62 replies to this topic

[Smack]

Earlier this morning today on Monday, April 16th, 22 students were shot and killed with between 17 and 21 students wounded by a lone gunman at Virginia Tech (http://www.vt.edu/). It is the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. It is unclear why the students were shot. Some students were shot in classrooms while others were in dormatories.

This is obviously a great tragedy and we should keep these students and their families in our thoughts and prayers.

[topic="CNN story"]http://www.cnn.com/2...ting/index.html[/topic]

Edit: CNN headline news reports that the student was looking for his girlfriend and was shooting people execution style.
Counseling centers have been set up for the students and the college will likely remain closed for the week. The shooter is among those reported dead, yet it is unclear by whom he was shot.

Edited by Smack, 16 April 2007 - 05:33 PM.

[Watermonkey]

Classic gov't op. Multiple bomb threats for weeks. Cops just cower behind trees doing nothing for hours giving the bad guy more time to carry out his agenda. As of now, I'm hearing over 30 people dead at this time. There's no excuse for this kind of event in America where, supposedly, the right to keep and bear arms is protected for all citizens. Yet, no students were armed to defend themselves from some psycho with a firearm? Completely avoidable. We're a nation of wussies who are ready to be lined up and shot by ski mask wearing thugs.

[Smack]

While the right to bear arms is a good thing, it is also that type of thing that lead this to happen.

Besides, I don't know anyone who would think it is a good idea for students to have guns in class.

If students were carrying guns while they heard a gun shot, people would freak out and see others with guns *some took their gun out when they heard the first shots* and then you have innocent people getting shot. It would be mass chaos.

It should be left up to the police to protect us when something like this happens.

[heavensounds]

Don't forget that a lot more people die EVERYDAY in IRAQ and it is not interesting enough to be put in the news by the media, BUT IT SHOULD BE!!!

This is pure sensationalism and I say that with all respects to the victims and their loved ones.

Best whishes

[Smack]

heavensounds, on Apr 16 2007, 01:41 PM, said:

Don't forget that a lot more people die EVERYDAY in IRAQ and it is not interesting enough to be put in the news by the media, BUT IT SHOULD BE!!!

This is pure sensationalism and I say that with all respects to the victims and their loved ones.

Best whishes

Sensationalism you say? No, Anna Nicole's story was sensationalism. This is real news. And people dying in Iraq is on the news everyday - body counts aren't reported enough though, especially the Iraqi civillian deathcounts.

Edit: By the way the Virginia Tech death count is now at 31.

Edited by Smack, 16 April 2007 - 06:49 PM.

[Imtay22]

That was mean... Why would he shoot so many people just for that purpose? I mean, 31 killed, and 17- 21 wounded? I can't stand Guns . Please world, don't kill me!

[Thorned Rose]

It saddens me that this comes as no great surprise. I live in New Zealand where this kind of thing is non-existent. What's also virtually non-existent is the use of firearms.

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There's no excuse for this kind of event in America where, supposedly, the right to keep and bear arms is protected for all citizens. Yet, no students were armed to defend themselves from some psycho with a firearm?

It is exactly this attitude and culture in America that is causing so much trouble. "It's our god-given right".... since when is it any one's 'right' to own something that has the sole purpose of maiming and killing other people?! Truly, the stupidity is beyond my comprehension.
As for Iraq, Anna Nicole, high school shootouts - they are ALL sensationalised. People watch their tv screens with bated breath for updates and the latest tolls or scandals. Nobody sees the true reality. War? - When you have a war in which thousands more innocent people die than soldiers, you know what you are doing is wrong.
Where is the story about the pregnant woman who had a mortar land beside her that blew her unborn child a hundred feet away? - that's the reality of war. Where is the story about an entire village that was gassed - a woman fallen where she stood still hugging her dead baby in her arms? - that's war. Where is the story of the little girl with diabetes lapsing into a coma because the war has cut of her supply off insulin? - that's war. Where is the story of the man who's family is now starving to death because he had both his legs and an arm blown off? - that's war! And people want to mope and complain about the number of their soldiers dying?! They *chose* to join the army so they *chose* to potentially die. I feel sorry for their families but I have no sympathy for soldiers fighting a war in which so many innocent people are losing their lives.
The boxing day Tsunami - the press was all over it. Sudan - the press was all over it. Where are the press now? Thousands of people are still dying every day - more than in Iraq or by guns or anything else and nobody gives a damn any more. Where is the story of the mother who's baby was murdered by genocidal soldiers? Or the story of the father who lost his wife and children because they starved to death? You don't hear their stories because they aren't in the good ol' USofA!

Don't get me wrong. I feel a great amount of sympathy for the people at the highschool and their families. It just doesn't surprise me anymore.

[FolkRockFan]

Actually, Thorned Rose, today's shooting happened at a university - a school that's received multiple bomb threats over the last couple of weeks or so. I realize that hoaxes happen at college (some students will phone in false threats just to get out of taking the dreaded mid-term exam that day), but multiple threats? Campus LEO ignored the calls and, as a result, many people are dead.

I for one want the rest of the U.S. to follow Utah's lead. There, people who have concealed handgun permits can carry concealed weapons on campus. Because obtaining a CHL requires classroom time, training and a *very* thorough background check, it is very rare that an irresponsible person or a filthy criminal is licensed to carry.

Think of it this way: if even ONE student living in the Virginia Tech dorms had kept a hunting rifle in his or her dorm room, this horrifying event might have been less tragic. It only takes one: one crazy to launch a massacre...and one law-abiding citizen to stop the attack.

[Watermonkey]

Smack, on Apr 16 2007, 11:25 AM, said:

While the right to bear arms is a good thing, it is also that type of thing that lead this to happen.

Besides, I don't know anyone who would think it is a good idea for students to have guns in class.

If students were carrying guns while they heard a gun shot, people would freak out and see others with guns *some took their gun out when they heard the first shots* and then you have innocent people getting shot. It would be mass chaos.

It should be left up to the police to protect us when something like this happens.

The courts determined years ago the police are not obligated to protect citizens. I used to go to a community college and then the University. I didn't own a handgun when I went to CC, but at the U, I bought a little 9mm that I still own and I conceal-carried it all the time on campus and in class. Strangely, miraculously even, not a shot was ever fired. But if some sicko were to storm in shooting random people, at least there would have been a chance of him being stopped in his tracks. This University allowed students to conceal carry on campus, but they had to apply for a special permit, which I never applied for.

[FolkRockFan]

The students on the Virginia campus left their personal defense to the police. More than thirty of them are dead now because the campus police - and local law enforcement - could not get there or execute a plan fast enough to save them. Every student in the dorm and classroom buildings sat there in lockdown, waiting to either be rescued or be shot.

I'm not saying that law enforcement is bad. We need them and many do good jobs. But these men and women can't shadow us all twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to keep us safe. It's on each of us to do everything that we can to defend and protect ourselves.

We pay attention to our surroundings so that we can avoid walking into a convenience store that is being held up by a psychotic robber.

We learn martial arts so that we can fight back if somebody grabs us.

We invest in good door locks, windows and other home-security measures.

We carry handguns, knives, OC spray, et cetera because all of these solutions are a lot faster and more reliable than calling 911.

Besides: not everybody lives within half a block of a police station. I live in the middle of nowhere. As such, I'm under the county's jurisdiction: there is no local police force in my area. The Sheriff's Department can't get here in under TWO HOURS, even for EMERGENCIES (assault in progress, for example - that time a deputy was out here in about two and a half hours).