A Las Vegas Shooting Victim Story, and What to Do?
One sad story from the Las Vegas shooting is a young local
(Manhattan Beach) middle school special ed teacher, Sandy Casey, photo below. She leaves behind a fiancée, family, many
colleagues at her school, and a whole class of special ed students. It would be difficult for even normal
students to process, but as the Daily Breeze reported, a former colleague said “Some
of them are going to be the least able to process it because of their
challenges.” Multiply that ripple effect
by the some 60 dead and over 500 injured – over 40 still in critical condition,
so some more may die. Truly an evil act by one depraved individual. But the many stories emerging of heroic and
selfless acts to save others, and the outpouring of love and support by the Las
Vegas and broader community shows the greater goodness.
These types of events of course beg the question of what can
be done. Predictably, immediately
Hillary Clinton and the Left focus on the guns and background checks. But this guy passed all background checks,
and purchased the guns legally. But then
illegally modified them to shoot full automatic. The guns used in the Paris mass shooting, and
others in Europe (e.g., Norway), were also illegal – so the laws didn’t
help. And gun deaths in Chicago are
about the worst in the nation despite the strict gun laws there. Others on the Left such as a CBS VP have
stooped so low as to deplore the shooting victims as despicable, gun-toting,
NRA-supporting types who basically deserved it (stereotyping country music fans), as was said by others
about Texas hurricane victims deserving it for being Nazis who voted for
Trump. But the facts are that by far the
greatest number of shooting deaths are suicides, and by handguns.
Another approach is greater psychological background checking
for mental illness. The GOP Congress
worked hard on, and I believe passed, such legislation. But the Newtown shooter got the gun anyway. But in the end, prevention comes down to
values held by our people, and the values promoted in our society. Which are only promoted by faith-based
institutions, and within families. The
problems are in part a reflection of the decline in faith, and family – such as
this loner. But this isn’t going to turn
around quickly.
In the meantime, what can be done? It occurred to me the same day, and I heard
it repeated by a talking head or two, that at large venues such as that
concert, which are inviting targets for would-be mass murderers/terrorists,
that a single veteran military sniper, hired for the evening, could have cut
the carnage short in a minute or so. A
quarter-mile kill shot for them is a piece of cake (I read “American Sniper”). Snipers
are deployed strategically for presidential appearances. One could quickly locate the shooter with
acoustic sensor(s), observing the muzzle flashes (which some did), and the
broken-out windows with curtains flapping.
Then, too, the hotels could have glass-break sensors in each room (I
know some home security systems have them), and quickly identify where someone
breaks a window, and send security. It’s
sad that we have to keep adding security beyond our TSA at the airports, but
that, unfortunately, is the world in which we live. Until enough people have had enough to change
it. Or else we let the terrorists win,
and just avoid large public venues, air travel, etc.
Comments
Post a Comment