Virginia Tech

So many thoughts come to mind – so many emotions surface. I feel great sorrow for those grieving and am thankful that I am not one of them. Not that I don't feel grief, but I was fortunate enough to have not been directly affected by this tragedy. I'm sure I know someone that is affected by it, but I haven't heard anything yet. I grew up in Roanoke and a lot of the kids I grew up with went to Tech. I'm sure others have children at Tech by this time and I can't imagine the anxiety of the events unfolding and trying to find out if your child is OK. I know I gave Chloe a few extra hugs last night.

In this time of great confusion and sorrow there is much to be thankful for though. We're lucky, very lucky that he didn't get his hands on explosives. I can't imagine how much worse it could have been if his destructive ambitions had been greater. We’re also lucky this wasn’t perpetrated at a local public school – less capable of handling this type of situation. We're lucky that some were brave in the face of danger and that some were able to flee to safety. We're lucky that the officials at Tech and the law enforcement personnel acted as quickly and professionally as they did. I'm tired of hearing about the two-hour delay in communication and the questions as to why the campus wasn't locked down. How do you communicate with 26,000+ students and 10,000+ employees in a timely fashion without creating panic? How do you lock down a campus that is 2600 acres, over 100 buildings and more than one half commuters? All of the critics are the ones that wouldn't know what to do in the heat of the moment, but can look back on it and pretend they would have done better.

Oh, and by the way. Gun laws don't prevent criminals from committing crimes. This is another case in point. Guns are illegal on the Tech campus and this individual broke the law in order to commit his crime. I think consideration should be made for legislation in Virginia allowing higher education employees to carry concealed weapons with campus police notification. I wouldn't mind and I'd even consider doing it. Events like this make me wish I did/could. I'm a responsible, law-abiding citizen and an experienced gunsman. Why not?