Editorial: Massacre at Virginia Tech

Editorial: Massacre at Virginia Tech

Cleveland, OH - The national sense of anguish over the horrific mass murder of students at Virginia Tech was only barely underway when the predictable chorus of critics and finger-pointers began their tiresome refrain.  

Why, they cried, were the students not adequately protected on their college campus? What is wrong with today's society that spawns such murder? And, then ultimately, the demand for tougher gun control and greater security measures so that everyone is kept safe from harm.   There was some validity in the initial criticism - campus cops obviously screwed up when they didn't shut down the University after the initial shootings. But in the understandable search for answers to a crime like this, we need to control our tendency to search for someone other than the perpetrator to blame. We must accept the fact that sometimes individuals go crazy and become killers. And, that frequently there is nothing anyone can do to stop individuals bent on murder. And, we also need to discourage ourselves from blithely demanding greater and greater security measures. Mindful that they come at the price of less and less freedom.  

It was a senseless and terrible thing that happened at Virginia Tech. For once, let's grieve for the students and their families and leave the recriminations for another day.