The Real Variable
An excercise I often use when looking at physics problems is to blow them up to their extremes on each side. It helps me to visualize things. For instance when I’m thinking about vehicle collisions and mass vs. speed I picture a crotch rocket vs. a semi truck. I find this helps with a lot of problems: You take one point of the equation and examine the polar opposites and evaluate the different outcomes.
Now, lets apply this to the Virginia Tech shooting situation, but we’ll use age.
For the sake of argument we’ll presume a number of even variables betwen two different groups. There are no legal firearms present, and the strength of the victims is roughly equal. I would hazard a guess and say that your average 16 year old is about as strong as your average 72 year old. That is, at least on paper.
Any young whipper-snapper knows that going up against an older man leaves you at a disadvantage. In my youth we termed it “old man strength.” Some of us experienced it first hand.
So, let’s think about this one: A man breaks into a room of 30 16 years old and opens fire. What happens? Well, we’ve seen what happens there, ala Columbine, and it’s pretty much a free-for-all for the gunmen.
Think the same would happen with a group full of 72 year old men? Sure, they lack the strength, on paper, to do much more than the 16 year olds, but theyv’e got experience working in their favor.
It’s been said, “Never fight an old man. He’s got nothing to lose and knows every dirty trick in the book.”
If you absolutely must, to visualize the dichotomy between the two different mindsets likely prevalent within these two age groups feel free to imagine that the group of 72 year old men are WWII vets.
It’s the experience that gives the group of old men the edge, at least in my mind.
Now, let’s up the force of the inexperienced group a bit, lower their experience level, and keep the 72 year olds disarmed. Like I said, I like to think in extremes to figure out which particular point of data is the most imporant.
Take 30 boys, age 8, all armed with .22LR rifles at a Cub Scout training outing. Armed gunman shows up, blows away the instructor, and sets in on the boys.
Tragedy will ensue, and I’d imagine greater than that of my hypothetical room of random 72 year old men.
While armed to deal with the attacker those 8 year old boys posess only the hardware to deal with the problem and not the software and there is nothing wrong with that.
This is what makes mass school shootings possible more than any other single criteria out there.
Yes, I said it, it’s not the “gun free zones” that create these great shooting pools for mass murderers. It’s that we pool people that are so vulnerable into nice tight spaces that make them such easy pickings.
Unfortunately that’s not something we can get away from.