Another Murder at Virginia Tech

I'm sure we all remember the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in which a student from China went on a rampage. Remember the big debate about whether or not students who have a state-issued permit to carry a concealed handgun should be allowed by the university to do so on campus?

Of course, like many universities, Virginia Tech does not allow students to be responsible for their own security, preferring to rely on campus security to keep the peace. Well here's a story that I don't think made many ripples in the national media. At the end of May, another student from China, Haiyan Zhu attacked a female chinese student, Xin Yang in the cafeteria and cut off her head.

How can this possibly happen on a campus that has already dealt with violent crime, and, presumably either improved it's security, or was already confident that the security was adequate? Well, to be fair to the university, no amount of security guards can respond instantly to every incident on campus.

The news report indicates that the couple were not alone in the cafeteria. There were other people present at the time of the attack. One onlooker said, "...he had just returned from a break at his job at Au Bon Pan in Tech's Graduate Life Center on Jan. 21 when he heard growling and screaming. He looked up to see Haiyan Zhu attacking Xin Yang."

The onlooker went on to say that,"...he dove behind the counter and called 911 while customers and his manager ran from the coffee shop. "

Why did these people run away? How can you witness a savage attack and do nothing? These are not bad people, they are not stupid people. I think the reason is that they have not been conditioned to belive that they can act against violence and prevail. They have likely been conditioned by the nanny state to give in to violence--"if I don't fight back, he won't hurt me".

How many times have you heard the victim of a mugging say, "there was nothing I could do."

The fact is that we don't know what we can do until we try. Self defense is not primarily about how big we are, how strong we are, or how well armed we are. Self defense is about having the correct mindset. It is about having that fighting spirit that says, "You will not do that to me! Even if I get hurt, or die, I will fight you until you stop being a threat to me."

Our society is teaching each generation that all violence is bad. Tell that to the bad guys because it seems they didn't get the message. We need to teach every generation that there are times when it's morally acceptable to physically hurt a person who is committing a criminal act of violence.

Surely the right to self-defense is the most basic right of all living things.