Comments | volyund: Virginia Tech

volyund

Virginia Tech

Apr 16, 2007 23:20

Worst U.S. shooting ever kills 33 on Va. campus

What amazes me is not even the University's slow response (2 shot dead, suspect on the run, not gonna interfere with classes, right?), but that this happened as police was (or should have been) present on campus, investigating the previous murder.

I am a university student as well, and so I know the ( Read more... )

Comments 18

hiroto April 17 2007, 07:25:46 UTC

that's a stupid police regulation D:

I have a friend who goes to that university, and I was worried sick. He's ok, but the police should have been better at hadling this.

volyund April 17 2007, 08:21:10 UTC

OMG that must have been horrible. I'm glad that your friend was OK.

And its not really a police regulation, it just means you can't blame or sue a police for not protecting people, or not acting to prevent somebody from getting killed. But then if you can't protect yourself, and police don't have legal duty to protect you, then you're basically screwed. I just think it's somewhat unfair. But as my aunt likes to say "Life is unfair."

matsulika April 17 2007, 12:19:26 UTC

In my country the Court think just the same. There was a case of a woman that went to a park to make exercises at 8 pm and got raped, she went against the State and the decision was no can do, you contributed for the crime.
But the worst thing is: YOU CAN'T HAVE A GUN! Good citizens can't have guns even in their houses, it's a crime. As criminals don't give a damn about it, they have lots. As a result citizens are just like the ducks in a target shooting. (is it called like that?)
So, in my country, when criminals stop a bus and burn it down with 28 people inside, the family of the dead won't see a good indemnity for decades, and the others will have to pay for the hospitalization expenses and the long treatment on their own. (and now this kind of act is like a new trend for criminals, in the past they used to let people get out of the bus)

hiroto April 17 2007, 20:56:51 UTC

yeah, that is unfair... they can't be blamed if they don't do their job right.

sho_sick April 17 2007, 17:43:28 UTC

that is kinda screwed-up isn't it???
my condolences, guys... =S

zeeta4 April 18 2007, 17:30:33 UTC

Seven hungarian students study in that University (I'm hungarian). They were not hurt, but they were really scared. Today in the newspaper I have read about a professor age 75!), who defended the class he was teaching. He kept out the guy while his students escaped through the window. Then he let go of the door, and the guy killed him. He is a real heroe! I'm a university student too, and it is scary to think that this can happen. Altrough in the universities in Hungary we have a lot of officers in the entrance, so I think if someone wants to do the same, we could escape first. But maybe not, here didn't happen anything like that before, so I don't relly know. By the way, here you can have a gun, if you have a very firm reason and permission. But only for SELF-defense! My condolences.

zeeta4 April 19 2007, 04:45:49 UTC

Ah, of course, guns are prohibited in campus here, too!

volyund April 19 2007, 06:53:19 UTC

In US in most states (except New York and Washington DC) you can own a gun without any special permission as long as you are not a convicted felon. However, any institution or a company has a right to not allow firearm on it's property, and as far as I know all schools and universities are firearm-free.

aokusa April 19 2007, 02:40:33 UTC

I'm also a university student. I go to University of Texas at Austin, so we have already had a shooting happen here before (a guy killed 16 people). However, now we have a lot higher security measures and a campus-wide alarm system that everybody can hear.

That police statement is scary but I think it is very rare that a police man won't help you. (I hope)

I have guns at home and in my apartment that I can protect myself with, but at school we can't bring weapons for self-defense. It's not such a big deal but they would come in handy if someone decides to shoot at people again.

niedy April 19 2007, 17:48:27 UTC

No offense, but if the US firearm laws were more stict, fewer people would be killed, i think... I know, the Americans think its their right to "protect" themselves... but if noone had a gun... who would need one to protect themselves? In Austria only a few people are actually allowed to have a gun (and if they have one, there are strict rules to be followed... like bullets and weapon need to be kept seperately in safes and stuff)... and we do not have any security at schools or university... and we're still alive... we too have had murders happen in schools... but all in all there were like 4-5 deaths... and I'm not sure, but I do think the police here MUST protect people...

volyund April 19 2007, 18:10:09 UTC

Big part of me agrees with you completely. I lived in Japan before and guns are prohibited there. So when students lost control, maximum they did was stab somebody. And you can't stab too many people before getting held down ( ... )

mahchan April 19 2007, 21:21:02 UTC

although I agree with you guys on the whole thing... I think it's not the arms itself the problem... the thing is not "I can have" or "I can't have" guns... but the society, the enviroment itself... it's pretty much more a healthy mind than anything else... it's not a problem if I have a gun once I know the law and have morals... if I lose control, I can't have a gun... so a test should be done for people to 'keep guns'... but why do they lose control?

When I heard about the whole thing I was like... "why? what was happening to him? what made he do it???" maybe the fact I study psychology explain why my first thought was that and not "oh! what a tragedy!"... But if people are emotionally/physically healthy they wouldn't go killing people... maybe I'm wrong... but society, better, world in general, is at fault... so things like that just might happen over and over till someone find what's "wrong" and "fix it"....

just personal point of view... ^^

volyund April 27 2007, 20:52:36 UTC

This is not really the "reason" but in every human population there will always be the ones who go crazy once in a while. That's regardless of the society or the reasons of why they loose control. And I doubt our study of psychology will prevent future cases.

What can be done to prevent future cases like this? I really just don't know, other than of course evacuating or at least notifying students in a timely manner once there is a shooting on campus.