Virginia Tech?

Question

What does everyone think about the Virginia Tech shooting which took place just a couple of hours ago?Does anyone know why the man shot people?It is now the largest shooting in U.S. history.

Answer 1

Above and beyond the fact that the VT authorities SAW this coming, they HELPED it by creating a weapon's free, no self-defense zone by denying the law-abiding faculty and students their right to armed self defense on campus. If ONE of the faculty or students had been armed, as is their right under U.S. and state law, not nearly as many may not have died!
I hope that the survivors and families of any of the victims that had VA state Concealed Weapons Permits SUE the VT administration and VA State for wrongful death of the victims

Answer 2

Horrible! Sad! Tragic! Disturbing! However, the worst thing about all of this is that it WILL happen again.
People keep asking why, as they usually do when these events happen, and you get a laundry list of answers from it's the NRA's fault to Cho was insane. NONE of these answers the why question. What answers the why question is that we never remember or learn from the past.
Maybe if we spent more time reading history books, becoming involved, imagining and thinking AND less time reading the Bible, being self involved, sublimating and watching the talking heads/celebrities, then we might actually learn something and remember it before we let something like this happen again.
Imagine if someone had encouraged Hitler's art, we may have never known the Holocaust. WE should think about the ramifications we visit on ourselves and others when we choose to ignore, be negligent, betray, be foolish, steal, cheat, follow the group, deceive, not stand up, you name it.

Answer 3

None of you even understand the magnitude of this shooting. I live 15 minutes away from Virginia Tech. My high school went into lock-down from 9 this morning until 3pm. Both of my parents work at the college and the phone lines would not work. This town already went through tragedy earlier in August, and it's so sad that it's happening again. Virgnia Tech is a wonderful campus and those students that were killed were good people. I know several involved in the shootings, and my heart goes out to all of the families.

The biggest problem is the media blaming the police force. I do agree the alert should have been sent out earlier, but they had no way of knowing that a domestic incidient could turn into something so large scale as this. The police (and trust me, we do not have a large task force) did the best that they could and should be applauded for the tremendous effort they have put into stopping this massacre and helping the victims.

Answer 4

Cho Seung-hui, 23, who shot them...he was a paranoid delusional, depressed psychotic. They should have closed down the school as soon as the first 2 shootings happened in the dorm...I don't know why they didn't. Only 2 1/2 hours later the huge shooting happened in the classrooms. People should have to take tests or something before they buy guns, it shouldn't be that easy! It's been proven that people like this (who do these mass school shootings) have been bullied earlier in life, and then all their anger and hatred builds up and they take it out towards the people that kind of represented the people that bullied them. Just like the Dawson college incident.

Answer 5

Im sorry luvinhp, watching this on the news is completely different from actually being there.
I know that this is not the place to put new questions but the thread is still going. Does anyone have any suspicions about whether or not the motives could have been partially influenced by boxer motives? The United States has been in South Korea for around fifty years now. Just want to know why.

Answer 6

The guy was a student age 19 years old, asian. Nobody knows why he shot people though. They are investigating that now. I believe that now it should be a law to provide metal security detectors for all schools and only be allowed through one entrance. Its really sad how the investigation of the first shooting took so long when the shooter was still at the campus shooting other people. What great security at a large school isn't it?

Answer 7

Feelings:
I feel saddened as I think about all the people who frantically tried to call their friends and loved ones today in hopes of finding them alive and well.

I feel saddened for those who still haven't been able to contact their loved ones and are wondering if their lives have been more seriously impacted than they could imagine.(because I am sure there are many people out there still trying to track down a friend or loved one in that school.)

I can't even describe how I feel for those that learned that the worst has happened to those they loved...my heart literally feels like it drops when I think of the pain they must be feeling as our entire country discusses their lives.

I worry about those that witnessed such a horrible event and hope they can make it through the day, night, next day, and so on, with a bit of resilience.

