Shooting at Virginia Tech

[dcc]

Thirty two people were shot to death today at Virginia Tech, twenty five others were wounded, and the gun man took his own life.

I'm speechless.

[joshSCH]

damn I know.. I heard it on npr this afternoon.. it's crazy..

[TheNNS]

that's pretty sad.

[jbennet]

Yeah, it was on the BBC here.

[eli roos]

while the loss of life is sad as well as the affect this will have on family, friends, etc. I think it is also sad that a person, the gunman, can live and work in a community and so little is known about him.

[TheNNS]

it was the worst school shooting in the history of the us.

[jbennet]

thats why guns should be illegal

[Rashakil Fol]

Don't turn this into a gun control thread.

[jbennet]

well if there was no guns then there wouldnt be any shooting would there?

[TheNNS]

well if there was no guns then there wouldnt be any shooting would there?

I totally agree, i'm against guns and war, if there were no guns, there would be no gun violence. if president bush wants to declare war on a country, he should go fight himself,
what i'm saying is that leaders should just fight themselves isntead of sending young people to die.

[jbennet]

i mean, guns are illegal here and we dont get many shootings at all, sometimes in the cities but thats very rare. (people tend to use knives instead :( )

I just hope that nothing like this happens again and offer my condolences to the bereaved.

[joshSCH]

i mean, guns are illegal here and we dont get many shootings at all, sometimes in the cities but thats very rare. (people tend to use knives instead :( )

I just hope that nothing like this happens again and offer my condolences to the bereaved.

yea.. making guns illegal won't solve anything.. Theres knifes and many other lethal weapons. Besides, what about the 2nd amendment to the constitution? "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."

[Dani]

it was the worst school shooting in the history of the us.

It wasn't just the worst school shooting (Columbine comes to mind). This was actually the most lethal massacre / deadliest shooting rampage in the history of the US.

[joshSCH]

have they found out why he did it yet?

[TheNNS]

they said he was actually a student there, but I haven't anything else.

[joshSCH]

icic

[jwenting]

well if there was no guns then there wouldnt be any shooting would there?

Wrong. The weapons used were illegally acquired. Same for the weapons used in pretty much all school shootings...

Counter to your argument: if other students and staff had had guns the shooter would have been dead or disabled before he could have gotten off more than a few shots instead of killing dozens.
That's a powerful deterrent to most potential killers, and a quick way to contain the damage the undeterred can inflict.

As you can't remove guns from all the world, you'd better make sure the risk of using one except in self defense is high.
And if guns were illegal there's be other weapons instead (in fact the criminals would get guns anyway, they get illegal guns now as well, smuggled in from other countries), people will ALWAYS find a way to kill each other.

have they found out why he did it yet?

Several theories. According to one he flipped when he saw his girlfriend walking on campus with another man, according to another he left a suicide note stating he was taking action against the immoral oppulent behaviour of rich people, etc. etc.

Such things will always happen, have always happened.
The only things different here are the scale, made possible by having a large island of potential helpless victims in a sea of armed people, and the massive media attention.
You can't take away the sea, but you can make those potential victims less helpless.
It's rather hard to take away the media attention as well, at least in an open society.

[TheNNS]

He actually did aquire the gun legaly, it was on tv a second ago.

[jbennet]

yea.. making guns illegal won't solve anything.. Theres knifes and many other lethal weapons. Besides, what about the 2nd amendment to the constitution? "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."

Well, the one about free speech has gone to hell due to the WOfT so why not that one too ? :)

[Serunson]

Well i think guns should NOT be made illegal.
BUT they should only be made legal for people of a sain mind who will only use them for target shooting. Cause that is a very gd competative sport that i enjoy.

[TheNNS]

Well i think guns should NOT be made illegal.
BUT they should only be made legal for people of a sain mind who will only use them for target shooting. Cause that is a very gd competative sport that i enjoy.

That is the current law

[christina>you]

That was horrible.
I live about 45 minutes away from Virginia Tech.

[jbennet]

Well i think guns should NOT be made illegal
BUT they should only be made legal for people of a sain mind who will only use them for target shooting. Cause that is a very gd competative sport that i enjoy.

You still work at the range with that psycho Josh?

And christina>you - for real? wow, thats almost on your doorstep. You know anyone who was injured?

[christina>you]

And christina>you - for real? wow, thats almost on your doorstep. You know anyone who was injured?

Yeah, it was really shocking.
No, I didn't know anyone... but I'm still praying for the victims and their families.

[joshSCH]

That was horrible.
I live about 45 minutes away from Virginia Tech.

really? damn I bet that was really shocking..

I also heard that he bought the gun legally.. You can own a handgun if you have never committed a felony

[Serunson]

yes i do still work up at bisley bennet
josh isnt that psycho ~ he has a pidgeon obsession

[jbennet]

Thats good. I dont pray but my thaughts are with them. It sounds horiffic.

[jbennet]

Lol for those who dont know, josh is this wierd guy me and serunson know who baits pidgeons with bread and blows them out if the air with an air rifle. Hes scary.

[christina>you]

Guns should be illegal. The End.

[joshSCH]

Guns should be illegal. The End.

What about our constitutional rights as Americans? If we start eroding our rights, some day we'll end up like the British :D.. then our fate will be no different from that in 1984. If guns were illegal, the killer could have still bought one off the black market.. or used one of millions of other lethal weapons...