FFL dealer comes to Virginia Tech

In this article we see that the FFL dealer, Eric Thompson, who sold the .22 caliber handgun that was later used by the VT killer has been invited to Virginia Tech to talk about the subject. And in all the other blogs and the talkbacks it seems that just about everybody wants to crucify Mr. Thompson for the actions of a deranged madman.

It isn't right, some people calling for Mr. Thompson to be thrown in jail for supposedly contributing to the death of 32 innocent people. I don't buy it. Mr. Thompson was just running his business the only way it can be done; you sell to those that qualify, and you don't sell to those that don't. Since nobody treated the VT killer like a serious threat and instead just passed him on like he was nothing, he was able to qualify. If anyone should be blamed it should be the judge that didn't have him committed when he had the opportunity.

I don't think Mr. Thompson is to blame, anymore than anyone else is. Afterall, if someone gets drunk and runs over a child should we blame the used car dealer that sold the car in the first place? Should we blame a supermarket if somebody bought matches there and later used them to burn down a house?

Instead of blaming somebody that wasn't a part of the problem, how about we blame the person that actually did the wrong act. Stop passing the buck, start focusing on the one who actually carried out the act, it's nobody else's fault but theirs.