Can someone how gun control would have prevented the VT shooting?

Question

I cannot understand how gun control would have altered this situation at ALL!

If guns were 100% illegal in this country, this guy would have either gone underground to buy a gun, or simply used a bomb, right? After all, drugs are illegal in this country, and those are not impossible to get, so illegal guns would not be impossible to buy, either.

If we enact any other gun control measures in this country (no guns for felons, mentally unstable people, etc.), what would say that this guy could still have bought a gun? He may have never purchased a gun in his life, his mind might have been completely normal (at least, as far as a test was concerned)

So how could gun control have changed the situation? The only way I can see is that the anti-gun law on college campuses prevented a student from packing heat during the incident and putting a stop to the whole thing.

Can someone please explain how gun control would have prevented this???

Answer 1

Gun control as far as who can carry concealed and where they can carry would not have stopped this incident. I'm pretty sure the VT gunman wouldn't have gone through the proper channels before blasting the crap out of everyone. Now if one of those dead students had been allowed to carry then maybe this tradegy could have been cut short.

But what do I know?...I'm just one of those law-abiding, gun owners that my government doesn't trust.

Answer 2

The short answer is that it wouldn't have.

What's funny is that most family's that grow up around guns have great respect for firearms and are never the ones that end up shooting people on a rampage. The people who randomly get psycho, then buy a gun are the ones that cause problems. So as pointed out, they would do whatever is necessary to get that gun - so making it illegal wouldn't help.

The problem here is that people are mad and confused about VT. The main issue is that our society is corrupt and our education system is falling apart. But people don't want to confront those issues since they're hard to swallow (U.S. public education is a disaster - no one can refute that). Instead, they do political grandstanding and blame the guns. Because when people are angry, they have to blame something to feel ok. It's easier to blame the object that was used than the people who contributed to this person's awful mental state. Gun control will definitely be in the next presidential debates - and for no other reason than poor timing.

Remember the issue here is behavior, not method of implementation. It's evident that ideas such as those found in Grand Theft Auto show that killing people is fun; this is far more damaging that access to firearms. If not guns, we'd have games where randomly beating people with baseball bats is fun (actually, we already have a lot of those as well), so you'd see an increase in baseball bat attacks. Anyone willing to downplay this is foolish (look at the drastic increase in excessive speeding - over 30mph over the speed limit - tickets were issued after Fast and the Furious was released).

Answer 3

No matter what gun control laws are passed, this would not have been prevented. In fact, the lack of guns on campus made these kids easier targets. I may never have carried a gun to class, but I used to keep one where ever I lived, even if prohibited. One thing is for sure, if I had lived in that dorm there would have either been three or thirty-four dead today, not thirty-three.

The amazing thing is that people are still screaming for gun control after they saw what happened to us in New Orleans after the hurricane. You cannot count on the police to handle every situation. An armed citizenry is the best protection from tyranny, whether committed by your government, "looters", or a single gunman.

Answer 4

It does not take much of a machine shop to make a gun. There are hundreds of thousands of machine shops in the US. If guns were outlawed, then a fair percentage of these shops would start pumping out guns. Some would get caught, but some would not. The underground market for the guns would cause the prices to go sky high, and the profit margin to go sky high. This gives the illegal gun makers plenty of incentive to do it.

There is no way to remove guns from society. There are plenty of ways to make the gun condition worse. One of those is to try to outlaw guns. Some point to Great Britian and say they have no guns. However, they have gun crime. In fact, they control Northern Ireland. Seem to remember something about a lot of attacks with bombs and guns in that region. Hitler outlawed private gun ownership, yet the resistance had a pretty good supply of them.

Outlawing something does not make it go away. In fact, it can make the situation worse, as seen in the drug war.

Answer 5

Gun control may or may have not prevented it... In Japan for example, it is illegal to own any firearm or any sort (except a shotgun for sporting purposes) and even attaining a shotgun is a task in itself. You have to attend many classes, pass tests, take a mental test at a hospital, have your family background checked, have medical clearings, and the list goes on & on & on & on. Is it so strict and hard that basically no one owns even a legal gun in Japan.

Consequently, Japan has the least amount of firearm related deaths of any country in the world.

The counterargument would be that guns could be smuggled in illegally (which is true... even in Japan) and guns do exist in Japan illegally (mostly by gangs or organized crime groups). However, even then, the amount of deaths, injuries etc. related to firearms is miniscule compared to that of the U.S.

So would having gun-control laws as stringent as Japan's work in the U.S? most likely not. To enforce laws in the U.S. would be a much more daunting task due to the difference in government structure, history, culture, interests groups (nra), business owners, etc.

It might be more of a question of Law Enforcement or gun-control enforcement. The laws already in place should be enforced and abided by gun shops more than they are now. It would also be a good idea to have stricter mental, medical, crime etc. background checks so that guns don't end up in the wrong hands.

I don't believe I can answer your question, I'm just offering insights on what we may do to be proactive instead of reactive when tragedies like the one at Virginia Tech occur today.

Answer 6

Gun control CAUSES crime.

I think it was a tragedy first and foremost and my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

The killer alone caused the crime, but the high number of victims is directly caused by gun control.

They were just sitting ducks with no way to defend themselves much like the victims of Colin Ferguson. Concealed-carry advocates warned us all long ago to expect tragedies like this as long as we have gun control.