I sympathize with the school and law officials who made the decisions that will be rediculed and torn apart in public for a long time to come, and forever in private. I only hope that the general public could consider that no redicule in the world could have prevented this, nor will fix it...and no redicule in the world will probably ever be as harsh as the redicule those officials must be dealing with, within themselves. I also believe (i guess believing is a feeling.) that those officials did not believe the students on campus were in danger, and if they did believe so, would have done something to prevent it. Whether or not they made the "right" decision doesn't make them any less or more human and I am thankful that I am not the one to have had to make decisions in this situations...and I would imagine if many really thought about it...they would say the same.

I feel a little worried that one day, I may have to deal with something so random and unexplainable and I am thankful that that day is not today.

Questions:
I want to know why this man did this and if we will ever know for sure.

I wonder if the anniversary of Columbine being on the 20th (I think) plays a role in this...or was it just a random coincidence.

I want to know if anyone attempted to stop him and why was he able to kill so many with gun shots. (yes, guns kill, but he managed to kill a lot of people. People get shot in the head and live normal lives, did he know what he was doing? Why were there more deaths than wounds and so many instant deaths at that?)

Was this terrorism? Will we pretend it is not?

Initial Reactions though not thought out or even how I may feel. (It is too soon to know if any of these thoughts are valid points):

Blame the government.

Blame the war on terrorism

Many go to college so they don't get shot in street violence, this is ironic.

When or where people obtain guns and ammo doesn't determine if a psychopath is going to kill people.

We are never truly safe in a world that contains people who are mentally unstable.

No matter what the government does to protect us from terrorism, we always have the potential to be impacted by a tragedy that is inflicted by a human being.

Answer 8

It is just shocking and tragic what occured earlier today. I can't even imagine how the students that saw the mayhem are dealing with all of this. And my heart especially goes out to the families and friends of the victims and survivors who are injured. It is speculated that the guy (shooter) that was in his 20's was looking for his girlfriend though I'm not sure how accurate that is. Just senseless and horrific violence! And the school is being criticized for not putting out a more direct email warning from when the first shooting that took place about 7:15a. (The second one was at about 9:30a or so I believe.) I suppose that the jerk wacko could've 'just' come back another day and perpetrated the crime again unless there were barbed wire around the university and metal detectors which doesn't really sound too realistic, right.

Answer 9

The tragedy is compounded by the elimination of some of the best minds in resolving today’s problems. However it should serve as a wake-up to the necessity for understanding culture.

This young man came to America when he was in the formative years of seeking a role model. His father was a good man and gave his all in performance of his business. However to an eight-year old it may have appeared as being submissive to a higher economy.

At the same time he was exposed to the product of a permissive society that exercised individual worth and freedoms. Surely that would have created questions in his young mind that people could not understand not having been there.

The early pictures of him show eyes that are definitely awake. Yet one of his teachers or councilors said she saw or thought there were tears behind the Sunglasses.

We are in a new world requiring cultural understanding. I was married to a woman of different culture for twelve years before I realized what cultural difference was and it came about through business activities not my day-to-day interaction with the woman I loved.

The world is Global now and we have to recognize cultural is more than different language and dress.

Answer 10

I am so sorry about what happened a VT. How someone could feel so much hatred towards others is truly sad. I didn't know anyone that was at the school, but I am in fact the same age as most of the students that were involved. I hope the families can over come this tragedy and eventually forgive Cho and his family

Answer 11

I think there are 32 people dead who shouldn't be; all because of some 'malcontent' who probably had issues. I doubt there will be any clear understanding of what actually happened for some time. However, my understanding is that Virginia is 'gun country'. Yet policy at VT was no one except the police were allowed to carry guns. This is similiar to schools across the country. I think any wacko realizes that they can go to a school and kill people with little resistance because most people there will be unarmed.

You don't hear about things like this at gun shows, NRA conventions, Sportsmans shows etc.

I think we need to re-examine the guns and schools issue. The status quo doesn't seem to be working.