By Sean Sullivan Lagniappe columnist

I have really tried to come up with something other than the Virginia Tech murders to write about for my column. My mind wandered into penning some sort of free Joe Francis (the Girls Gone Wild mogul) from the Panama City Beach Jail diatribe. I toyed with the idea of making Francis into some sort of smut martyr and arguing his value to society, but I didn’t.

I toyed with the idea of some sort of Ultimate Fighting Championship for television pundits where they would argue a point and then slip from wordplay to fisticuffs and an all-out cage match with ax handles and brass knuckles, but I didn’t. I also toyed with the idea of writing a framework for a reality show based on people that watch reality shows, but I didn’t.

I have not been able to get the events of last Monday out of my mind long enough to flesh out any of my normal ridiculousness.

The shootings in Blacksburg have me shaking my head in sorrow and disgust. Sorrow for those that lost loved ones to the murders, and disgust that the mother government movement gained enough control that it turned a college campus into a killing field.

When Cho Seung-Hui went on his killing spree he reignited a chronic debate in this country – the push for gun control. I see the gun control question as having a “who’s job is it to take care of you?” query at its base. In my world-view it is your job to chaperone yourself unless there is a damn good reason to turn that right over to some other person or entity.

Those students on Virginia Tech’s “gun-free” campus abdicated their rights to defend themselves to the school, and the system let them down. Think about how many things the government does right or efficiently and then ask yourself if that is who you want to trust your life with?

This isn’t a rant specifically on schools protecting students or cops protecting citizens, it’s a rant on people not being able to protect themselves. Cho should have been shot stone cold dead by someone defending himself or herself early on that snowy Monday, but the law abiders were following the rules of the school and were unarmed.

I’m not calling for mandatory side arms for every citizen, but I am calling for the right of those that choose to carry a weapon to do so. Legally carrying a concealed handgun is a big responsibility and not everybody is up to it, but in so many cases in recent history, thank God some people were up to it and stopped crimes similar to the Virginia Tech massacre from happening. You are never going to stop a creep like Cho from committing the first or second murder, but an armed citizenry can damn well mitigate the subsequent killings.

I believe in my fellow citizens as a whole and I believe the power and right to defend oneself is inherent to the citizen until he or she shows they do not deserve that right. I believe in my fellow Americans and I’m heartened by, not fearful of them carrying guns.

I was taught early on that a concealed handgun was for one purpose only, to kill someone. That is not an anti-gun statement. In fact, it is a pro handgun statement. I believe people who legally carry handguns are aware and serious about that responsibility. The handgun owners, those who carry a pistol or keep one for home defense, I know are like me and hope the day never comes when they have to use the weapon. We hope our lifetimes pass without ever having to defend our lives, but we are willing and prepared to do so if the situation arises.

To wake up each day and believe that Government is responsible for protecting your life is childish. I see the citizenry becoming more childish and government-dependant with each passing election, and that is a trend that can bring an end to this greatest of experiments. The Laissez Faire mentality that led to the nation’s Bill of Rights is being polluted 230 years later by people who actually want the government to run their lives instead of staying out of them. That baffles me.

While many will use the Virginia Tech tragedy to call for more stringent gun control, to me it is a call for more Americans to wake up and take control of their own security. It’s time for the citizen to demand that our government, you know the one that exists only because we allow it, to get out of its bosses’ way in protecting ourselves.

Sean Sullivan is Lagniappe lagniappe columnist. Contact him at ssullivan@lagniappemobile.com.

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