrence.

We may never know all that lead to this event, the only thing we do know for sure is that the perpetrator lost sight of his humanity, and lost sight of the humanity of all his victims. That's not a new phenomenon, it has nothing to do with guns, or colleges, or bad relationships, or video games, or whatever else the press is going to push forward as 'explanations' as to what happen. What went wrong with this asshole will never be known fully, but hopefully (what little hope can be gleaned from this, this isn't a hope that offers solace for those who have to deal with the aftermath of losing someone they know) it will be one more costly data point that will help prevent a future attack of this kind.

If you know a nut that you suspect capable of this, tell somebody about it, if you are an official receiving info on a nut like this, take the warning seriously, if you are a nut contemplating something like this, get counseling, or kill yourself, taking others with you won't make your life any less pointless.

Anybody who does this kind of thing must be humiliated and trashed in every possible way in death. Part of the motivation for future acts is the build up media types give these assholes in death. I'm not blaming the media, but they could do more to ridicule, belittle and put in perspective what massive losers these assholes who do this kind of thing are. For starters, exposing their sure to be tiny genitalia for all to see would be good . . .



UPDATE:

Reading this post at Dan Riehl (hat tip Michelle Malkin) reminds me how suspicious I am of the 'grief counseling' industry. These folks are misery vultures, swooping in on incidents like this one to justify the need for their job title. My hunch is that they prolong, rather than ameliorate the agony of those dealing with their thoughts and emotions in the aftermath of mass killings. Hearing the press push the 'will there be enough grief counselors' angle at the press conference was one of the more darkly stupid moments. And, Katie Couric rushing down to personally interview folks and attend the press conference seems like an ill-advised reaction to the plagarism problems she faced just last week.