Virginia Tech...

>We need scrict gun control! There is no other option!

And that would help how in this case? When I see this opinion voiced, I always wonder how strict gun control would prevent this person who was bent on destruction from obtaining a gun illegally. <I am not a gun owner, nor do I intend on getting one, just wonder about this assumption that gun control fixes this type of thing>.
 
The serial numbers on the gun were filed down...it was an illegal gun.

Can we go for at least a day without making this a political thing? Lives are lost and hearts are broken. Can we just say that we'll try to be nicer to each other for a couple of days, and start the blame game a little later, when the media has milked this tragedy till it's lost all its humanity?

It'll happen soon enough.
 
You know I cannot believe how terrible this is and at the same time I see our nation as such a blessed nation compared to other countries where these sort of things happen all the time.

Just a couple days ago I saw on World News Tonight where children, grade school age, are now showing signs of all the trama going on around them. They walk past bodies on their way to school.

I pray for all the families in that wonderful community of Virginia Tech - may they all find God's peace and love and comfort!
 
My fear, now that his heritage has been discovered, is that some people will make it a race thing. I know many South Koreans and am always impressed with their charm, respect and dignity.

Then again, those who make things a race issue don't care about the person below the surface at all.
 
I don't want gun control as a political statement. I don't believe guns should be so readily available. How do the European countries and Australia prevent such tragedies? They have strict gun control. I want gun control because I don't want any more of our children killed. We won't alleviate the problem but we can make a dent in it.


Nothing was done after Columbine; if we don't do something this will keep on happening. No blame game, but we have to do something to stop the violence.



My dad was an M.D. in Easy New York, Brooklyn who carried a gun for protection when he made house calls. He had to jump through hoops for his gun permit. All I am saying is that if guns are more tightly controllen, we can keep some off the streets. Something has to be done to protect our children and ourselves.
 
This troubled young man had no police record, except a speeding ticket. He would have been someone who could have gotten a gun legally.(he purchased it on March7, so waiting laws would not have helped)

How do you help the person who does something like this, before they do it. How do you find these people before the tradegy happens. That is the thing to look at. As far as his nationality, he was in this country from age 8 on, I think nationality has nothing to do with it. He was obviously very troubled.

My heart goes out to the families. It is a dark dark day.
 
That's my point...nationality shouldn't have anything to do with it - even if he'd just come to the States for an education only. Some people will not see that.
 
>My dad was an M.D. in Easy New York, Brooklyn who carried a
>gun for protection when he made house calls. He had to jump
>through hoops for his gun permit. All I am saying is that if
>guns are more tightly controllen, we can keep some off the
>streets. Something has to be done to protect our children and
>ourselves.

I guess I worry about how much gun control they will try to enforce. It may get to the point where your dad will not even be allowed to carry one and then he will have no protection. If he had to jump through hoops to obtain the permit for his gun, there must be some control there. At the same time, I don't think just anyone should be able to go out and buy some of these guns - I think there should be a strict application/screening process etc. I do not think they should just all be "banned" though (and I'm not referring to your post, just in general, I know you were just talking about control and I agree on that). That will only keep us from having them, not the perps. I personally have a gun in the top of my dresser at home for personal protection. I have recently heard of a move to ban that particular type of gun. It's sad that this tragedy will probably be used as political leverage to do just that.
 
Against my better judgment I will add to the discussion. Guns have been available since day one in the history of this country yet in the past decade or so it has become acceptable to express one's grievances with the world by shooting at people.

Gun control discussion aside, maybe it has more to do with our increasingly mean spirited, angry, self centered society where the blame for life's problems always falls on someone else's shoulders (like Amish children, or your classmates whom you wouldn't even give your name to, or the kid who made the mistake of looking at you funny in the hallway). Perhaps the problem is much deeper within ourselves?
 
>Against my better judgment I will add to the discussion.
>Guns have been available since day one in the history of this
>country yet in the past decade or so it has become acceptable
>to express one's grievances with the world by shooting at
>people.
>
>Gun control discussion aside, maybe it has more to do with our
>increasingly mean spirited, angry, self centered society where
>the blame for life's problems always falls on someone else's
>shoulders (like Amish children, or your classmates whom you
>wouldn't even give your name to, or the kid who made the
>mistake of looking at you funny in the hallway). Perhaps
>the problem is much deeper within ourselves?


Very wisely said! :)
 
My heavens - this kid who killed these students displayed so many signs that he was disturbed and no one did anything. I mean this is a quote from a student:

"McFarland said in the blog that when the class read Cho's work, "it was like something out of a nightmare."

