virginia tech shootings

Associated Press is listing the death toll at 31. So sad. I can't imagine what brings somebody to do something so terrible.

CNN (tv) is annoying me though - their reporters are asking students "Do you think you'll switch schools?" Jeez. These people are in shock. What the hell do they know about what they'll do in the future!

It will be interesing to see what comes out as they put this together...let's face it, the little scumbag had time to shoot 60+ people, people are going to want an explanation as to why the police didn't get the situation in hand a little faster. Actually, they never got it in hand - the guy shot himself.

I hope to G-d if I'm ever in that situation I find myself and the people around me willing and able to do something other than wait for the nut to change his mind or run out of ammo. But I guess you never know until it happens.

And yeah, the media are asking these kids some pretty absurd questions.

Its way too early to blame anyone else except the shooter right now.
We have no idea who knew what and when really...I don't want to start blaming the campus police for anything.

While it is their job to "secure" the campus, when you have a small campus town the size of 25,000, I don't know what you can really do and how long it should take...

The media: absurd.
Next: the "American Grief Industry Machine":

TV specials, memorials, endless interviews of "where were you when"?, blogs, articles, bans, protests and of course, a memorial competition to argue over how the names are placed. The real important stuff. In the end, we will be right back in the same place.
I don't mean to sound so cynical right now and I may get hammered but, in the face of this tragedy, it just seems like even when we have something tragic like this happen, we're always still trying to 'sell' something...we seem to have become pros at packaging and selling grief especially. It gets to the point where I can no longer watch or hear coverage without wanting to turn it off.

But to the point about the police, I am not sure there really is anything anyone can do "immediately" when something like this happens. If you saw them footage of Katrina, 9/11 and Columbine, etc. you know you really are on your own - and for a while sometimes... even living in New York, you know 'po-po' can't be everywhere every time.

And this is the greatest city in the world, right;)

Livetotravel wrote: Second most disgusting occurence in the aftermath? The White House affirmation of the right to bear arms in this country!

I heard McCain said something, but I thought Bush was pretty neutral. I'll recheck. And to be fair, this event will be used just as cynically by the other side.

"Livetotravel" wrote: Second most disgusting occurence in the aftermath? The White House affirmation of the right to bear arms in this country!

I heard McCain said something, but I thought Bush was pretty neutral. I'll recheck. And to be fair, this event will be used just as cynically by the other side.

See paragraphs 3 and 4 below...

Posted on Tue, Apr. 17, 2007

White House not backing off support for gun owners

By Kenneth R. Bazinet

New York Daily News

(MCT)

WASHINGTON - President Bush grieved over the shooting rampage Monday at Virginia Tech - but the White House made clear it's not backing off its support for gun owners.

"Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community," Bush said. "Today our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech."

Earlier, as the news out of Blacksburg, Va., broke, the White House reaffirmed its support for gun owners, most of whom backed Bush for president.

"The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Bush pledged federal law enforcement officials would join in the investigation and said the victims and their families were in his and first lady Laura Bush's thoughts and prayers.

But leading gun control lawmakers called for tougher laws and noted that during the Bush administration, two key gun laws have expired: a ban on assault weapons and the ability for police departments to share intelligence about guns used in crimes.

"It's a horrific thing. ... Why do we have to wait for a tragedy like this to do something?" said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed and her son seriously wounded in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road massacre.

The gun control movement has declined since the Sept. 11 attacks, but McCarthy said she will again propose a series of measures aimed at making it easier to trace handguns like the 9 mm and .22-caliber weapons used in the campus shooting spree.

"There will be time to debate the steps needed to avert such tragedies, but today our thoughts and prayers go to their families. Today, the world weeps for the victims at Virginia Tech," added Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., whose brothers John and Robert were killed by assassins' bullets.

Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., a proponent of tough gun laws, said the Homeland Security Committee will hold hearings next week on school preparedness, but he noted that no law can do anything if a killer obtains guns legally.

"Sometimes, as tragic as it is, you can't prevent every tragedy, just like a person could drive an SUV into a crowd of people or into a parade. On the other hand, maybe there's something we can do once we find out how he got the weapons," King said.

The National Riffle Association offered "deepest condolences to the families of Virginia Tech University and everyone else affected by this horrible tragedy," but declined to comment further "until all the facts are known."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stopped proceedings and led a moment of silence for the victims.

---

© 2007, New York Daily News.

Visit the Daily News online at http://www.nydailynews.com

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Quite probably a response to a direct question to the spokeswoman.

