Another school shooting, Virginia

[Ganoderma]

i am sure many have heard this. 33 people dead at a school shotting in virginia USA. It's no wonder school sare starting to treat their students like prisoners. how long until we wear bullet proof vests?

Dozens killed in Virginia Tech shooting spree : Top Stories : News : Sympatico / MSN

thoughts, opinions?

[Mercedes Benzene]

http://hypography.com/forums/lounge/...tml#post170615
Very sad indeed.
Disgusting.

[Ganoderma]

yes, very sad. Even more embarassing. More proof that humans need some kind of control over dangerous goods. I am canadian and have purchased firearms in oregon...it is so easy to buy guns there. their requirments were (this is only 6/7 years ago) you need t be 18+ and a citizen of Oregon. handguns you needed to be 21 and something else i forget. anyway, i was 17 with my friend and we bought a .22 cal rifle to take hiking. i am under 18 and not even american. that scared me a little bit.

although not perfect i like canadas laws much more for gun control. you need to take a course, pass a test and buy permits. that and you can only buy from special stores with appropriate licensing. much safer, and we have no school rampages (with guns). something is wrong with our "civilized" west

that said there are some pretty scary psycho people here in taiwan where there are NO guns allowed...enter the sword (among others).

[CraigD]

This is a very emotion-laden event for me and my family.

Both of my parents have degrees from Va Tech. I went to half a dozen conferences there, and worked for several months in the IT group of their School of Veterinary Medicine. In the 1980s, my SCA shire was associated with Backsburg’s barony. My mom’s boyfriend lives in Blacksburg (but has no direct connection with the school).

It’s been decades since I had any personal friends there, but still think of the Tech campus (in the ‘80s, we commonly referred to Va Tech as VPI, for Virginia Polytechnic Institute) as like home. The images of the violence there were, therefore, eerie.

Though the deaths and injuries of so many people are terrible, I’m inspired by the prevalent response of the students, faculty, staff, police, and community to continue the schools mission of education and community building, viewing this tragedy as unavoidable act of senseless, random violence, and by the calm heroics of many of the students directly threatened in the shootings. Without the actions of several students, such as those who placed themselves literally in the line of fire while blocking a door against the return of the killer to the first classroom to be attacked, more people almost certainly would have been killed.

I’m less favorable disposed toward the reaction and behavior of the several news agencies that have reported the massacre, who, unlike the people of Blacksburg, have tended to focus on finding fault and laying blame. Although the next days and weeks will surely reveal many things that could have been done differently to prevent many of the deaths and injuries, I believe everyone charged with protecting their people were acting to the limits of their ability, judgment, and luck. Although lessons should be learned and new safeguards implemented, blame, IMHO, serves no one in the present situation.

Of the people arguing that Virginia’s unusually permissive gun ownership laws and policies are to blame for the massacre, and especially those arguing that it could have been prevented if a recent proposal to allow teachers and students were allowed to be armed on campus were not rejected by state lawmakers, my reaction borders on contempt. I hope their efforts to turn this local tragedy to the advantage of their varied agendas fail.

[tmaromine]

My science teacher has a son who goes there – he called to tell he was ok. He told her that his roommate was trying to leave one of the buildings, when he walked down a staircase. . .only to find a dead student. It is quite saddening. I'm only about 4 hours from there...

The rest of last period (science), we just watched some online news videos. It is utterly saddening, and it's a shame the shooter died. As I see it, he deserves to regret every one of thirty lifes. (Or however many lives it is.)

[Freddy]

The shooter, a 23 year old VT student from South Korea, walked into a gun shop presented a Virginia drivers license, green card, and written proof of an address and bought a handgun. It was all legal in VA.

In MA a citizen needs to apply for either a license to carry or target practice, submit to a background check/CORI, finger prints and a photo, and identification before a five day waiting period to buy a handgun, then only if the local police chief approves the permit. It is difficult to buy a handgun legally in MA.

This all begs the question, should non-citizens be allowed to own and carry firearms in the US?

My answer, No Freakin' way!!!

[Buffy]

This whole thing is numbing. A good friend of mine called me today to let me know her niece and nephew who both go to VT are okay, but her nephew's roommate was shot three times and injured and several of her niece's closest friends were killed and one seriously injured.

We also have a new member here who registered literally minutes before the shooting started yesterday morning who we have not heard back from, which is not surprising, but makes all of us concerned for her welfare.

What is really sick though is the way some of the wackos are responding to this....

Please say a prayer or better, do something--anything--in your daily life that helps people get along together better.

Not very cheery today,
Buffy

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by Buffy

What is really sick though is the way some of the wackos are responding to this

Really.

What else to say. Virginia Tech is all over the news here too, of course. Totally, incredibly insane.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by Freddy

This all begs the question, should non-citizens be allowed to own and carry firearms in the US?

My answer, No Freakin' way!!!

And this would help.... How?

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

And this would help.... How?

So walking into a gun store buying a handgun on the spot, he did pass a US background check, filing off the serial numbers and then planning this sick attack, would not be helped by limiting who can and cannot legally own firearms in the US?

It is my personal belief that non-citizens be denied access to firearms. When you live in a neighborhood where Jamaicans, Brazilians, Dominicans, and other foreigners own legal or illegal firearms I might sleep a little better. Those are the groups who over the last few years who have been arrested for drug dealing and firearms charges in my neighborhood. I am sure citizens also engage in these behaviors, but lately no arrests have been made in my neighborhood.