Reviewing tragedy in 20/20 hindsight

The wake of the NIU shootings brings armchair quarterbacks with 20/20 hindsight.

One team of QBs will shout "we need more gun control laws" while the other team "we need concealed-carry laws."

What if these two teams are equally correct, and equally wrong, and the game ended in a tie? The students are still dead and still no victory.

Did you, as I, notice that almost all the wounded survivors were shot in the back? I wonder how many fewer deaths and injuries would have occurred if the students chose not to pull out concealed carry weapons and try to load them, or pull out their cell phones and dial 911 en masse, tying up cell towers.

What if the entire class picked up their books, cell phones, iPods and water bottles and began pelting the shooter as he fired his first shot, rushing the stage rather than the exits?

This shooter was able to calmly reload his weapons and then killed even more.

How much longer will we simply sit back in our armchairs and watch others be slaughtered on the news, in video games, TV shows, movies and even in-utero, without fighting back?

Having inculcated our society with a culture of death and debauchery, are we surprised at what such inclusion and diversity of beliefs has wrought?

Larry Jankowski

Des Plaines