Are “Gun-free Zones” Barrels of Fish for Shooters?

Tennessee Moves to Allow Guns in Public Buildings

NASHVILLE — In a surprise move, a House panel voted today to repeal a state law that forbids the carrying of handguns on property and buildings owned by state, county and city governments — including parks and playgrounds.

“I think the recent Virginia disaster — or catastrophe or nightmare or whatever you want to call it — has woken up a lot of people to the need for having guns available to law-abiding citizens,” said Rep. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains. “I hope that is what this vote reflects.”

Personal Reflections

Some personal reflections:

I was just thinking about the time I spent working at the Owens Dining Hall at Virginia Tech.  I looked up some information and discovered that "the Hokie Grill" located there reopened in Aug. 1997 after being renovated.  I'm sure that is the time I was there.

If you go to this link and look around the inside of the room, you can see the salad bar I and a few others installed that was built by the shop I worked at at the time.  We actually did quite a lot of work in there that you can't see--all the countertops, all the cabinetry behind the counters and at the checkouts, butcher blocks in the kitchen, decorative trash can enclosures, trim mouldings, etc.

I liked working at that place because it's so attractive, so beautiful, and (ironically today) so peaceful.  Also I happen to know that my grandmother's first cousin, who was a stone mason extraordinaire, was a foreman on the crew that built some of the many stone exteriors of the buildings on that campus.

Obviously my connection to the campus is not as strong as that of many others, but I can't help thinking about that stuff anyway.  I guess I'm still just trying to digest the enormity of this horrifying incident, and I can't imagine the emotions that must be going on within those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy.

An Incredible Story of Survival

From the Collegiate Times comes this incredible story of survival:

Monday, April 16th 2007 5:27PM
Students react to the tragedy
T.Rees Shapiro, CT Staff Writer

Erin Sheehan was one of four people able to walk out of her 9:05 German class in room 207 Norris Hall.

"It's a small class, about 25 people," she said. "And I would say no more than 2 people didn't show up, were absent. And of those of us that were in there today, only four of us walked out of that room, but two of us had been injured during the shooting," Sheehan said.

"It seemed so strange," Sheehan said. "Because he peaked in twice, earlier in the lesson, like he was looking for someone, somebody, before he started shooting. But then we all heard something like drilling in the walls, and someone thought they sounded like bullets. That's when we blockaded the door to stop anyone from coming in."

"He was just a normal looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout type outfit. He wore a tan button up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something."

"I saw bullets hit people's body," Sheehan said. "There was blood everywhere. People in the class were passed out, I don't know maybe from shock from the pain. But I was one of only four that made it out of that classroom. The rest were dead or injured." She described.

"My professor, Herr Bishop," Sheehan said, "I'm not sure if he's alive."

Philip Kai Seward, who started a Facebook group back in August about the William Morva incident described his closeness to the events of today.

"I started phoning around to some of my friends," Seward said, "And eventually I got in touch with Erin."

"She told me she was one of just a few people to make it alive out of a class room that got attacked."

"I picked her up from the Blacksburg Police Department just a while ago, but when she first told me what had happened I thought it was all a bad joke," Seward said.

"It was all just a surreal moment," Seward said. "When I realized it wasn't."

According to a CNN report by Jeanne Meserve, Erin Sheehan survived by lying on the floor, playing dead.

More Unconfirmed Details Trickling Out

From Sky News:

“Witnesses said he entered the college looking for his girlfriend.  According to one, he had an ‘ungodly’ amount of ammunition on him.

“He reportedly lined up students and opened fire at them.  He was said to be a young Asian.”

VA Tech Notices

Evidently the VA Tech server is down, but you can find their notices posted here.

Correction: These postings are from the college's newspaper.

This Just Keeps Getting Worse

It is now reported that the number of confirmed dead in this horrible shooting is 32.

More on the Blacksburg Shooting

Fox News Channel is reporting that a student told them one gunman came onto the campus looking for his girlfriend, lining up the students and shooting some of them execution style.  This is absolutely unbelievable.

Also, the reports are now saying that at least 22 are dead, including one of the gunmen.

Shooting in Blacksburg

The local television news is reporting on a tragic shooting in Blacksburg on the campus of VA Tech, which will doubtless bring national news coverage.  I'm in shock as I'm listening to the current reports of 20 students dead in an apparent random shooting.  That count may or may not increase as the news reports progress.  It is also being reported that one gunman has been apprehended and that they are still trying to apprehend a second gunman.  This is unbelievably tragic, horrifying.

Edit: Correction: I just heard reported that one of the gunmen is dead, though it is unclear whether he shot himself or whether he was shot by the police or someone else.