24 February 2010

Amoklauf Aborted in Colorado

In Littleton CO, in the shadow of Columbine, a loser with a rifle decided to go on an amoklauf yesterday. He appeared in a middle school parking lot, asked some kids if they were students, and shot them. They'll live. It's at this point that some people suggest that the only remedy is for someone to shoot the shooter. Only guns, they say, can save us from guns. But a teacher demonstrated that the best defense against an amoklaufer is a combination of courage and a cool head. He stopped the shooter by tackling him, another brave person joining in after he took the initiative. David Benke is a math teacher and a track coach, not a cowboy. He didn't put his trust in the power of a weapon, but did the right thing himself. People get called heroes almost indiscriminately these days, but when the people of Littleton use that word for Benke, they're right.

3 comments:

hobbyfan said...

Read about it this morning. Benke's a hero, and the gunman is likely to end up in a padded cell while they try to figure out the motivation for this assault.

There are too many losers out there who think a gun---any kind of gun, mind---will solve all their perceived problems.

If it hasn't happened already, most schools need to have a staff psychiatrist to go along with the school nurse to attend to the downtrodden "misfits" before they end up taking this same dark path.

Anonymous said...

I agree but disagree. There are too many losers out there. There are too many people in general who think someone else is to blame for their problems. There are too many guns and too many of them end up in the hands of losers who blame others for their problems.

hobbyfan said...

And a lot of those "losers" started as scapegoats targeted by school bullies, right? The vicious cycle rolls on......