I know a lot of our readers are at work, right now. You’ll see all of this, tonight, when you get home. I’m just putting this up as a placeholder for the moment. We’ll update later.
The Virginia Tech police chief said at least 20 people were killed in twin shootings on the Blacksburg campus Monday morning.
“Some victims were shot in a classroom,” Chief Wendell Flinchum said, adding that the gunman was dead.
A hospital spokeswoman told The Associated Press that 17 Virginia Tech students were being treated for gunshot wounds and other injuries.
The shootings came three days after a bomb threat Friday forced the cancellation of classes in three buildings, WDBJ in Roanoke reported. Also, the 100,000-square-foot Torgersen Hall was evacuated April 2 after police received a written bomb threat, The Roanoke Times reported.
Update: News Services now report 32 dead. Gunman shot almost 50 people.
In terms of accidental deaths, it’s far more dangerous to have a swimming pool in your home, than a gun.
Virginia Tech has already studied what went wrong and have taken measures to see that this can never happen again.
New signs have been ordered:
NO GUNS ALLOWED ON CAMPUS!
WE REALLY MEAN IT!!
Failure to obey will result in a suspension of your
parking privileges and a hold on your transcripts.
#80, the gun may be an enabler, but you cannot show that owning one causes anybody to want to kill himself.
The police cannot protect you. The government cannot protect you. This is so blatantly obvious in the wake of Katrina and incidents such as this. Individuals need to take responsibility for their own and their families protection. Sitting in a room and waiting for the Police is not the answer. They may or may not intervene, depending on the situation. I will not put my faith in the hope that I will be saved.
#56
Frankly, I’ll risk a higher rate of suicide in the interest of providing protection for myself and my family as well as a threat to the government. An armed citizenry makes a big difference in terms of governmental oppression (See Iraq). While one armed citizen makes no difference, hundreds of thousands of armed citizens most definitely makes a difference.
IMO, the mistake that has been made in the US is not requiring gun training and preferrably ownership. If everyone owned guns we’d be safer. If no one, including the police and military, owned guns we’d be safer. But being in between is the worst place.
BTW, I notice that I don’t hear any people calling for banning “assault handguns” (a term which is a vacuous as “assault rifle”.) since this guy did this with two 9MM handguns.
Pardon, the second weapon was a 22MM handgun.
My wife asked me how someone could kill so many people so quickly and they were talking about automatic weapons on TV. I explained to her that it would be just as easy to do it with revolvers based on the audio I heard of the shootings.
steve
Thomas -
I think you mean “.22 caliber” (expressed as a fraction of an inch), which is the same as 5.56 mm. 9 mm is the same as .357 caliber.
“22 mm” would be almost an inch, which is almost twice as big as the biggest pistols.
#57 – rofl!! nice diatribe!
I’ll admit the caps got on my nerves, just a lil bit
#75, thanks for that sensible response to #68 Gary. BgScryAnml’s statistics are just nonsense propaganda from the NRA… and his religious gene has activated in response. The NRA is all-knowing and merciful.
JimR, it just shows what an equal-opportunity arguer I am. I can even have a good time dismantling the “supporting evidence” of someone who ends up at a similar position as I have. Statistics are just good clean fun for everyone!
If 9/11 was an inside job to make the case for war, then I think it’s reasonable to conclude the shooting was really done to make the case for gun control. Happening just hours from DC, I think we need to investigate the Senators’ staffs.
I think that we need to do more than a superficial assessment of what happened. Some things really don’t fit togeather. Was ther a gun in the dorm room , if not the killings could not have been domestic problems.
Violence amoung disenfranchised students, or truely mentall ill ( not just the usualy disturbances almost all college age students experience), students, is climbing (DOJ, FBI). Psychological profifes on TV are an insult.
What were Cho’s true motives, affilitations, ect. .Was he alone? Maybe while he was shooting but what about planning.
Homeland Security starts at the Local level, we cannot depend tn the government to keep us safe, it’s an impossible task. We have to take care of ourselves and friends and take strangers under our wings, if they are in distress. We have to become reporters to authorities.
I’m older and have been through much. This act is not surprising, thats a problem, it should be. Take Care, David
#87
Pardon, yes .22 caliber. Typing too quickly.
