(These guys have enough sense to get it about guns on campus; so why don't we?)
Posted: March 07, 2008
9:33 pm Eastern
C 2008 WorldNetDaily
A gun rights organization in the United States is accusing the media of
trying to conceal the fact that a gunman who attacked students at
Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav seminary was stopped by an armed student at the
school.
Authorities report that Ytizhak Dadon, 40, was a "private citizen who had a
gun license and was able to shoot the gunman with his pistol," according to
a statement released today by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep
and Bear Arms.
In its earlier reporting on the tragedy, WND confirmed, "One terrorist
reportedly was shot to death by a student who was armed."
However, the gun rights organization said "the American press is downplaying
his heroism because it proves that armed students can stop campus gunmen."
"Yitzhak Dadon is a hero," said Alan Gottlieb, the chairman of CCRKBA, "and
he is living proof that armed students have a place on college campuses.
Thankfully, his quick action was reported by the international press . so
unlike incidents here in the United States where the press was able to
completely ignore the actions of armed students or teachers, the truth about
this incident will not be suppressed."
He continued, "Mr. Dadon is not going to become a victim of this conspiracy
of silence. Elitist American college administrators, the national press, nor
anti-gun politicians can sweep this incident under their rug."
The gun rights group said international reports credit Dadon, who studies at
the school, had his pistol available when the shooting erupted. "When the
gunman emerged from a library, Dadon reportedly shot him twice in the head.
The gunman was subsequently shot by the off-duty soldier," the group said.
"Yitzhak Dadon's apparently well-placed bullets interrupted a rampage,"
Gottlieb said. "What a pity that someone like Mr. Dadon was not in class
last April at Virginia Tech. What a tragedy that anti-gun extremism would
keep him from attending class at Northern Illinois University. He would
never be allowed to teach at Columbine High School, hold a job at Trolley
Square in Salt Lake City, or go shopping at Omaha's Westroads Mall.
"America's acquiescence to anti-gun hysteria has led to one tragedy after
another," Gottlieb stated. "This disastrous policy has given us nothing but
broken hearts and body counts, and it's got to end. The heroism of an armed
Israeli seminary student halfway across the world sends a message that we
needn't submit to murder in victim disarmament zones. That's why his actions
are getting such short shrift from America's press. It's a story they are
loathe to report because it affirms a philosophy of self-reliance that they
despise."
The organization boasts more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide,
and is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of
elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights
activists in local communities throughout the United States.
WND had reported just days earlier on plans in Arizona, where lawmakers are
considering a way to stem the wave of unarmed students killed in campus
slayings by allowing adults to carry firearms onto the grounds of state
universities.
"The police got to both the Virginia Tech murder scene and the New Life
Church [in Colorado] in about six minutes," noted Larry Pratt, the chief of
Gun Owners of America. "At Virginia Tech, 30 people died. At New Life, two
died in the parking lot and once the bad guy got inside the building he was
engaged by (armed) security team volunteers and nobody else died. In fact,
he was finished in about 30 seconds."
Pratt noted the circumstances of the two attacks. After killing two people
at a Christian training center in Arvada, Colo., last December, 24-year-old
Matthew Murray went to Colorado Springs intending more murder and mayhem.
Murray shot and killed two girls in the New Life Church's parking lot, then
headed inside the building where thousands of worshippers were concluding a
service.
A volunteer security guard, Jeanne Assam, confronted him almost immediately
and fired at him. He fell, and an autopsy later said he had shot himself.
But at Virginia Tech, Cho Seung-Hui, 23, armed himself and went to a
classroom building on a campus where guns were banned. He fatally shot a
total of 32.
The latest attack on unarmed teachers and students happened on Valentine's
Day, when Stephen Kazmierczak, 27, walked into a Northern Illinois
University auditorium and shot and killed five people, and wounded 16
others.
The gunman then shot himself.
In Jerusalem, reports said one or possibly two gunmen infiltrated the Mercaz
Harav Yeshiva, located near the entrance to Jerusalem, and fired hundreds of
rounds of bullets at students. One terrorist, who may have been armed with
an explosive device, made his way to the yeshiva's main study room, where
about 80 students were reportedly gathered.
Israeli police said eight were killed and nearly a dozen were wounded, some
seriously.