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“Police have arrested a 17-year-old suspect in the slaying of a University of Texas dance student,” washingtonpost.com reports. “Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference that Meechaiel Criner has been booked into the county jail on a first-degree murder charge in the slaying of Haruka Weiser, a first-year student from Portland, Ore. Weiser, 18, was last seen . . .

Sunday night leaving the university’s drama building en route to her dorm, police said. Roommates reported her missing the next morning. Weiser’s body was found on campus Tuesday in Waller Creek by the university’s alumni center, a short walk from the drama building.”

It should have been a defensive gun use? Yes, even though Ms. Wieser was not old enough to legally carry a firearm.

If she’d been equipped with a non-lethal “gun” like the TASER Pulse, she would have at least had a fighting chance. More to the point, the legal age for carrying a firearm should be 18. That’s the age of majority, when citizens are entitled to all their Constitutionally protected rights. Why should the state deny a legal citizen their right to keep and bear arms?

This is not to suggest that Ms. Wieser was in any way responsible for her murder. Only that the government is wrong to leave young men and women unable to choose the most effective means of self-defense to defend themselves from violent attack — if they so desire. Our condolences to Ms. Wieser’s friends and family.

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37 COMMENTS

  1. Very sad. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the homeless teenager who has been arrested has a long history of mental and/or drug problems. Maybe the college girls will look for escorts with CCW permits.

        • Chilling, idealistic rather than realistic comment.

          Of course every single one of us wish we would absolutely never ever need a gun because we live in a perfect society. And it will never be……at least in our lifetime…….

      • She was just barely outside of being a kid. She bought into the nonsense and paid the price. Safety really is just an illusion. If you want to offset risk (for anything), you need to be prepared.

      • oh man, is that for real? You have to wonder, if so, if she was one of those folks who don’t recognize any kind of violence but “gun violence”. Now that is chilling.

        • The comment itself is probably “real”, as in actually posted six months ago like it says. The name and location of the poster is as “real” as anything else on the Internet. However, six months ago, there was no reason for anyone to fake an anti campus carry post in this girl’s name, not unless you’re willing to buy into some pretty wild conspiracy theories.

          So the simplest answer is probably correct. She opposed campus carry and yet is an sadly ironic example of why it’s necessary.

        • I’ll tell you something else that’s sad. It looks like she’s already starting to fade from the “news” spotlight–since she wasn’t shot it’s just another “headline today, forgotten next week” story. I so hate the damned “news outlets” for their abandonment of their real duty in favor of flagrant ideological advocacy.

      • Words that will haunt the anti-gun community for a long time. I am saddened by this tragedy, but it’s a hard lesson learned when the bleeding-hearts at UT don’t want concealed carry…

  2. So where will all those idiots yammering about keeping the campus a “safe space” be now? Oh, yeah, attending candlelight vigils for the murdered girl.

  3. “Meechaiel Criner”

    When you name a kid that you’re signing him up for jail or the morgue. No self respecting employer is going to hire someone with that name.

  4. Like many major Left-leaning universities, UT Austin is known as “40 acres surrounded by reality.” Now, after reality has horribly entered the forty acres, it will be interesting to see how all of the deep thinkers respond.

    Will they go all “Stockholm Syndrome” and melt into sympathy for the “bullied” and unfortunate Mr. Criner, or will they look the Problem of Evil straight in the eye and begin making rational decisions about self protection.

  5. Sorry for the loss of that beautiful girl. I hope that the killer is served quick justice. One reason that I am glad to live in Indiana is because we issue permits at 18.

    • Congratulations… but I guess anyone UNDER 18 is then fair game for criminals. What is magic about a specific chronological age?

      Anyone who can’t be trusted with a self defense tool needs a keeper or guardian.

      • And whether a kid is ready for carrying a gun or not should be determined by the parents, not a law somehow passed for whatever bogus scientific reason

        My kids began sleeping with their own 45s since middle school. Funny they never shot me during my sleep and went ahead to kill the whole class

  6. From http://abcnews.go.com/US/ut-austin-murder-investigation-death-student-haruka-weiser/story?id=38262608

    “Surveillance video shows a woman dressed in all black walking toward the alumni center as she looked at her cell phone. As she passes, the suspect watches her and puts the kickstand down on the bike. He is then seen reaching into the back of his pants and pulling out a shiny, rigid object, the document says. He then followed the woman across the bridge… ”

    This is not meant to blame the victim, but this serves to remind us to always stay aware of our surroundings. How often do we see people face down, focusing their screens and nothing else?

    • She is from Portland Oregon where I used to live. I sometimes wonder if the public school system there explicitly trains their students to live in condition white 24/7. For fun one day, my wife and I decided to point out to each other those people on the street in Portland who would make perfect extras for the Walking Dead — zombies. What a though experiment. It was staggering how many people were oblivious to their surrounding inside their own little bubbles of reality seemingly walking around without a single perceptibly important cognitive thought. It seemed that their only thoughts were of the latest gossip from New York and the newest cappuccino drink served at the two Starbucks stores located at the next street corner. It does not surprise me that she was in her own “safe space” until, well, it wasn’t so safe anymore.