Eh, what can I say - I'm a product of my environment. I grew up in a place where firearms were readily available to those with clean records and no history of mental illness. Nobody got shot in the streets. I don't look at a firearm and think SCARYBAD, it's just a thing to me. But ya know what? If I grew up in a place where the opposite was true...like, say, New York City - I could easily see myself feeling differently about the matter. Quite differently.

As it stands, my view is that the government has the right to regulate - but not prohibit - ownership of firearms. What constitutes the "proper" level of regulation will of course be a matter of disagreement among reasonable people. All that being said, I would never have a firearm in NYC, because it's just too damned much trouble to do it legally and I much prefer to abide by the laws of the locality in which I live.

Bottom line, I feel that more rights > less rights. Legalize and tax like hell.

doctorj wrote: [quote=Oiseau]Outlaw bullets! Guns don't kill people, bullets kill people!

I'll try to bear that in mind if ever I experience blunt force trauma from the butt of a weapon.

yeah, but that blunt force won't kill 30 people.

Oiseau wrote:
yeah, but that blunt force won't kill 30 people.

Interestingly, in one of the greatest mass murders by a deranged person in recent history (more killed than at Virginia Tech) some of the hostages were killed this way. Not sure if the killer was out of ammo, but clearly the weapon alone was enough to both control and kill without the bullets.

one thing i wish the media would stop doing is. how he is a south korean foreign national!!! this kid live here most of his life.

The media and society portrays us always a perpetual foreigners. This would lead to some asian black lash. I'm sure of it.

I've got mixed emotions about the media’s bloody images. On one hand, I'm angry that the victims' families must see bloody images of their loved ones. On the other, as some one who does not like guns, I reason that the publication of these horrific images builds a visual argument against making guns widely available to the general public.

What gun laws is Bush referring to? ID and a pulse and you can buy guns? How about the fact that this kid had documented mental problems, threatened suicide, stalked females, etc. If the law mandated an interview with law enforcement and some sort of background check (designed to discover the fact that someone was committed to a mental health facility for a few days) prior to allowing you to buy a gun, maybe this sort of info could be discovered and a gun sale to a nutcase could be prevented.

I just think it is entirely too easy to get guns in too many states.

dakotas way wrote:
And in that classroom, the professor barricaded the door with his own body, gesturing to the students to jump from the windows as he was being shot multiple times. And I dare to hope that most reading this post would do the same thing.

Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, whose family was imprisoned by the Nazis and dealt with the hardships of Ceausescu's regime. His funeral was actually held here in Brooklyn and his body being sent to Israel.

This guy... unbelievable what he did for his students. Complete act of bravery. He saved their lives.

A tragic incident indeed but we didn't really change anything after Columbine so are we surprised? And besides - there IS other news happening in the world today - the Supreme Ct upheld limiting abortion procedures, Gonzalez is testifying before Congress and oh yeah - ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY ONE PEOPLE have died in Iraq because of suicide bombers. A little perspective please - I understand covering the event but the constant 24-7 of it in light of what else is going on in the world, esp when they are events that really will effect us ALL for a much longer period of time than this incidental horrible freak show which in the end will probably have NO effect on gun laws or our attitudes towards the mentally ill or college safety? C'mon people - don't get distracted by what the big picture is. And don't let the govt or the media tell you differently!

And besides - have some respect for the dead - they were showing a picture of one of the victims being carried by their arms and legs by 3-4 cops on Monday afternoon. Who knows if their parents had even been contacted yet. Have some respect for the dead and their families and stop sensationalizing/myspacing every little micro reaction.

I agree that there is so much more going on in the world today. But we have to take one thing at a time and make things change.
By the way, the victim's name was Kevin Sterne and he was injured in the shooting. He is alive and had the presence of mind as a former Eagle Scout, to fashion a tournequet with an electrical cord around his thigh when a bullet tore a 1" section from his femoral artery. The EMT's and surgeons all said this is what saved him from bleeding to death rapidly.
The hospital staff would not release his name. It was given by his parents directly when they were shown the picture by the media.
And I do believe that the media is a bunch of vultures swooping in for a story with little regard for the trauma that these people have been through, and all people in all stories that are covered.
Don't you think they are responsible for so many of the social imbalances reported? How many times do they show a protest that looks like many attended, only to find out there were really only a small amount of people who were herded together for the close up shot?
What ever happened to truth in reporting?

Subject: NBC videos of the killer

NBC.com scroll to the bottom of page. Click on contact us. Select show-scroll down & click on other. Tell them what you think
. I think Imus’s insult to the woman’s basketball team (as bad as it was) was mild in comparison to this insult to the victims of this mass killing.