At Least 32 Dead in Virginia Tech Shootings

Laurie,
You are totally right - mentally unstable people, criminals are bad people to possess firearms. Unfortunately, they will always possess firearms. Our current laws have done absolutely nothing to change this fact or to make it harder for such people to obtain guns because the very people we're targeting with these laws don't obey them in the first place.

My point - and this topic is an unfortunate discourse born of the tragedy - is that bad people will always have guns. If we ban all firearms, those exact same people will still have guns. I'd rather the playing field be equal is all. Without going into it, I have a family member who would not be on earth today had they not the means to defend themselves with a firearm. Their children would not be here today. The police did not respond in time.

I didn't say that I feel our campuses are places for weapons; my point just reflects what I'm saying above. I agree with you: it sickens me. It terrifies me.

"If they drowned it was the water." No one held them under. The water is a variable. The gun is a variable. Every weapon is an interchangeable. The outcome may end somewhat differently; but the problem is the disrespect for human life and the willingness to take it. I hold the criminals responsible, not their means to do it.

Dana
Mamalogues.com ( http://www.mamalogues.com )
In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ( http://www.stltoday.com/mamalogues )
Pop Mama ( http://www.stltoday.com/popmama )
Since Eve ( http://sinceeve.clubmom.com/ )

Sorry in advance but I've been thinking about this all day, and this is another one of those topics where feelings run deep and therefore debate/discussion often strikes me as pointless (and what I do read is often way too judgmental and mean - not my thing.)

The saw that "people kill people" naturally amends in my mind to "people with guns (knives, ropes, whatever) kill people."Can one person take out 30 with a rope, really?

The disturbed individual with the gun is the means of another person's demise. This cannot be understated, regardless of where the individual got the weapon or whether or not they should have it. The people who want them for their own protection and use are not the problem. But mentally disturbed people with delusional axes to grind and an inability to reason and be educated? And I don't believe that people who dislike and/or blame "guns" really imagine one sprouting legs and hands, kicking butt and taking names.

I believe that it disrespects the people who died today to state even tangentially that they were not killed by the bullets that ripped through them, and that if one of them had just had a firearm, it would have all been so much better. If they drowned we'd say it was the water. In this case it was a person - a deranged person - with guns. Not one - more than one, and an arsenal of ammunition. A college classroom should not resemble one of the Die Hard movies. And until any of us is the one who was under that desk barricaded in the classroom, it's impossible to suggest that we would know how in the world it would have played out with one more bullet flying around.

And although I'd really rather someone else write this inevitable post, because I am not well-informed enough about the gun control issue, and I truly believe it deserves its own air time (albeit after these kids have been dead for at least a day, because when 32 people are dead I really don't think too much about the "how" when I'm just thinking that they died in a place where they were just doing their thing, and also now there are more than thirty families who will never be the same), I am also a teacher. And the day I believe in my heart that my students - late teens and 20s, unformed, unable to even manage their homework and their ability to drag themselves to class - feel that our learning environment is the right place to have weapons, is the day I quit.

lauriewrites ( http://lauriewrites.typepad.com )

What happened in VA was awful. Devastating.

But I emphatically and respectfully disagree: guns do not kill people. People kill people. Please don't attribute responsibility to inanimate objects. That truly does more of a disservice to gun education than anything. If guns aren't available, people will use knives. Pipes. Rope. I know. I had an immediate family member attacked in such a way.

I suspect that if the gunman came across one person - a student inside, not an officer - who was armed and knew how to operate a firearm, the massacre would've ended.

I wrote this ( http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/columni... ) on the very subject weeks ago.

Dana
Mamalogues.com ( http://www.mamalogues.com )
In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ( http://www.stltoday.com/mamalogues )
Pop Mama ( http://www.stltoday.com/popmama )
Since Eve ( http://sinceeve.clubmom.com/ )

All over the world there is compassion and heart ache for the friends and families of all the victims.

All over the world there is the blindingly obvious question of how could people accept having guns in general society when there is so much evidence of how tragically harmful they are. Yes, all guns have the power to kill. The number or speed of fire still equates to the design to kill.

