Young Woman Decapitated at Virginia Tech
Yesterday (Thursday, January 22, 2009), a young woman was decapitated at Virgina Tech with a kitchen knife (via The Associated Press). She was a foreign student who had arrived less than three weeks prior to her death.
How could no one notice some guy taking a kitchen knife to a woman’s neck until after she had been murdered? I don’t propose to know the exact details as to how to go about decapitating someone with a kitchen knife, but I’d imagine it isn’t a quick and easy process. Plus there is the fact that this took place in the campus cafeteria. There is little doubt in my mind that, just like at FAU, the cafeteria is never truly empty.
Is the reaction to this disturbing story going to be similar to the reaction after April 2007? Are we going to see groups spring up about banning knives from college campuses, in the same way that anti-gun groups sprang up shortly after the shooting? While we’re at it, there should be anti-pencil groups, since those too can injure others; what about anti-paper groups, since we all hate those damn paper-cuts.
Statistics all seem to show that bad people are going to do bad things with whatever tools are at their disposal. It is a well known fact that England has a complete and total ban on firearms. Despite these draconian measures, and in all probability because of them, there were “277 stabbing deaths in 2007-8” (via BBC News). Clearly, removing firearms from the law-abiding citizens of England has failed to protect them from individuals with less-than-friendly intent.
Just as an artist wouldn’t be denied a brush; just as a doctor wouldn’t be denied a scalpel; law-abiding citizens shouldn’t be denied the tools they need to protect themselves, and potentially protect others.
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