Only two days after a 23-year-old student at Virginia Tech carried out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, the perennial heated debate over gun control has already begun. While gun control advocates have been quick to decry the dangers of lax regulations in Virginia and the rest of the nation, their Second Amendment opponents are already going on a counteroffensive; rather than simply defend their constitutionally protected right to bear arms, many are already treating the campus massacre as a call to arms.
If history is any guide, no one should be surprised at the counteroffensive, which is sure to focus on broadening concealed weapons laws that allow Americans to carry guns beyond their homes or cars. That is precisely what happened in Texas 15 years ago after an unemployed merchant seaman crashed his truck into a Killeen cafeteria, took out his gun and killed 23 in what until Monday was the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Carrying the banner in 1991 for gun owners' rights was Suzanna Gratia Hupp, a chiropractor, mother and horse rancher who was eating lunch with her parents when the gunman crashed his truck through the cafeteria's windows. The family barricaded themselves behind a table, but as the slaughter went on, Hupp's father said he had to do something and he charged toward the man. Her father was shot in the chest, and as he lay dying, his wife of 47 years crawled towards him to cradle his head. The gunman then shot and killed her.
During the mayhem, Hupp had reached into her purse for her .38 Smith & Wesson, but realized she had left it in her car, afraid that carrying a concealed weapon in public — then against the law in Texas — might endanger her chiropractic license. Having watched helplessly as her parents were killed, Hupp lobbied relentlessly for a 1996 concealed weapons law, now one of 48 such state statutes on the books across the U.S.
Hupp went on to serve as a state representative for 10 years, but she now lays some of the blame for the Virginia killings at the feet of politicians. "I am saddened and sickened, my heart hurts for those people — I've been there," Hupp said.
"But at the same time I am angry — even with the sadness — because this was largely preventable on the scale that it happened. The politicians haven't figured it out. They have created gun-free zones, and all of the dreadful things that have happened were in these gun-free zones."
Virginia, like Texas and other states with concealed weapons laws, prohibits gun owners with concealed weapons permits from taking their guns into certain public places — usually bars and restaurants where alcohol is sold, courthouses, schools and campuses; 38 states currently ban weapons on school campuses, and 16 on college campuses.
By making some places off-limits, Hupp said, the government is preventing Americans from protecting themselves and their families and has "taken on the responsibility and liability that goes with it."
In fact, in January 2006 the Virginia General Assembly rejected a bill that would have allowed students with concealed weapons permits to carry their guns on campus. The bill was pushed by the Virginia Citizens Defense League after a Virginia Tech student with a concealed weapons permit was disciplined in 2005 for bringing a gun on campus. The bill, opposed by Virginia police chiefs and the university itself, never made it out of committee. "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus," Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hinckner told the Roanoke
Hinckner's words are now echoing around the web, highlighted on gun rights websites and in e-mails . . .
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Originally Posted by rstickle