Asking what type of gun the shooter used doesn't make any sense. Asking why the gun was accessible at all makes way more sense.

While guns are accepted as a normal part of society then that society will have to accept the need to explain these repeated massacres to children and accept hearts will break and lives will shatter and will never be put back together whole again.

Guns do not equate to freedom. In reality guns equate to bloodshed and heart break. How many massacres are needed to clearly communicate this message to bring change?

What do you want for your community? What risks do you think are acceptable for youth to get an education? As a voter what message do you want to communicate? What changes to you want to bring for your children?

Saying guns don't kill, people do doesn't put shattered hearts back together. Guns are designed to kill and people use them to kill; very simple. So make your choices; use your political voice to create the society you want for you and your loved ones.

For all the families and friends who are devastated by this horrendous violent gun crime my heart goes out to you. The coming year and more will be harsh so please remember to be kind to yourself.

Sincerely,
Belinda

What can we ever say to such news? It leaves our jaws limp against our chests and our chests heaving in and out sorrow. At the end of Charles Gibsons' news report today on ABC evening news, he said, "I'd like to say this has been a good day. It hasn't."

You gave a steady post on this tragedy Laurie. Very informative with lots of links to send people to other places. When these types of tragedies strike, people crave more information in hopes that at some point the news will make sense. As Melinda says, it doesn't. It never does.

"Love is liquid. Brew and be drunkards!" ~~Nordette ( http://jerseygoddess.blogspot.com/2007/04/april-is... ) And here's a link to the blog ( http://jerseygoddess.blogspot.com/ ).

It makes no sense. This is just a very sad day. My condolences to the students and their families.

I've got links to a couple on my blog ( http://professorkim.blogspot.com/2007/04/oh-humani... ). Hope it helps.

BlogHer Contributing Editor ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/kim-pearson )|Professor Kim ( http://professorkim.blogspot.com )|Contributing Writer ( http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/KimPearson ), Online Journalism Review

Thanks Kim and Liz. There is so much information swirling around, it's a bit hard to make sense of it...which is reasonable to expect when dealing with senseless situations, I guess?

I'll be focusing on the voices of the students in a new post.

lauriewrites ( http://lauriewrites.typepad.com )

My deepest condolences to the families of the dead and injured.

Boing Boing has a roundup
( http://www.boingboing.net/2007/04/16/va_tech_massa... )
Liveblogging from a VTech Student ( http://ntcoolfool.livejournal.com/101349.html )

Liz Ditz
I Speak of Dreams ( http://lizditz.typepad.com )
lizditz@gmail.com

Common Sense Media has some basic tips ( http://www.commonsensemedia.org/parent_tips/common... ).

Thanks for your coverage of this, Laurie. You are doing a great job.

BlogHer Contributing Editor ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/kim-pearson )|Professor Kim ( http://professorkim.blogspot.com )|Contributing Writer ( http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/KimPearson ), Online Journalism Review

There are a number of communities popping up online. This Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2306139960 ) group is a place to offer well-wishes or some succor for this horrible tragedy.

Kathie Legg wrote on her blog ( http://www.mopocket.com/2007/04/lack_of_emergency_... )
NN has been reporting on the Virginia Tech shooting this afternoon and something caught my attention. First, I must say that I am deeply appalled by this incident and deeply ashamed of the University for NOT getting this emergency information in the hands of the students quickly and efficiently.
CNN interviewed a student, Matt Taylor, a junior who was just a few buildings down from where the second shooting was. His class was going about their business as usual. They heard some noise outside and looked out the back window to see some police officers with assault riffles running by. They thought it was strange, but there had been a few bomb threats last week, so they wrote it off as nothing. About 10 minutes later, someone got a text message in class saying that there was a shooting on campus and at that point the professor asked them to stay in the room. When Matt finally returned home, the University email and website were down. The only news he is able to get is from the TV. Matt shares my disconcert with the University for allowing students on campus after the first shooting without giving anyone vital information.

"The one thing that came to a lot of people heads is why with the first shooting at 7 o'clock this morning or whenever it was, why were we on campus at 9?"