Virginia Tech shooting spree

[PK]

22 dead...21 injured. College life is getting more dangerous.

[expony18]

saying atleast 29 dead now... terrible

[SMUballboy]

Just saw on Fox News 33 now dead and 29 injured. Just awful . . .

[couch 'em]

Is Virginia a concealed-carry state? I wonder if this tragedy could have been lessened by a student or professor having the means to defend himself.

[FroggieFever]

Terrible.

[FroggieFever]

To the ECU Campus Community:



We at East Carolina University are shocked and saddened by today’s
events at Virginia Tech. Our sympathy goes out to our colleagues.



It is important to remember that no one is immune to violence or
disaster. But it is equally important to know that we constantly
train, study, and prepare for the unexpected.



On our campus, we will make counselors available to students and
others who wish to talk about the horrific events in Virginia. We will
increase university police visibility around the residence halls.
University administrators and police are meeting with the Student
Congress this evening to discuss today’s events. We will remind our
students, faculty and staff that university police regularly conduct
drills and exercises to help them prepare to deal with the worst
situations we can imagine.



This is a terrible day for Virginia Tech. The anguish and anger will
not easily be forgotten. We offer any assistance we can provide, and
we know that great university will face tomorrow with strength and
courage.





Steve Ballard

Chancellor

[Diamond Girl]

According to what I heard on one of the cable channels, in Virginia all one needs in order to purchase a firearm is some sort of personal i.d. There isn't a waiting period or anything else required.

[ponyfan84]

What sickens me is that the cops knew someone was shot, and took 2 hours to shut down school. When you are a cop and you show up to a scene like that and see the shooter is missing, you shut down the school...pronto. Screw protocol, the danger of thousands of kids are at stake. Who knows how many deaths could have been prevented if kids were notified earlier. Sad, sad tragedy.

Not to be a [deleted], but I bet the first football game on campus will be the most emotionally charged game in the history of that program. I will be excited to watch and partake in the moment of silence. You think they'll have some sticker or patch to wear all season?

[FroggieFever]

What sickens me is that the cops knew someone was shot, and took 2 hours to shut down school.

Exactly.

[CalallenStang]

What sickens me is that the cops knew someone was shot, and took 2 hours to shut down school. When you are a cop and you show up to a scene like that and see the shooter is missing, you shut down the school...pronto.

I'm going to disagree. You still will have students on campus (in dorms, etc.) and in the student area of Blacksburg (which is basically the whole town). If the guy was that crazed...he would have found a way to strike again later in the day. In fact, by not shutting down school, you limit the probable areas for him to resurface.

To me, what needs investigating is why police could not react fast enough to the second (and more deadly) round of shootings.

The proper course of action, it seems to me, would have been to put the dorm in lockdown, then dispatch officers to each and every corner of campus to preserve some semblance of safety and allow for quicker response times to another round of shooting.

And ponyfan84 - I bet it will be VERY emotionally charged.

Interesting things: Current suspect is a 24 year old Chinese national who arrived in the USA through San Francisco last August (student visa). According to Fox News, he tested the Virginia Tech campus security system last week by phoning in bomb threats.

[Glenn Sosbee]

Is Virginia a concealed-carry state? I wonder if this tragedy could have been lessened by a student or professor having the means to defend himself.

Well first of all, if you put a handgun in a typical professor's hands......I guess you've heard of friendly fire. Arming well meaning people sounds great, but it's sometimes not a practical solution. Although, there are ways to do this.

Here's the plan. Since 911, we have all heard of "AIR MARSHALLS". Why not employ a few armed local police officers (after vigorous screening), to sit in on class every once in a while? No uniform of course. These fine public servants could be called "CAMPUS MARSHALLS". While filling an obvious need, they could also be allowed to earn a few college credits while protecting the public.

As much as I hate taxes, I would be more than willing to help finance such a plan.

[expony18]

you know it's weird, im sitting in class right now, and since the shootings, neither the law school or anyone else for that matter has addressed this issue. what happene is a tragedy... this could happen at any school in the country!

[Stallion]

and as usual Fox News got it wrong according to the Press Conference this morning-they have no evidence that the killings are related to the bomb threats but I bet their ratings went up as soon as they said foreign national. Seems to me that there are a helluva of a lot of white hunters shooting kids in school too these days and this scenario was started by a white Charles Whitman at UT in the 1960s. This problem transcends racial and cultural analysis and is an American problem. This "resident alien" had lived in the United States for the last 14 years. We all own a piece of this problem and it ain't going to be solved by blaming particular segments of society.

[Imperator]

As for the "Campus Marshals" program: right...

You know, this week's news will be filled with the following debate: More Guns, More Protection v. Fewer Guns, Fewer Threats. In my humble opinion, no matter what precautions the campus and law enforcement take, someone can always find a way to get a gun and go on a rampage. I favor allowing (read: maintaining the constitutional right to) concealed carry. While it is true that a professor with a gun could accidentally shoot someone with friendly fire, I'd much prefer, from a utilitarian perspective, that the professor risk shooting someone by accident than having a gunman shoot 32 people on purpose. If I may draw a parallel, albeit imperfect: I'd rather risk injuring a few people in the process of subdoing a hijacker than allow him to down a plane. But this is really not worth debating because no one is going to change his mind.

On another note, I am sickened by certain media outlets' coverage of these events. CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, etc. spent the entire day yesterday interviewing students, many of whom had no understanding of what really happened (does anyone yet?), and replaying cell phone video. Many reporters tried to illicit displays of grief from students, asking such trivial questions as "Were you scared?" "Do you consider yourself a hero for blocking the doors?" and "Will you be scared to return to school?" Thirty two people (and one gunman) are dead, and these guys have the audacity to try to get someone to break down on national television. I understand that there is a need to record the events for posterity and to aid in analysis, but must we really have to listen to "breaking news" every five minutes because some student wants to talk? If something like this were to happen at SMU, God forbid, I would hope that the media would be a little more sensitive and not engage in speculation. Alas, I could always change the channel--free press is better than forced press.

Finally, I am not going to be too quick to criticize the campus/local police. I was not there. Yes there was a delay in notifying the campus--but I'm sure the authorities weighed their options and decided to do what they thought was in the best interest of campus security. If some guy shot someone in Boaz, for example, I'm not sure evacuating the entire campus would be in order, although a lock down might be the best option. Again, I wasn't there.

[Nacho]

The only way to stop these seneless tragedies is to get automatic weapons out of society. What do you expect when these things are around? They aren't used for hunting or anything remotely recreational. Keep your shotguns or rifles if you must. Look at the murder rates in England compareed to the US. It's hard to kill many people with a knife. Hide behind you right to bear arms but you know what the real problem is. Wackos can can any kind of arms they want. If you want to kill animals hunt them with a knife or bow and arrow. Make a sport of it. The NRA is too powerful so on it goes.