Tragic news........shooting at Virginia college

[KB]

For any of those affected by this tragic situation wether that be through someone close to you or through an aquaintence or even just the sorrow one feels for these young kids my heart goes out to you, thoughts and prayers coming from Australia today.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18134671/?GT1=9246

Ken

[jfreeman420]

My goodness. I am absolutely speechless. What is wrong with people? Poor kids. My heart goes out to their families.

[olivia]

Virginia Tech...in Blacksburg Virginia; Western Virginia about 4 hours from Washington DC; small town, BIG University; that's JRaines Alma Mater I believe. Not far from where I live, in fact. A very good University...but a genuine tradegy.

Edited April 16, 2007 by olivia

[Stephane]

what the [censored] are we doing...aren't we supposed to be human beings ?

I didn't want to open this thread.

But I did.

And now I feel really sad.

Let's be sweet to each other while we have that great opportunity to be alive.

We are alive. Not everybody we cherished is.

Let's have a thought for the famillies out there.

Give peace a chance said John.

Cheers and love,

Stephane

[alt.watch.obsessive]

I used to teach in the Business School there. Shocking story.

[Maikel]

Another sad day...just can't believe these things happen in this modern world.

Had a great time with my son and wife today...could not believe this was happening when I heard the news.

All joy, laughter and happiness that I had today just taken away hearing this tragedy...there are no words to describe how I feel right now.

Imagine in what kind of crazy world I have to raise my son up.

[elprimerozen]

I wish to all good health....and im realy sorry for the poor kids.My hart cracked.Its realy sad.

[shultzie]

awful, awful, awful

puts life into serious perpective

[Tim]

They have it plastered all over the news in the tri-state area pretty much all day. That is almost traumatizing in itself. One would like to say that all the guns we have sloshing around in the country has something to do with these events. But I've read studies that show that there are other countries where firearms are just as widely owned which do not have these problems. I remember from one of the reports specifically comparing Canada, which has a very low rate of gun violence, to the US even though the percentage of gun owners is about the same. So it is a puzzle why these things seem to happen in the US.

I personally think that all the violence we have in our media has a bearing on the problem. Showing sex or bare bodies does terrible damage to society but all the violence portrayed in media is fine. What speaks against this though is that we export all the crap movies and other media to other countries and they don't seem to have the same results.

It really is a puzzle.

-T

[Pugwash]

I personally think that all the violence we have in our media has a bearing on the problem.

Maybe it's the violence coupled with guns and religion? There is no simple answer to why this happens and blaming it on any single factor does more harm than good. Too many people are eager to point fingers at their pet cause, as I did at the beginning of my reply, and all it does is divert the attention away from finding the real problem.

It's difficult to say anything appropriate after something like this.

[who]

I'm watching the news all evening.....very very sad.

It seems to me that US is the only place have this kinds of sick school shooting happen from time to time. No one knows what's wrong here...is the society, the culture, the video game, too much gun or whatever.

[Danae.]

What a sad day...

Something is wrong, insane...

My condolence to parents,friends...all EE.UU

Edited April 17, 2007 by Danae.

[Dani]

I never get suprised to see what humans are capibel of doing.

Sad stuff

[olivia]

Let's not get too sociological with causes just yet. The report I heard was that the shooter was a Chinese National attending Virginia Tech.

Edit: Correction...student was a South Korean who came to this country with his family 15 years ago ... an English major at VT

Edited April 17, 2007 by olivia

[Guest TTK]

The problem you have is that the US is trapped in a gun culture society....it hasn't moved away from it's wild west traditions......the constitution enshrines the right to bear arms......a constitution that to Americans is as immutable to them as the Koran is to Muslims......!

"A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

I'm quite sure when the founding fathers wrote the above.....they could not predict the direction that it's populace would take with regards to it's right to bear arms........the truth is that the above was written at a time when the nation lived in fear of the usurpation of power from the people ....returning perhaps to a situation where the country would once again be ruled either a foreign power such as England again.....or from within.

