Incidents of students taking weapons to school are no
longer that uncommon. In Virginia, if a shooting takes place on public school
grounds, and even if the school authorities are negligent—the victim and his or
her family have little or no legal recourse against the school. Seeking redress
against a state or public institution—even when gross negligence can be
proven—is apparently considered frivolous by some lawmakers in Richmond. Public
schools (and public institutions) are generally protected by the doctrine of
sovereign immunity. This doctrine shields tax payer-funded institutions from
many lawsuits. In Virginia, more often than not, the courts seem to extend this
doctrine to private companies and organizations.
The Virginia Supreme Court appears reluctant to make
any ruling that holds a private or public organization responsible for the
actions of employees or students—even when those individuals have a record of
violence and that record is well known to the organization or company that
hired the individual. (I will go in to the corruption of the Virginia Supreme
Court when I turn my attention to Virginia Tech.)
The more you look into what the legal profession has
done to chip away at an individual’s rights, the more dismayed and frightened
you become. All the views you may have held about the fairness of the system
quickly disappear. The picture that emerges is not one of devotion to the
average citizen’s rights, but to an agenda, to a bias, to a prejudice. In the
case of premises liability and the law, the prejudice is to protect—at all
costs—private businesses and public organizations.
The law in Virginia says even if a man beats up or
threatens to harm or kill his spouse and children, and that spouse gets a
restraining order against him, he can still buy a gun, he can still buy
bullets—he can do it because of the Gun Show loophole. In the Old Dominion, a
man such as Peter Odighizuwa can beat his wife; can have a record of
violence—and, can still buy a gun—no questions asked, and kill three innocent
people and wound three others.
If Peter Odighizuwa had said dirty words in public or
cursed, he probably would have been fined and/or spent a night in jail. (To be
continued)
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