VA Tech shooting

Parent Cafe
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<p>I haven’t been online for three days. I learned of this tragedy late this afternoon. I have now read all the posts on this thread because they are all important. </p>

<p>This is a horrific circumstance beyond compehension and pulls at the emotions of any parent, student, or human being. I absolutely cannot imagine being a parent of a student at Virginia Tech…For one thing…the ones who lost a child or had an injured child have suffered beyond what is fathomable…young promising lives of loved ones gone in an instant in such a tragic way. But even for those who did not get shot…I can’t imagine the panicked parents who heard the news and had no idea if harm had come to their child for a very long time. I also cannot imagine the horror for students who witnessed the shootings and survived and were not the ones who were shot (some were interviewed on the news) and the nightmares that will plague them and the fear they have gone through. I can’t imagine even for any student on campus what it is like given the fears, plus that all are friends or friends of friends touched by this. Same goes for my wondering if any CC families were affected and already my heart goes out to two parents here whose kids were friends with victims. This tragedy has affected scores of people.</p>

<p>While I don’t think these incidents can be completely avoided no matter what a college (or society) does, I do think that the way handguns are so available to anyone and they make it easier to take down many people in a short amount of time. If someone were wielding a knife, for example, they could not harm as many people in that amount of time and they might be able to be subdued or overtaken but one can’t subdue a person with a gun.</p>

<p>I also dislike the finger pointing of what the college coulda shoulda done. Some things can’t be avoided. It is easy to say this or that in hindsight but while very few facts are out yet, it appears they were dealing with a murder in the dorm (possible domestic spat) and would have had no idea that more murders were to come later. I don’t think there is some massive loudspeaker. I just don’t know but I realize the need to blame someone (I think the perpertrator is the one to blame here) but I don’t think it makes sense to blame others who can’t truly prevent such incidents. I do think as such incidents occur, schools will examine whatever additional measures that might help in the future, but it won’t stop this. </p>

<p>The whole murder and violence aspect is horrendous, but truly has become a problem in school settings, which should be safe havens. I do worry about copycats who see the notoriety that a person gets from something like this. There are a lot of sick and enraged people out there and it could have happened at any college. As far as timing goes, I have to wonder if the new admits to Virgina Tech all still opt to enroll there given commitments were not yet due. It isn’t the college’s fault, but it makes a mark on that setting. I can’t even imagine how school will resume as usual there in the short term. This affects SO many people and I can’t imagine them just studying for exams all of a sudden, etc. It is just an incredibly horrible unthinkable tragedy. While this one was really big, I fear that it really is not a single instance and there have been others and unfortunately more to come! One person can wreak havoc on so many lives. For someone intent on doing so, a gun enables them to take out many in a short period of time. Senseless. </p>

<p>It certainly puts a lot of other things people worry and fret about (like college admissions!) in perspective, doesn’t it? It almost makes it hard to discuss another topic as if it was all that important when others are suffering anything like this of much greater magnitude. A lot of people today have had their worlds turned upside down. The stress of all parents at that school today had to be unbearable. It sounds like it has taken a while to identify the victims. So sad. </p>

<p>This is so very painful for all involved directly and indirectly. So much unbearable grief~!! This sort of thing is happening far too much. It is terrible no matter where it occurs but feels worse to me in a school setting. An enraged sick person plus a gun is a lethal combination. </p>

<p>I am so sorry for those lost, those injured, their families, their friends, those who witnessed it but lived, those involved, parents of all VT students who suffered from the unknown all day, college personnel who must deal with this, and just our whole country. I hope from such tragedies and such crimes, that various measures of change to keep students safe, can arise.</p>

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<p>sfincterSAYSwhat
I read your post. I just want to provide you with one viewpoint and let you do what you may with it. </p>

<p>Please read this article.
<a href=“http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-50658[/url]”>http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-50658&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Now what people should really be upset with is that our government and leaders take away our right to protect ourselves and others but then refuse to do the protecting. They say they will be there, call the police, dial 911, it just too late at that point. Bottom line is thats its up to us to defend ourselves. </p>