This freedom to bear arms needs to be challenged in the 21st century......we need to move towards a society where it is unaccpetable that the average citizen has access to weapons......assault rifles.....multiple guns ownership......etc etc.......there is simply no need for it....as demonstarted in many other countries worldwide........but this position will be disputed by Yanks.....and supported by Americans.........there is a significant difference......!

I was embroiled in a discussion with Fordzilla on the old RWG about gun ownership....his position was that he needed a gun to provide protection against armed burglars.......the truth is that any armed burglar is not likely to be a registered gun owner......but has more than likely stolen the gun from a registered gun owner......who ...if they hadn't had the gun in the first place.....would lead to the lack of need on Fordzilla's part to own a gun in teh second place....EVERY country in the world suffers from burglary.....involving simple theft or indeed violence against the homeowner.......howver because of the lack of access to a firearm.....the results are usually much different.........I keep a baseball bat as a deterrent to any possible intruder who is highly likely to be armed with a knife rather a gun.....!

The easy acquisiton pf guns.....allied to a media which perpetuates violence on TV / film and every applicable medium.....numbs most Americans to what is happening to it's society....!

I don't want to go thru' all the [censored] that I've seen in similar posts before......all I'll say is that I watch the media discussing what steps can be taken.....all the apologists are spouting off at the mouth about knee jerk reaction towards gun control....others are asking...'how can we determine what the lone gunman had going thru' his head'......they want to examine the psychology of the murderer......NONE of that will save the next massacre victims.........the TRUTH is that if ALL the gunmen involved had NO access to guns......these tragedies would be less devastating.....!

Guns are weapons.....specifically designed for killing....there is simply no good reason to own one.....!

[jimbo]

well put neil...

[robertk]

what's the old saw? Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

What a load of horsesh*t.

People with guns kill people!!!

[jack]

People with bombs kill people, people with airplanes kill people hell people with bricks kill people. Lets not act like eliminating gun violence eliminates violence. I am not a gun owner and would never own one but lets take a step back and try to gain a little perspective please. There are always going to be those who want to re-write history and are convinced these are the worst times and start the blaming. Before today

[Tim]

Let's not get too sociological with causes just yet. The report I heard was that the shooter was a Chinese National attending Virginia Tech.

Where did you hear that? They are actually refusing to identify the guy other than saying he was a male of Asian decent.

-T

[Tim]

The problem you have is that the US is trapped in a gun culture society....

.

.

.

.

Wow. Who says Neil doesn't have any opinions!

-T

[Guest TTK]

People with bombs kill people, people with airplanes kill people hell people with bricks kill people. Lets not act like eliminating gun violence eliminates violence. I am not a gun owner and would never own one but lets take a step back and try to gain a little perspective please. There are always going to be those who want to re-write history and are convinced these are the worst times and start the blaming. Before today’s tragedy and Columbine the worst prior school shooting was in 1966 at the university of Texas where 16 students lost their lives. Well before video games, sex and violence in moves or these other “causes” I see above. I actually heard a caller on talk radio today say that it was "Bushes War" that fosters hate and hardened us to killing and death and caused this mad man to do this. Can we at least put aside our pet causes for the time being and respect the victims by mourning their tragic loss before trying to make ourselves feel better by blaming?

The common factor in all of these incidents has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that people have access to guns......Virginia / Pennsylvania / Columbine / Dunblane / Texas....would never have taken place if these people had no access to guns.....maybe they would have resorted to knives / axe / baseball bat....none of which would have the same potential for extreme loss of life........this is not about the past....it's not about the present......it's about the future.....it's about not having this converstaion again.....and the only way that can be achieved is by taking the 'tool' of choice away from those who seek to inflict damage on society.....vexing their own frustations on others......!

A gun is nothing more nor less than a weapon....unlike a knife which can perform multiple tasks as a tool for the average person.....a gun has only one purpose.....to kill........why put that in the hands of an irresponsible public.....!

