<p>LaxAttack, I don’t have a strong position either way on gun control, but I did want to point out that you see under 21s walking around campus with a beer in their hands even though you have to be 21+ to buy a beer. </p>
<p>This is still so incredibly hard to process. I can’t even imagine what those families must be going through. It’s beyond imagining. ITA with those who said they wish the man’s name were not so prominently published. I’ve read interviews with one of the Columbine moms and to this day she will not say the names of the individuals who killed her daughter.</p>
<p>Berurah…make sure that anyone needing significant intervention is treated and pronounced stable before s/he tackles the stress of school on top of everything else…</p>
<p>I 1/2 way agree with this - but… someone has to be diagnosed first - and be agreeable to comply with treatment - and not knowing the depth of ones illness - it is impossible to determine significant intervention - well what you are saying would mean that ‘‘any student’’ who shows signs and symptoms would have to leave school - when in many cases treatment and counseling can/have been known to improve ones mental health status significantly - for some - not so.</p>
<p>There are many who have hidden significant illness - and function in many ways at a high level - and there are those who fail the function test completely. Most schools do have processes/policies in place for those situations - they have been challanged in court - for the ones who have sought treatment in the ER - and have been immediately bounced from campus housing - or worse - and have to go thru a process to be able to return to school. But somehow - this guy stayed just enough under the radar - until it was too late.</p>
<p>Well then you probably should do quite a bit of research before chosing a college, because many states (even California) allow people with a concealed weapons permit to carry on university campuses.</p>
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<p>Oh yeah, I knew I didn’t spend $800 on my handgun just to look at it. :rolleyes: Of course people buy guns to use them - I use mine for target shooting at ranges and on family property for plinking. Why? Because its fun, and I find guns to be interesting tools (which is all they really are) with a great history. But I also know that I would use it for personal defense if my life (or the life of another person) were at risk.
I’m all for background checks and such, but restrictions on the type of gun or waiting periods to pick it up are just “feel-good” restrictions that don’t actually do anything to solve the problem of unjustified gun violence.</p>
<p>That’s an unfair analogy…it’s comparing apples to oranges. It’s not hard to get a beer, it’s a bit harder for a 20 year old to get (and quite frankly, want) a gun.</p>
<p>Lax, the reason I don’t find the analogy unfair is that teenagers in my area have very little difficulty getting their hands on guns. But my intention was not to argue the point with you; I don’t have a strong position on gun control. I was more interested in the logical aspects of it.</p>
<p>It is NOT easy to get a CCW permit in California…my DH who is in a law-enforcement related field is unable to get one…this especially pi**es him off since they gave one to Sean Penn.</p>
<p>My DH would agree with your post above absolutely…he has a number of legally-registered firearms and belongs to a gun club, so he does actually use them. Me, I could care less about them and wouldn’t be able to use one if I had to. But I agree, denying anyone firearms won’t prevent those who want them to have them.</p>
<p>Regarding the shooter buying a gun - whose to say he presented himself as a 23 yo college student - he was a 23 yo guy buying a gun legally in the state of VA - and had to wait a month to purchase the second one - per the gun dealer - it was all done legally - according to the gun laws in VA. Anyone over 21 can do the same.</p>
<p>From what his roomies have said - per an article today - there was no indication that they were aware of the gun purchases - or his intentions - they pretty much said that he was a loner and weird - which the prof pretty much said the same - strange/troubled - but none have mentioned any signs of violence in this young man - well maybe except for his writtings - but we are all allowed to write what we want - free speech and all that.</p>
<p>haha quite true, especially if you are in LA or SF (fortunately, my permanent address is not). But there are certain counties where it is much easier, and almost “shall issue” ;)</p>
<p>Lax - again I agree. I don’t see how anything like this can be prevented. There are and have always been horrific events, some preventable and some not, with absolutely no rhyme or reason to any of them. There are always going to be sociopaths unless we just medicate everyone to the gills. </p>
<p>Makes me think of an old Elvis Costello song…“What’s So Funny about Peace, Love and Understanding?”</p>
<p>Instructors and others at VT identified the shooter as troubled and made attempts to get him professional help. Where were his parents? Surely, they were aware that their son was troubled and possibly a danger to himself or others.</p>
<p>One thing was mentioned yesterday - late in the day - was the shooters stalking of girls - I wonder if any of them - if true - ever reported this behavior - or is this just rumor - it is a pretty serious issue around here.</p>
<p>That would also make me wonder if he shot the girl in the dorm because of refuted advances - and maybe some sense of of what he wrote in the note - about the rich/debauchery/… deceitful charlatons - for the life of me I can’t recall the word he used - that sure indicates that he really did not like/approve/?? of the behavior of the females on campus - wonder if he felt someone was in the way between him and this girl - and he snapped even further and went after this person at the engineering building. </p>
<p>I know this is supposition - tho has been mentioned on news broadcasts - tho the police can’t yet pin down all the info on the dorm shooting. Having as much amo as he had on his person - he meant buisiness Had he had a record - he would most likely not been able to obtain the guns.</p>
<p>TUTU - his parents/family may well have been aware (or maybe accepted his differences too) - and maybe didn’t realize he had the capability of doing anything like this - there has been no history mentioned about him and/or his family - but this guy was 23 - out of their control as well.</p>
<p>EJR1 - I recall the days when someone could have another comitted to a mental hospital - literally for nothing - just by saying they thought the person was sick/mentally ill - the person had NO rights at all to prevent this from happening. That is where the law comes in - that was significantly changed - so that all of our rights regarding mental health were/are protected. In years gone buy - many a patient was held - in a facility - against their will -legally - sick or not.</p>
<p>Patients rights - human rights for that matter - have to be protected - or that type of ‘treatment’ would still be happening.</p>
<p>I am in no way defending the shooter - but there are times - that things just can’t be prevented.</p>
<p>Tutu, I have wondered about his parents–not so much that they were aware and didn’t seek help for him–but wonder if they were made aware. After all, he was what? 23?, a senior–could be they hadn’t been around him for long periods of time for quite a while. With all the privacy issues, even if he was seeing a counselor, a professor or some other support person, they would be bound by privacy laws not to contact his parents (unless they felt he was a threat to himself). If someone had made parents aware, perhaps they could have picked up on how much he had changed and gotten more serious intervention.</p>
<p>Ohhh, JeepMOM, it is truly a slippery slope. Many times laws are put into effect which completely go overboard in the opposite direction when something this horrible happens. I’m thinking about California’s Three Strikes rule (which I do support), and Megan’s Law. Yet on our last ballot, they were trying to overturn the Three Strikes?</p>
<p>Where do we draw the line? I don’t think there are answers. All we can do is love our kids and hope…</p>
Had he had a record - he would most likely not been able to obtain the guns.</p>