"The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of. Before Cho got to class that day, we students were talking to each other with serious worry about whether he could be a school shooter.""

He stalked women, set fires - he was desperately crying for help. And no one took him seriously. We've had kids expelled from our local high school and forced to undergo evaluations for much less. Believe me, I am not sympathizing with him, but I don't understand why no one said anything at all.
 
I read that one teacher sent him to counseling. If this were my sons behaviour(and I do have a college age son), I would want to know.
 
I was in shock yesterday because VT is one of those schools I've always admired. I have friends that went there and they loved the campus, the professors, everything about VT. Today at work when (obviously) people were talking about this and reading all the new findings online someone said to me: "This sort of thing happens in Irak every day", and I stopped obsessing about the incident. The media coverage this tragedy is getting is dangerous. It is a known fact that when incidents like this get this kind of publicity some other psycho wants to do the same thing. In my opinion they should've never mentioned this guy's name or show his picture. I read also that his parents are very nice people, hard workers, that came to the US like a lot of people do every day, to make a better living. Knowing how some people are, now how can those parents live in peace without others harassing them? I think the media should've said the gunman was a student, he was a very strange and disturbed person and keep it brief and simple. He's already dead, don't make him a rock star by posting his biography everywhere. I think they should post the pictures of those that died in his hands and talk about them, not this creep. And yes don't forget about Irak and all those countries that are going through war.
 
Tina...you are so right. It happens in Iraq everyday. We are so lucky to live here. Bless the VT families tonight. And, all those who suffer losses like this...
 
>>Against my better judgment I will add to the discussion.
>>Guns have been available since day one in the history of
>this
>>country yet in the past decade or so it has become
>acceptable
>>to express one's grievances with the world by shooting at
>>people.
>>
>>Gun control discussion aside, maybe it has more to do with
>our
>>increasingly mean spirited, angry, self centered society
>where
>>the blame for life's problems always falls on someone else's
>>shoulders (like Amish children, or your classmates whom you
>>wouldn't even give your name to, or the kid who made the
>>mistake of looking at you funny in the hallway). Perhaps
>>the problem is much deeper within ourselves?
>
>
>Very wisely said! :)

Well said. Look what our administration is doing to Iraq. We have become very mean and tolerant of violence.
 
Yes - these thing DO happen everyday in Iraq. The big difference is...we're not Iraq.

The media is not making him a rock star by posting his biography. People are curious about this man because it helps to try to understand how it could happen.
 
<He's already dead, don't make him a rock star by posting his biography everywhere.>

Maybe not the best way to say it but I understand the point made here.
Committing random mass murder is now a one ticket to notoriety, courtesy of the media and the internet, that such people wouldn't get otherwise. Such people are not Nobel Peace Prize winning material (who the media hardly discusses anyway) but give 'em a weapon and they have a world audience, even in the after life. And not to necessarily demonize the media...I think it's human nature to want to try to understand something that simply cannot be understand by anyone rational.
 
If we don't try to understand, we cannot hope to stop anything like this happening in the future.

I think the attacker's comment, "you made me do this" should be explored. There's something that happened in this kid's life that he kept bottled up. I tend to think he was raped by an adult as a child based on how his stories and plays consistently focused on pedophilia and rape.

I think the whole thing is a horrible testament to how perverse our society is growing and how our laws make us powerless to prevent the violence that occured at VT.

Side note, DH went to VT 25 years ago and this is really, really bothering him. Very sad :-(
 
If anyone has read the book "The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence" by Gavin De Becker they'll know what I meant by my post. Everything that has happened with this guy is in some chapter of the book. It's definitely a good read. That being said, a lot of people that know this guy's parents have said that they are decent, hard working people, and educated (his sister went to Princeton) and yet they had to flee their own house. Why? Right. Excessive media coverage about their son. Unfortunately, some kids turn out to be freaks even when they had seemingly normal upbringings.

I'm honestly sick about this guy. People need to recognize warning signs and stop ignoring them. He definitely did a lot of scary things that were ignored. I think his behavior should be studied in detail and compared to other people that have committed similar crimes, but I think his name, picture (and nationality!) are irrelevant. That's what I meant about making someone a rock star. Some people try for years and years to be famous by doing the right things and you never hear of them and yet someone commits a crime and you hear their name everywhere. I watched the Today Show this morning and they did a special about all the victims. Those are the ones that shouldn't be forgotten. This psycho? I just want him to disappear from my TV, my computer, and the newspapers!
 
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