I thought I’d share a story that illustrates the both a gaping hole in the anti-cc argument, and yet another reason why campuses as a PFZ make no sense.
A year after Virginia Tech, so the spring of 2008, I was finishing my last semester at Michigan State. I was in a class in Berkey Hall, an enormous four-story stone building built in the 20’s with classrooms, offices, and lecture halls. I was in a class of about 30 people on the second floor when someone decided it would be hilarious to light off a string of firecrackers in the hallway on the first floor.
Having spent enough time around both guns and pyrotechnics, usually I can tell the difference between the two. However, when you hear them echoing off stone walls and tile hallways from some distance, it’s hard to tell the difference. Add to that the recent thoughts of massacre in the back of your head, any you’ll convince yourself real quick that you just heard gunshots.
And that’s what everyone did; all of the sudden we were all on the floor scrambling for cover. My professor was literally running around like a chicken with her head cut off, having had no training for such a situation (and being an English professor in her late 70’s likely didn’t help).
So there I am: on the ground trying to cover the girl next to me, waiting for some kid to come by and execute me. I can tell you there is no greater feeling of helplessness. And where was my gun? Sitting at my house half a mile off campus, because the law says I can’t be trusted to carry it in the classroom.
Happy ending, it was a prank. There was no gunman, and no one got hurt. But it raises an interesting question; the antis always say that you wouldn’t be able to stop a gunman anyway, and they even rig studies to show it, but what about the second classroom. The gunman at Virginia Tech shot students in 5 separate rooms, and I’m pretty sure after room one they knew something was coming.
So here’s the question: even if it’s not possible to stop the killing of that first group (and that’s a big if) what about everyone else?