<p>This is even more deep rooted. Reports are coming out(unconfirmed) that the shooter lined up students and walked down the line executing them. This may account for the high percentage of fatalities. We are teaching our kids at a very young age all through high school that it is wrong to fight back. I have been involved with several incidents where my son was picked on and attacked and was charged for defending himself. Is this what contributed to the ability of the shooter to kill so many? I believe we need to stop indoctrinating our kids into expecting and being dependent on the government to take care of us. Its more about liberal dependence or conservative independence.</p>

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<p>They said on FNC the foreign students are NOT allowed to purchase firearms legally, so there goes your gun control angle. It also brings up a slew of of accessory charges to whoever gave him these guns.</p>

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<p>“I also dislike the finger pointing of what the college coulda shoulda done. Some things can’t be avoided. It is easy to say this or that in hindsight but while very few facts are out yet, it appears they were dealing with a murder in the dorm (possible domestic spat) and would have had no idea that more murders were to come later. I don’t think there is some massive loudspeaker.”</p>

<p>I respectfully disagree. The shooter not only killed the individual he had a spat with but also the person who came to her aid, therefore more people were at risk. And yes, they do have a loudspeaker system; I believe I heard that on a TV report.</p>

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<p>I just finished a rough copy of a column. It’s probably full of errors, but I got all of my thoughts down for the most part. If anyone would care to read over it, I’ll pm them.</p>

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<p>You guys should take all these reports about the shooter’s identity with a grain of salt. The news media and the rumor mill tend to jump to all kinds of often erroneous conclusions.</p>

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<p>don’t forget that he did it because his name will live on forever ( it doesnt matter how infamous he is, his name will live and this is what he wanted)… I bet he’s smiling up from hell laughing if he ever did read these comments… lol so the motive was simple…</p>

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<p>Just wanted to point out that these disasters are not new and that the culprit is not the availability of guns. In fact if the school and legislators hadn’t disallowed the legal carry of weapons by law abiding citizens it is a good chance many would have not died. There are many examples where an armed citizen stopped a shooter from killing many more.</p>

<p>The things we love the most and treasure the most are our kids. For the fear of loosing them we congregate them in controlled areas , safe havens, free from the things we fear may hurt them. In effect all we are doing is making them an open, easy target. Will changing this assure us there will be no more acts like this? No. But it will reduce the attractiveness of the helpless target and reduce the magnitude when they do happen. We can not stop them from happening but we can prepare to fight back. </p>

<p>How were guns used in this disaster?</p>

<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>You can bet every single university in the country will start tomorrow’s meeting with “How can we make sure this doesn’t happen here”…I don’t think any campus is immune to a lunatic like this. I think some may be too quick to blame the school when it could have happened at any large university. It may come out that the university could have done more or acted differently, but we won’t know until an investigation is complete. Right now our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, families, and friends who lost loved ones.</p>

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<p>“They said on FNC the foreign students are NOT allowed to purchase firearms legally, so there goes your gun control angle.”</p>

<p>Kent State, gun control is not just about saying “stop carrying guns.” It’s about cracking down on the illegal weapons trade, and making the psychological restrictions tighter. It’s more about limiting the access to crazies. I would feel safer, not annoyed, from having to jump through hoops to arm myself, rather than having everyone easily armed as the alternative.</p>

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<p>Janesmom…I understand your point. I’m simply saying that we don’t know the exact information that police and college officials had at the time and the reason for the decisions made. If they believed the dorm was a murder scene, like many murder scenes, the murder was over and they may not have had any reason to believe that whoever did that murder would return to conduct a massacre later at a different site. A lot of murders happen and then a city block is not on lockdown. I don’t know that anyone could have foreseen that the crime was not over.</p>