  7. Why do some people doom their “chirruns” before they even have a chance? Traymarcusjadavious Smith has two strikes against him before he even applies for a job, especially since his dad (Cumdropicous Johnson) is probably nowhere to be found. Ima skeered for this country…

  8. Very sad. She should have at the very least had a pepper gun. Dunno’ about a gun. I was a total idiot at 18. SO are(were) 2 out of 4 of my sons. And it’s amazing how quickly it was reported he was 17-“a child” in Chicago parlance. But I digress…

  9. Even pepper spray would have been a better chance than nothing… if the school didn’t have security escorts before, I’m sure they do now.

    But 1) too late and 2) who wants to have to call campus security every time you want to walk to another dorm on campus?

    • My school had an effective volunteer escort system for many years. A student could call the campus cops, and they would dispatch a radio equipped volunteer to come meet them and walk them to their on-campus destination. Sadly the radical feminists at the school made enough noise about it being discrimination (we’re not little girls, this is a sign of patriarchy, etc.) it was discontinued. Now the campus is blanketed with kiosks containing panic buttons and flashing blue lights.

  10. What a pretty girl. It would take a monster to do this.

    Having read the affidavit, they have a very strong case against Criner. Him being in possession of her belongings (duffel bag, MacBook) looks bad enough, but the surveillance video really wraps it up for the prosecution. They can positively identify Criner in the video and pretty much all the clothes and belongings of Criner and Weiser. He is seen biking in an opposite direction of weiser, then as she passes, he stares at her, gets off his bike takes out some object from his pants and follows her on foot. He returns two hours later with a limp and … Her blue duffel bag. Burning the evidence didn’t help. Police recovered burned and unburned evidence after his arrest.

    It’s really terrible.
    http://static.lakana.com/media.fox7austin.com/document_dev/2016/04/08/Meechaiel%20Criner%20Affidavit_1165273_ver1.0.pdf

  11. Per the Affidavit it appears that the University allows abandoned buildings very near the campus, while still campaigning against student carry. Hypocrites but not surprising. Sad that the dead girl’s bio is that of a poster child for liberal causes, probably highly naive as well. Instead of screaming and attempting to gouge his eyes out when he approached her with the wrench or whatever silvery object he was carrying as a weapon, she probably did try to reason with him likes she had been trained to do since a baby. This not meant as an attack on her but as an attack on a system of upbringing that denies the reality of evil and violence in the world.

    • Diversity is utter bullshit if it’s done for diversity itself.

      But look, the whole immigration system is broken, but it’s not bad in itself.

      Back when my grandparents immigrated into this country, most green card holders were individuals with significant economical benefit to the US (skilled workers, entrepreneurs, political refugees who ratted for the US). They were both successful business people with university education, law-abiding, freedom-loving, and paying a shitload in taxes to this country. So are my parents and I, and we are all staunch 2A supporters.

      When I was in NYC, a lot of my classmates were international students from china, south korea, and other developing countries. They worked their asses off, trying to graduate, get employment and green cards. What took them 10yrs, is done in 6 months, by some young, healthy, able-bodied, non-english speaking refugees just because their countries are shit and Obama felt charitible. They are USELESS in every sense, nothing but a burden and a security threat. And those hardworking international students paying 100k in tuition per year, are turned away before they can get a job in the US, because they are capable and well off and dont need rescue. And guess what, those frustrated Asian boys and girls go home and work for other economies.

      See? It’s the system, letting only crap in, and turning those who want to be in this great country away to work for our enemies.

  12. Please change the headline. All great comments in this article and the comments, but we all know liberal anti-gunners with an agenda don’t read the articles, just the headlines. Somewhere someone is already quoting “A right wing pro gun website blames victim for her own death”, “Pro gun website advocates all US citizens be forced to carry guns or else be blamed for their own deaths”.

    Yes, our laws fail when we prohibit people from protecting themselves, but we can’t force sheep to become sheepdogs.

    How about “Another victim that given a choice, might have been able to defend herself”

  13. Hey, where is our friend 2Asux to remind us that licensed gun-toters are a bigger threat than common criminals?

  14. Ms Weisner was the roommate of my GF’s grand daughter, and both were at UT on dance scholarships.

    There aren’t a lot of happy people around here right now, and Meechel’s arrest does nothing to cure the problem which is an entitlement system that encourages single parent households, and the rampant social pathologies that are entirely too common in that so-called culture.

    In 1964 Lyndon Johnson declared a “War on Poverty”. Poverty won.

    Charlie

  15. don’t most colleges have someone to call to walk a person home from the library at night? using students to help other students is a good idea, the program would know who she is with and should help the situation. While I am a firm believer in self protection, at the very least a program like that could be offerred.

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