Exposed: Virginia Tech officials took care of themselves after ensuring the kids in their care could not

By Jim Irvine

New evidence about the 2007 Virginia Tech killings shed new light on the arrogance and hypritical stance of University leaders. The murder of 32 students was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history until the Ft. Hood massacre last month and remains the worst school shooting ever on U.S. soil.

Virginia Tech is no stranger to violence. They had two shootings in the 2006-2007 school year. A student worried about the possibility of another shooting asked school officials to reconsider their "no guns" policy. School officials not only rebuffed and mocked that request, they also cheered the defeat of a bill that would have allowed their students to defend their own lives with a gun on campus.

Soon after, in the middle of a killing spree, when their concern should have been focused 100% on the very students they rendered helpless, school officials focused on themselves and their families, waiting over an hour to share information with the students who would soon die.

From the Associated Press:

Some Virginia Tech officials warned their own families and the president's office was locked down well before a campus-wide alert was issued in the 2007 slayings of 32 people, according to a revised state report that details new fumbles in the response to the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

One student survived several hours after being shot without anyone notifying her family until she had died, said the updated report, released Friday.

At least two officials with a crisis response team called their family members after the first shootings at a dorm and about 90 minutes before the all-campus alert was issued at 9:26 a.m.. The president's office was locked down at 8:52 a.m. and two academic buildings were also shut down before the general alert.

Not just any officials, but at least two that were part of the "crisis response team" called their family members but did nothing for those who were soon to be murder victims. The president's office was quickly locked down, but he didn't find time to even let his students know about the impending danger. He obviously cares a lot more about himself than his teachers or students.

It is widely accepted that nothing is more stressful than the loss of your child. Grieving parents now know that the officials whose job it is to protect those in their care, ignored logic, student requests, and a wealth of evidence in defending their victim disarmament policy. Now we know they didn't even take the time to notify those precious youth who they themselves rendered helpless, of a threat so great that officials secured themselves then called their own family. Nothing could be more disgusting

Virginian Governor Tim Kaine called the actions of school officials "inexcusable." "If university officials thought it was important enough to notify their own families, they should have let everyone know," he said.

To illustrate just how little they cared for the people in their care, consider Emily Hilscher, who was shot in the dorm lived for hours in a hospital. Officials never took time to notify her family of her condition until after she died. What would you give for five minutes with your daughter in that situation?

Again, from the story:

While new details were added and other portions were corrected or clarified, the original report's conclusions and recommendations weren't revised. The first document was critical of communications failures, privacy laws and other factors, and issued suggestions on improving campus emergency procedures and notification systems, mental health regulations, and gun purchase reporting requirements.

Unashamed, Virginia Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski is quoted as saying that "none of the new information merited changes to any of the recommendations in the original report."

Why would they change anything? No university leaders were killed. It is frustrating that the study seems more concerned with the rules that criminals are breaking instead of focusing on the rights of potential victims and how an active killer is stopped. Rather than focusing on "gun purchase reporting requirements" they should focus on single person response. The quicker a person (usually a civilian) responds with a firearms, the quicker the killing stops. Ron Borsch calls it the "clock of death." On average someone will die every 20 seconds until armed response stops the killer. If only a teacher or fellow student were permitted to be that person, many lives could have been saved.

Virginia Tech should allow students with concealed carry licenses to carry on university property. They might even offer classes on firearms, martial arts, or other methods of self-defense. They could be proactive and take steps to discourage killers from trying to commit crimes on their campus. Sadly university leaders continue on the same course that lead to 32 deaths – protect themselves, scoff at students, and make the killer's task as safe as possible.

In a university where the school president and crisis management team secure their own safety and make personal phone calls while a mass murders kills their students, are still employed two years later, it is pointless to think change will come voluntarily. The Virginia legislature should immediately pass legislation granting students with right to carry licenses the authority to carry their guns on campus. Every other state should follow suit. We don't know how to detect and stop this crime before it happens, but we do know how to stop the killing quickly. Banning guns is the problem, not the solution. Changes are needed now, or the blood of those lost will be in vain, and that would be a tragedy as great as the university leaders indifference.

Jim Irvine is the Buckeye Firearms Association Chairman.