People will always kill other people......what is needed is damage limitation.......you cannot present a logical argument for the posession of a firearm........you don't need a gun for hunting....not when you can buy your steak at Wal-Mart.......you don't need it to repel foreign invaders....that's why you have an army......you don't need to protect your self......that's why you have a police force.....remember.....'to protect and serve'.......if you feel the need to have a gun for self protection......then your Government and local police force is failing you.....!

Edited April 17, 2007 by TTK

[jack]

The common factor in all of these incidents has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that people have access to guns......Virginia / Pennsylvania / Columbine / Dunblane / Texas....would never have taken place if these people had no access to guns.....maybe they would have resorted to knives / axe / baseball bat....none of which would have the same potential for extreme loss of life........this is not about the past....it's not about the present......it's about the future.....it's about not having this converstaion again.....and the only way that can be achieved is by taking the 'tool' of choice away from those who seek to inflict damage on society.....vexing their own frustations on others......!

A gun is nothing more nor less than a weapon....unlike a knife which can perform multiple tasks as a tool for the average person.....a gun has only one purpose.....to kill........why put that in the hands of an irresponsible public.....!

People will always kill other people......what is needed is damage limitation.......you cannot present a logical argument for the posession of a firearm........you don't need a gun for hunting....not when you can buy your steak at Wal-Mart.......you don't need it to repel foreign invaders....that's why you have an army......you don't need to protect your self......that's why you have a police force.....remember.....'to protect and serve'.......if you feel the need to have a gun for self protection......then your police force is failing you.....!

My point was not to defend gun ownership in this tread as I said I don't own one and never would. My point is that it is wrong attaching an agenda to a tragedy mere hours after it happens. I just think it is disrespectful and self serving. TTK, would you mind if I took this post into a different thread? I do not want to debate gun owner ship but there are a few points you make that I would like to discuss.

[Guest TTK]

@jack.....this isn't about agendas......it's about the future of our children.....and what certain self serving people are NOT doing to protect it....!

Anything else you want to discuss....feel free..!

[Tim]

The common factor in all of these incidents has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that people have access to guns......Virginia / Pennsylvania / Columbine / Dunblane / Texas....would never have taken place if these people had no access to guns.....maybe they would have resorted to knives / axe / baseball bat....none of which would have the same potential for extreme loss of life........this is not about the past....it's not about the present......it's about the future.....it's about not having this converstaion again.....and the only way that can be achieved is by taking the 'tool' of choice away from those who seek to inflict damage on society.....vexing their own frustations on others......!

A gun is nothing more nor less than a weapon....unlike a knife which can perform multiple tasks as a tool for the average person.....a gun has only one purpose.....to kill........why put that in the hands of an irresponsible public.....!

People will always kill other people......what is needed is damage limitation.......you cannot present a logical argument for the posession of a firearm........you don't need a gun for hunting....not when you can buy your steak at Wal-Mart.......you don't need it to repel foreign invaders....that's why you have an army......you don't need to protect your self......that's why you have a police force.....remember.....'to protect and serve'.......if you feel the need to have a gun for self protection......then your Government and local police force is failing you.....!

What then about the thought that "A Well-armed Populace Is The Best Defense Against Tyranny"? Besides that, you've never seen how many deer live in the US have you?

There should be no problem with shotguns and rifles. Hand guns and assult weapons ought to be very tightly controlled in my mind. There is no need to go hunting..... with a hand gun or an AR-15.

-T

-T

[Guest TTK]

What then about the thought that "A Well-armed Populace Is The Best Defense Against Tyranny"? Besides that, you've never seen how many deer live in the US have you?

[censored]...I'm not goin' to waste my time on that old chestnut.....!

As for deer.......haven't you heard of culling by responsible appointed authorities.......no need for anyone to don their checkered shirt and NRA baseball cap and go out to hunt an animal that has every right be in it's environment as you have in yours......that's one of the main reasons we build large conurbations.....besides which in the USA there are more hunters shot by other hunters than deer..... DELIBERATELY......!

Edited April 17, 2007 by TTK