Shooting in US - Virginia

[uforgot]

Someone who was interviewed indicated that maybe the media needs to quit presenting this as a new record. (Deadliest shooting in US history.) While we need to be informed, I wonder what can be done about this attention that is surely attractive to some lunatic out there.

My thoughts are with you wannaduacentury and those who knew Christopher.

[Python]

I heard it on our news late last night just before I went to bed What is it that drives someone to do such a terrible deed?

My heart and thoughts go out to all the families involved in this awful tragedy

[missymaya]

This is just horribly tragic and my thoughts go to all who have been affected, both directly and indirectly. This is an event that is extremely hard to deal with and the victims need loving thoughts. I don't know anyone who is at that university, but my thoughts go to all the students, faculty, staff, and their family members.
As for what the school could do, well, I work in an extremely large university (one of the largest in population 48,000+) and this terrible event has brought many questions. What does a university do? How do they handle it? When is it bad enough to close/lockdown the school? Are we prepared for such an event? I know we are mostly prepared for natural disasters (hurricanes mostly) but I don't think we consider the worst of scenarios. It's in the COOP plan, but rarely practiced, which is needed for preparation. That,Im sure will change.
Again, I can not express how I feel, the sadness within me. We must heal this nation's and this world's soul to end such tragedy.

[IFjane]

My father graduated from VA Tech (class of '41). My brother attended for two years before getting an appointment to West Point. I now have a nephew attending as well as children of several friends. I cannot imagine the hurt & horror everyone is going through. What I do know is this: my father loved that school almost more than his own family. If everyone who has anything to do with Tech feels the same (and I think most do), they will pull together all over the world to help everyone get through this. There is no explanation for something this horrific. All we can do now is move on and appreciate each day as it is given to us. Unfortunately as a free and open society, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the lunatics in the word.

My father died in 2002. I am glad he was not here to see what happened yesterday.

[hellosunshine]

hard to know where to start.it is the sheer WHY factor,the broken lives,the fact that we shouldnt be living in this climate of fear.

im lucky in the uk,so very lucky,this gun culture hasnt grasped us (yet?)like it seems to have in the USA.but even the saftey awareness surrounding children and our freedom has magnified since i was young,we never would lock doors and had so much freedom for exploration.


it is simply all very sad and all very daunting.

[Thistle]

this is so awful i dont even know what to write. my heart goes out to everyone stay safe.

[surgtech1956]

I really get tired to the media. I know they have a job to do - reporting the news. But I get tired of the 'spin' that is put on. I think the university thought the decision that they made was the right one at the time. Everybody has an opinion and the media seems to find each and everyone of them. I don't know if anything can really be prevented. Look at 9/11. If someone wants to do something, they will find a way. I think there are just some things that you can never be prepared for.

[Jenn]

My DH has been deployed more times then I can count. Our military forces keep up safe from evil abroad but not form the evil within, which none of us want to face......(even if this shooter was a student on a visa)
My husband our family puts our life on the line for this country and it's safety this is worse then anything DH has seen over there...(it's nomral)...NOT HERE.
This is NOT suppose to happen....atl least in the perfect little bubble we call America...

[crazycanuck]

The following is me as a NON American thinking-I don't want to upset anyone at this time but i feel the need to express these ideas:

Again, just another loner in society that's caused mayhem. Sorry to say the law can''t stop them all

I know that some people reading this board will want to judge all Americans as bad-gun toting freaks but we can't use that "excuse" any longer. Aren't we all the same in some way? I realize that may sound dumb but isn't it true?

Somehow society will put aside it's prejudice against any lonely individual and perhaps learn to understand. Hard to say at a time like this but i somehow believe it.

Perhaps understand is the wrong word..Then again, perhaps it's correct & we need to accept the gun culture in the US. It's hard to comprehend and hard to accept. So many countries are looking in & wondering how America can have the right to carry a firearm but still have a safe society. Whatever that may mean.

I worry about you ladies who carry guns & mace on your bikes.

Take care of yourselves.