<p>Even so, IF they felt they had a murderer on the loose on campus (which from preliminary accounts sounds as if they did not believe that to be the case), and they alert everyone through some massive loudspeaker of some sort, where do these people then all go in an instant? Many do not live on campus. OK, so lock the doors in whatever building you are in. But, the killer may have (and likely was) already IN a building (early reports are that he went there and chained up many of the exits). So, say you hear a loudspeaker that says “stay where you are, lock all doors, etc.” and the killer is IN your building. I just don’t think we can blame things after the fact and nobody can foresee ALL possibilities and avoid all things. </p>

<p>BUT, as I said earlier, once more comes out, I am sure that authorities at VT, as well as at all college campuses, will take from this tragedy, any ideas of new measures, policies, security systems, etc. that might help in the future (though it can’t be stopped entirely). But quarterbacking is easy to do and I am not convinced the college was at any fault. I am sure new things are learned in every tragedy. I’m sure colleges will be reviewing what is in place, what else can be done, etc. Even so, those with an intent to massacre, will find a way around new measures. I think we still need to try to prevent them, of course, or make it harder.</p>

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<p>Do they give people psych profiles before purchase of weapons? I would be in favor of that if they did it right.</p>

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<p>Say what you will about the war in Iraq, I think this shooting really makes the numbers hit home. We, or at least I, can’t really comprehend 33 dead students. When I think about how this sort of thing happens every day in the middle east, it really makes me want to scream. Almost 300 Iraqi civilians (note, not insurgents) died in one day last week. I think we need to take a step back, and figure out what’s really important to us.</p>

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<p>It’s probably a sad fact that the image of Virginia Tech will be scarred for many years to come. I wonder how many admitted students will decline to matriculate due to this horrible tragedy? How many fewer applicants will there be in the next X number of admissions cycles because of this? This may overshadow a wonderful institution of learning for many years to come. When you think of it, colleges and universities are supposed to be places of optimism, conduits to bright and promising futures. It just goes against all logical expectation when something like this happens. How long did it take the University of Texas to overcome it’s mass murder taint?</p>

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<p>SOOZIEVT - both of your posts above - very well said - and I agree with you - all the facts need to come out before any judging can be done.</p>

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<p>“There is a reason these things always happen in so-called “gun-free zones” - the shooter (who either plans on killing himself or knows that his actions will likely result in his death) can act with impunity.”</p>

<p>Icarus, do you really think that the possibility of more students being armed would have dissuaded him? These crazy guys always go in there planning to die, just like this one (like you said). If the students are likely to be armed, his blessed, intentional death only comes sooner. But he still would have killed students, no doubt about it. And then, who knows how many more deaths would have occurred outside this incident with a universally-armed campus? </p>

<p>You’re right about one thing, though. Gun laws are failing as they are right now. They are too lax in VA, and banning them on campus didn’t address outside accessibility. Gun control laws are not just there to ban, but supposedly to heavily regulate the industry so the CRAZIES can’t get them anymore. We need to fixate on that part of the equation after the mourning period (not that there is ever necessarily an end to a mourning period, especially for those families and friends).</p>

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<p>From the VT community, and from me, a student: Thank you, everyone. The engineering department, the core and heart of VT, was torn apart today. The entire campus is empty, dark, and lifeless, except for the 75+ satellite trucks. This is an awful event, and it still hasn’t hit home to all of us quite yet. As a student that was supposed to be in Norris Hall today for class at 8am, and skipped it by luck, I still can’t comprehend everything.</p>

<p>We’ll make it though. Nothing can beat Hokie Pride.</p>

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<p>I have just finished reading all of the posts here and I just I want to offer my sincere condolences to anyone who has lost family or friends. </p>

<p>Students carrying hand guns? I would never dream of sending my child to a school that allowed students to carry a handgun. This logic boggles my mind.</p>

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<p>soozie-- i am not sure if the police were scouring the campus or not for the shooter but i sure hope so in the two hours time that students were finally notified.</p>

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<p>Sarahsmom - Would you send your kid to a school where only female students were allowed to have handguns? That’s the only way I could be pro-gun: when ONLY women are allowed to use them.</p>