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Va Tech student speaks out

bellbw

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I got this from combatcarry.com posted by user Miggy

Unarmed and vulnerable

Bradford B. Wiles

Wiles, of New Castle, is a graduate student at Virginia Tech.

On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building."

Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.

It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself.

Please realize that I am licensed to carry a concealed handgun in the commonwealth of Virginia, and do so on a regular basis. However, because I am a Virginia Tech student, I am prohibited from carrying at school because of Virginia Tech's student policy, which makes possession of a handgun an expellable offense, but not a prosecutable crime.

I had entrusted my safety, and the safety of others to the police. In light of this, there are a few things I wish to point out.

First, I never want to have my safety fully in the hands of anyone else, including the police.

Second, I considered bringing my gun with me to campus, but did not due to the obvious risk of losing my graduate career, which is ridiculous because had I been shot and killed, there would have been no graduate career for me anyway.

Third, and most important, I am trained and able to carry a concealed handgun almost anywhere in Virginia and other states that have reciprocity with Virginia, but cannot carry where I spend more time than anywhere else because, somehow, I become a threat to others when I cross from the town of Blacksburg onto Virginia Tech's campus.

Of all of the emotions and thoughts that were running through my head that morning, the most overwhelming one was of helplessness.

That feeling of helplessness has been difficult to reconcile because I knew I would have been safer with a proper means to defend myself.

I would also like to point out that when I mentioned to a professor that I would feel safer with my gun, this is what she said to me, "I would feel safer if you had your gun."

The policy that forbids students who are legally licensed to carry in Virginia needs to be changed.

I am qualified and capable of carrying a concealed handgun and urge you to work with me to allow my most basic right of self-defense, and eliminate my entrusting my safety and the safety of my classmates to the government.

This incident makes it clear that it is time that Virginia Tech and the commonwealth of Virginia let me take responsibility for my safety.

The Roanoke Times _________________
 

ParaWarthog

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bellbw wrote:
I considered bringing my gun with me to campus, but did not due to the obvious risk of losing my graduate career, which is ridiculous because had I been shot and killed, there would have been no graduate career for me anyway.
Hard to argue with that.
 

HankT

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ParaWarthog wrote:
bellbw wrote:
I considered bringing my gun with me to campus, but did not due to the obvious risk of losing my graduate career, which is ridiculous because had I been shot and killed, there would have been no graduate career for me anyway.
Hard to argue with that.

That's because the it's set up as a false choice fallacy.
 

Reverend73

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Well, its quite simple my friend. Conceal carry your firearm. If its properly concealed, no one will ever know, and its there if you need it. I carried my firearm nearly every day while attending UF, which is a criminal offence, but I didn't care, my life is worth more than a simple misdemeanor. Suzzanna Hupp said it best (i'm paraphrasing) " I would rather be sitting in jail with a felony conviction and have my two parents alive than to make the choice to leave my firearm in the truck like I did that day (ie the Luby's massacre) "
 

HankT

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Reverend73 wrote:
Well, its quite simple my friend. Conceal carry your firearm. If its properly concealed, no one will ever know, and its there if you need it.

This can be a rational solution, carrying concealed, but you mustkeep it a secret.

God help you if you are ever discovered, though, other than in a justified self-defense situation. Even then, there is some risk and cost.

You must evaluate:

The benefits of carrying concealed less the detriments of being discovered less the detriments of using the gun in an unjustified manner.

If the result of your evaluation produces a sufficiently positive quantity of benefits (or more likely, an acceptably negative quantity of benefits), then you have a rational basis for carrying concealed in violation of the laws/policies/rules, etc.
 

Reverend73

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Agreed. My thoughts were as long as noone knows, it will not be an issue. There were never any searches or metal detectors or anything, so that was a non issue.
 

HankT

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Reverend73 wrote:
My thoughts were as long as noone knows, it will not be an issue.
Secrecy is paramount when violating the law/policies/rules, etc.



Reverend73 wrote:
There were never any searches or metal detectors or anything, so that was a non issue.
It would be a poor assumption to make thatthat wouldbe true in the future. The risk of discovery in the future is probably different from what it was in the past.
 

Toad

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I view it this way....
My child can never be replaced period! I can replace lost money do to the expulsion of my child, however it would most likely be the 'sKool' replacing that money after court lets out. I don't care about any BS misguided policy because my child is not a line item and I will not allow some ignorant fool of an educator tell me otherwise.
Concealed means concealed.
 

LEO 229

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ParaWarthog wrote:
bellbw wrote:
I considered bringing my gun with me to campus, but did not due to the obvious risk of losing my graduate career, which is ridiculous because had I been shot and killed, there would have been no graduate career for me anyway.
Hard to argue with that.

I have to agree with Para....

There are always other options. Plus.. why not take a chance and live??
 

openryan

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pretty sick that it has to be this way, especially when the faculty is agreeing with his point



on a side note, did anyone else hear about the kid in chicago who got kicked out of school, he was also chineese or japanese, very disturbing paper, i can find a link if you guys havent heard yet
 

LEO 229

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openryan wrote:
pretty sick that it has to be this way, especially when the faculty is agreeing with his point



on a side note, did anyone else hear about the kid in chicago who got kicked out of school, he was also chineese or japanese, very disturbing paper, i can find a link if you guys havent heard yet

What was the reason for kicking the Asian kid out?

Ya.... It is a shame you have to go out armed. I am ALWAYS armed. One reason I love being a LEO... I do get to carry in more places and states vs me having a CC permit.

I need to get my wife back into shooting. She has her permit but stopped carrying. I feel better knowing she is armed and can shoot if needed.

We are normally together all the time but I do worry when she is out alone. Too many sick people out there now.
 

BobCav

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LEO 229 wrote:
Too many sick people out there now.

Exactly, but why is that? The population hasn't doubled since I was a kid, yet crime and the number of "sick people" has increased tenfold! What other social factors could have caused that increase and has anyone studied it?

Of course gun control has increased and it is an enabler, but that can't be the only cause. There has to be a criminal, a victim, means, motive and opportunity. Removing guns from citizens certainly increases the odds in the criminal's favor, but it's not the whole picture. I have a gun with me every day, what then makes the criminal feel they can do what they do? I'm not talking about the individual criminal mind, but the social criminality that seems to prevail today. That general feeling by a large and growing part of society that doesn't live by the rules and lives life with no consequence.
 
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