C

[Aggie_Ama]

I really get tired to the media. I know they have a job to do - reporting the news. But I get tired of the 'spin' that is put on. I think the university thought the decision that they made was the right one at the time. Everybody has an opinion and the media seems to find each and everyone of them. .

This is why I chose not to use my degree in journalism. The "If it bleeds it leads" mentality is appalling. They always have to look for the most horrendous, most shocking or most controversial story to sell their product.

We could debate for hours if the university made the right decision and point fingers now that we know the outcome, but where is that going to get us? IMO the original thought that the first incident might have been a domestic dispute seemed like a rational assumption. The people who made the decision to focus on it that way are probably already sick with guilt and asking themselves "What if?". The media has played out the "Why didn't they???" angle too far.

And as someone who went to a university double the size of VT in students and comparable size in acreage, I wonder how the administration could have prevented the second shootings. Sadly, I could see this happening at most universities. The freedom colleges afford also leaves the students and faculty vunerable.

My hope is that all universities can pull out their disaster plans and study them, learning from this tragedy.

[Python]

hard to know where to start.it is the sheer WHY factor,the broken lives,the fact that we shouldnt be living in this climate of fear.

im lucky in the uk,so very lucky,this gun culture hasnt grasped us (yet?)like it seems to have in the USA.but even the saftey awareness surrounding children and our freedom has magnified since i was young,we never would lock doors and had so much freedom for exploration.


it is simply all very sad and all very daunting.

We did have two terrible gun massacres. One at Hungerford in 1987 (Michael Ryan) and the other at the primary school in Dunblane, Perthshire in Scotland, 1996 (Thomas Hamilton) where, if I remember correctly 17 5 and 6 years olds were slaughtered along with their teacher. In both cases, the gunmen turned the guns on themselves and both were "loners". That's what gave rise to the banning of guns in this country. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked and gun crime is rapidly on the rise, particularly among drug gangs

[oxysback]

We did have two terrible gun massacres. One at Hungerford in 1987 (Michael Ryan) and the other at the primary school in Dunblane, Perthshire in Scotland, 1996 (Thomas Hamilton) where, if I remember correctly 17 5 and 6 years olds were slaughtered along with their teacher. In both cases, the gunmen turned the guns on themselves and both were "loners". That's what gave rise to the banning of guns in this country. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked and gun crime is rapidly on the rise, particularly among drug gangs

People can make all the gun laws they want, but the only people that will abide by them are responsible citizens. A 'law' isn't going to stop someone that isn't going to follow the rules in the first place. There will never be a law that will stop psychos from doing psychotic things.

Those poor people...it was a given that none of them would be able to protect themselves, being that they were in a gun free zone. I wonder if people would think twice about doing this kind of thing if there was a possibility of retaliation from their 'target'?

[CR400]

We can't really begin to imagine the horror that those students both dead, injured, and escaped went through it those few seconds. My prayers of comfort go out to those who lost loved ones and to the community of Blacksburg as well. College towns tend to be large but still somehow close knit.

[lovemybike]

People can make all the gun laws they want, but the only people that will abide by them are responsible citizens. A 'law' isn't going to stop someone that isn't going to follow the rules in the first place. There will never be a law that will stop psychos from doing psychotic things.

Those poor people...it was a given that none of them would be able to protect themselves, being that they were in a gun free zone. I wonder if people would think twice about doing this kind of thing if there was a possibility of retaliation from their 'target'?

great point. I did read an article just recently about a shooting on another college campus where the shooter entered a building, went to an upper floor and shot one person, then went to another floor and began to shoot other students. Two students ran from the building to their nearby vehicles and got their own guns. they returned to the building and sudued the shooter. What would have happened had someone been able to reraliate?

This is such a terrible situation. Unbelievable! But you can't blame guns, if he couldn't get a gun, he would have built a bomb or something else. If people ar going to kill they don't need a gun. "Gun's don't kill people, People do"

As a young female living by myself, I feel much more safe with guns in my house. If I didn't have them, I would be worried, what would I do if someone broke in my house???

Evil is the problem here. Sin is the problem here. Take guns away and only criminals will have guns.