What can we do to try and prevent events like the Virginia Tech shooting?

Question

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Answer 1

Gun control. It will never happen because of the gun nuts in this country.

Answer 2

It's going to take a lot of money on the state and possibly federal level.

The only possible, realistic solutions that comes to mind:

1. Police presence: more police (armed?) walking and patrolling the campus. This would help to increase response time, and perhaps catch the individual.

2. Orientation: warn students during their first orientation at school about the hefty penalities for illegally carrying a fire arm (if it's not registered, used improperly, etc). Try to be preventive.

3. Metal detectors: a very costly one.

4. Campus speakers: the campus can have speakers in offices, hallways blaring out instructions, warnings, etc. Monitors can be installed to flash warnings (sort of like the Amber alert if you will). This approach would hopefully lessen the panic.

5. Check points: highway patrols do so, creating check points to see if the driver has been drinking. Conduct random checks of backpacks, etc (ok, I hear lots of bells and whistles here). This can deter the thinking of any students who decide to go postal.

Answer 3

Well, here is the main problem with HOW TO ENHANCE SECURITY AT COLLEGES
1. The number of commuters
2. The openess of campuses (Unlike high schools where this normally happens, college campuses-even small ones- have at least 7 or 8 lecture halls not counting the rest of the buildings
3. Colleges are very liberal and don't like to think about security issues
4. There are many many entrances and the campuses are located very often in the middle of town where they are adjacent to neighborhoods and things of that nature so you cannot easily just "fence up" the campuses as it sounds

However, here are a few things they could do
1. Security guards in EVERY BUILDING
2. Metal detectors in EVERY BUILDING
3. Security sweeps of dorms 3x a week MANDATORY AND DONE BY LAW ENFORCEMENT NOT A 20 YR OLD RA
4. Undercover security roaming the campus grounds
5. IF POSSIBLE, set up gates to enter campus and have RANDOM security checks before coming on campus (refer to #4 on Problems list)
6. Stricter policies on admittance (Most don't allow felons to attend, but others can still)
7. Pray
8. Hope
9. Keep your eyes open and REALLY give a crap (meaning if you see someone being suspicious or being aggressive & violent towards others-bf and new bf fighting over a girl, etc) about others unlike most do on large campuses because of the anonymity issues.

I am a 22yr old college sr and this was a big fear of mine being a Psych and Juvenile Justice Major. I had always feared that a "Columbine-esque" attack would occur eventually on a college campus and because of the problems listed above on security, that it would be this bad as the tragedy at VaTech. People don't realize it but they have like 30,000 enrolled and that is like being in a medium sized town and not knowing anyone beyond friends, Frat/Soririty/sports teammate/other group members that you belong to, lovers, and classmates in your major. You might know the names of some people in your general/basic classes, but are unlikely to know them at all beyond that at my school which has 6,000 students. At places like a VaTech where there is such a large enrollment, you are likely to be just a number and sit in large lecture halls for class with like a 100 people in some classes.

Answer 4

Hard to say. There are 200 million firearms in this country and this only happens on rare occasions.. so gun control probably isn't the answer. Maybe the theory of equal force should be considered. Would 32 people really be dead if there were firearms in the hands on trained and capable people on site? Why do people still believe that the police can help you in these types of situations. The response time alone is enough to guarantee death. It's not about how many guns.. it's about who is allowed to carry them in the public venue. Think about the meticulous nature of this crime and how much time it took to accomplish it.

Answer 5

Security...Campus metal detectors maybe? I truly feel that no high school in the US should be without them these days...so how about college's?

Answer 6

How do you keep hurricanes from killing people? How do you keep earthquakes from killing people? How do you keep tornadoes from killing people? How do you keep lightning from killin people?

Keep this horrible event in perspective. More than 100 people died in car accidents in the U.S. today. More than 6000 people were injured (many with lifelong consequences) in car accidents today. These numbers happen every single day of the year. Every day. Think about it. Should we have 'car control' and outlaw the automobile???

Answer 7

the govnrment should issue gunz to every one young and old. so if someone holds a gun to us ar threatens our life we could say "I have a gun too. So buck off". Then He will go away crying like a little girl to his mommy.