When only criminals have guns the rest of us can only ponder tactics like "notifications."

In a state where concealed-carry is allowed or promoted, the loss of life could have been much less. He may have shot one or two, but a concealed-carrier would have dispatched him right quick.

Sadly there is no way to prevent a killer with a gun. In tribal Africa where there are no manufactured guns, tribesman make them from pipes and rubber-bands so clearly gun control is not the answer. You can make a gun out of wood in an hour! He could have stabbed just as many with a knife.

Since you will never stop the OFFENSE, we must allow ourselves a DEFENSE. We are not all of one culture anymore, so violence will only increase.

The only way to prevent these killing rampages is concealed-carry. Would you rather protect yourself or wait for the folly of police or school "notification?”

Answer 7

Gun control doesn't control it. About a year ago there was the Dawson College shootings in Canada. That was similar to two other shootings in Canada: (1) The Ecole Polytechnique shootings and (2) Concordia University shootings.

Canada has much more restrictive gun ownership and its requirements for legal possession are more rigorous than in the United States.

School shootings are nothing new. Here's an history list of school shootings going back over 300 years:

Enoch Brown school massacre - Franklin County,

Pennsylvania, United States; July 26, 1764

Bath School disaster - Bath, Michigan, United States; May 18, 1927

Poe Elementary School Attack - Houston, Texas, United States; September 15, 1959

Cologne School Massacre - Cologne, Germany; June 11, 1964

University of Texas at Austin Tower Massacre - Austin, Texas, United States; August 1, 1966

Avivim school bus massacre, Israel by Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP); 1970

Kent State shootings - Kent, Ohio, United States; May 4, 1970

Ma'alot massacre, Israel by DFLP (see [2]); 1974

California State University, Fullerton Library Massacre - Fullerton, California, United States; July 12, 1976

École Polytechnique Massacre - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 1989

Stockton Massacre - Stockton, California, United States, 1989

University of Iowa shooting - Iowa City, Iowa, United States; 1991

Concordia University massacre - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; August 24, 1992

Simon's Rock College of Bard shooting - Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States; December 14, 1992

Richland High School shooting - Lynnville, Tennessee, United States; November 15, 1995.

Frontier Junior High shooting - Moses Lake, Washington, United States; February 2, 1996

Dunblane massacre - Dunblane, Scotland, United Kingdom; March 13, 1996

Sanaa massacre - Sanaa, Yemen; 1997

Pearl High School shooting, Pearl, Mississippi, United States; October 1, 1997

Heath High School shooting, West Paducah, Kentucky, United States; December 1, 1997

Jonesboro massacre - Craighead County (near Jonesboro), Arkansas, United States; March 24, 1998

Columbine High School massacre - Jefferson County (near Denver and Littleton), Colorado, United States; April 20, 1999

Santana High School - Santee, California,United States (near San Diego, California)

Osaka school massacre - Ikeda, Japan; 2001

Erfurt massacre - Erfurt, Germany; 2002

Rocori High School shootings - Cold Spring, Minnesota, United States; 2003

Beslan school hostage crisis - Beslan, Russia; 2004

Red Lake High School massacre - Red Lake, Minnesota, United States; 2005

Dawson College shooting - Montreal, Quebec, Canada; 2006

Amish school shooting - Nickel Mines, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States; 2006

Platte Canyon High School shooting - Bailey, Colorado, United States; 2006

And now ...

Virginia Tech shooting, Virginia, United States, April 16, 2007.

It doesn't just happen here folks.

Answer 8

Actualy, there are taking photographs sprees on protection stress bases. We hear far much less of them, because of the fact the information is stored tighter. protection stress deaths are extra in all danger shrugged off. As for Melinda's answer, England is becoming. it incredibly is using CHunnel. weapons are being smuggled into England. have confidence me, in California, if we outlaw weapons, there'll nevertheless be weapons in the hands of those we don't want to have. Automatics are outlawed, yet i will testify there are people who've them. you apart from would would desire to weigh The inhabitants to the dimensions of the rustic. Granted , we nevertheless have a disporportionate variety. edit: in case you do your calculation o dying in line with capita, the countries who do nicely on having the least murders are Islands. Oter factors that could supply US hire murders haveto do with inhabitants density. What Melinda is doing is defective. It;s like evaluating apples with oranges.

Answer 9

Certainly stronger gun laws are in order. You are correct in pointing out that deranged individuals can still find away to get a gun and "go caucasian", but making the penalties for having a gun outside of your home severe (i.e. five years for a first offense, ten years for a second, and life for a third) will make our streets safer.
It is not just the laws that need to be changed. The gun as substitute phallus mindset needs to be addressed. We need to stop glamorizing gun culture.

Answer 10

Well, from what I know, the serial numbers were filed off so who knows...what i do know is we shouldn't be passing laws in this country protecting gun makers from prosecution if they allow illegal guns to get out due to their negligence like we did last year...people who bring up killing with knives...you sound like retards, seriously, take your gun and shoot yourself since your obviously too dumb to live...yeah, it'd be the same to try and stab 32 people instead of opening fire with semi auto pistols...And every country(including our allies Austrailia and great Britain) with stricter gun control laws has far less violent crime and gun crime then the US so you sound like you need to look at some facts and stop pandering to the "sportsmen" who need semi's to hunt or "protect" themselves...Guns don't kill people, they just make it easier...