From a blog that sums it all for you, gun-lovers. Screw you and your guns. I will do my best to support taking them away from you and like you.
“Virginia Is For Lovers?
We often get letters from readers that chide us for edging into politics instead of sticking to science and technology coverage.
But misuse of technology needs some mention. Everyone has read today’s headlines.
This 2005 report card for Virginia from the Brady Campaign is disturbing, particularly because the state has no limit on assault weapons, no background checks at gun shows, no limits on Saturday Night specials, no requirement for handgun licensing, no safety training, no waiting period, and cities do not have the authority to hold gun manufacturers legally liable.
What’s most disturbing is that 32 states registered worse scores than Virginia.
Is there something wrong with this picture?”
Gary Marks, you do see the fallacy in your reasoning though you are too stubborn to apply it. Citizens simply are incapable of overthrowing the government even if they have personal arsentals. The government will invariably have bigger and better weapons. What we must do is reform wrong government policies by stopping them before a revolution is needed. Unfortunately, that takes convincing our fellow citizens. As we can see with the reelection of George Bush, that can be a seemingly insurmountable burden.
Greg Allen, there will, briefly, be talk of enhanced gun control, but, with considerable help from the NRA, the issue will fade away before the next election. That always happens after these tragedies.
Thomas, all that would be accomplished if more people carried guns is more shootings. The research shows that the mere presence of a gun escalates conflict. If every verbal dispute that occurs in America daily was ‘settled’ with guns, we would reduce our population by at least ten percent in just one year. The claim that mandatory arming of the citizenry is a good idea is one of the most foolish the gun lobby makes.
Virginia Tech student, you have my deepest sympathy. But, I don;t think the police were negligent in their initiat investigation of what appeared to be a domestic shooting. It may be true that information that the shooting had occurred should have been communicated sooner, But, that likely would not have stopped a man living out his own wild, wild west fantasy.
Oops! I failed to respond to Mike since I usually ignore wingnuts. But, for others interested in the topic, I cited the Harvard University study that is the latest proof of the link between access to guns and committing suicide in my first comment on this thread. This is a fact, not my personal opinion. The link between access to a gun and commission of suicide has been proven by experts in the field. (Not that it takes an expert to understand why the availability of a lethal weapon would exacerbate conflict, including conflict with oneself.)
Here’s the link again for people who want to read a summary of the study:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518133
Podesta- one thing missing from your argument, and the most important thing is, You assume that 100% of the military would turn its guns inward. I dont think so. There would be insurrection among the troops. As well as law enforcement personnel. This is why Americans (including the military) need to be educated that this government, at this time, does NOT have their best interest in mind. That they are being used. How many of the troops in Iraq do you think hear about the deplorable conditions of their fellow fallen brethren in VA Hospitals back home? And what would they think if they knew the truth. I dont think the majority would support this corrupt regime.
75 I didn’t say beliefs are irrelevant, what was stated is Your “beliefs” are irrelevant
81% of all gun owners are willing to lie in order to justify their ownership of a firearm
True, but did you know this figure is only relative in blue states.
Democracy is a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.
Let’s get back to a pre FDR Republic.
#94
> Citizens simply are incapable of overthrowing the
> government even if they have personal arsentals.
Disagree. A hundred million unhappy, armed people could not be suppressed by any military we have yet seen US or otherwise on this planet. Suppressing an armed populace is orders of magnitude more difficult than suppressing an unarmed one. Furthermore, you do not need to eliminate every person in the military in order to overthrow a government.
> The research shows that the mere presence of a gun escalates conflict.
Firstly, Switzerland is a good example that runs contrary to your statement. Everyone is Switzerland is trained and armed and yet they have an almost non-existent rate of gun violence.
Second, you keep thinking that correlation implies causation. By your logic, we could safely say that the mere presence of automobiles causes accidents and the presence of coroners causes deaths. Poverty and poor upbringing are far better links to violence than gun ownership.
> If every verbal dispute that occurs in America daily was
> ’settled’ with guns, we would reduce our population by at
> least ten percent in just one year.
I suggest that you go back and read more about the daily lives of our pioneer forefathers. Almost everyone in the west was armed and yet we did not lose anywhere near 10% to gun deaths and that era is considered far less “civilized” than today.