Monday, April 16, 2007
The Virginia Tech massacre
At least twenty people have been killed at Virginia Tech in a bizarre, murderous rampage. The killings took place in two separate locations, a dormitory and an engineering classroom building. Fox is reporting that "a heavily armed Asian-looking man, some kind of a vest on, bandoleers of ammunition on, walked from classroom to classroom unloading at will with his handgun."
Suffice it to say that the recriminations and calls for changes in policy have already begun.
MORE: There is speculation on Fox that there may have been more than one shooter.
The first attack was at 7:15 at the residence hall, and then the real bloodbath began more than an hour later at the engineering building. Unbelievable, and sickening.
18 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Apr 16, 01:00:00 PM:
Hawk - guns are already outlawed on VTech's campus.
By , at
Mon Apr 16, 01:00:00 PM:
When Yahoo still had message boards, I used to visit stories like this to post a simple statement: Wait a few days and read about the gunman's psych history and telegraphing of his/her intentions.
As a gun owner and advocate of decent people to to be able to own a firearm, it's annoying to hear about people whining about the existence of guns, even under such horrible circumstances as some kook/scumbag killing innocent people.
By , at
Mon Apr 16, 02:52:00 PM:
in less than 24 hrs. the Bush administration will blame Al Qaeda for this shooting
within 72 hrs Al Qaeda will assume responsability for the shooting
you gringos are crazy
By 
Miss Ladybug, at
Mon Apr 16, 04:21:00 PM:
In a White House presser this morning, a reporter asked the spokeswoman about changing gun control laws. I can't help but think that is someone had been concealed-carrying, so many lives might have been spared today...
By , at
Mon Apr 16, 04:23:00 PM:
Just curious, Anonymous #3 - what color is the sky on your planet?
By Consul-At-Arms, at
Mon Apr 16, 05:03:00 PM:
If this were Britain, and the press was saying it was "an asian male," then I'd speculate on this being a Sudden Jihad Syndrome incident.
But there's just not enough information yet.
I'm greatly saddened by this event. It's awful seeing my alma mater undergo such a tragedy.
By Miss Ladybug, at
Mon Apr 16, 05:07:00 PM:
Some reports indicate this man was "looking for his girlfriend", but also "lined people up and shot some execution-style". At this point, so much is just rumor and speculation. But, I had the same thoughts when I heard "Asian male".
By , at
Mon Apr 16, 05:58:00 PM:
Hey Anonymous,
"Gringo" is a racist slur and I would appreciate it if you keep that kind of language to yourself.
I agree with the 2nd Anonymous that we have to wait and see what this is all about before we try to decide who is at fault.
All I know is, no one is ever going to line me up against a wall.
By Christopher Chambers, at
Mon Apr 16, 06:41:00 PM:
First of all I laugh when a white person moans about being called a Gringo. Are you serious? Jeez--get over yourself!
Second, if every student at Va Tech was armed per the NRA, there would have been gunfights over the sloppy Joes at lunch or who was a bigger whore at Spring Break long before some idiot tried to take a nervously aimed shoot at this killer (and likely hits a cop or another bystander) so get the hell out of my face with that crap, Gun Nuts!!!
Third, I suggest that campuses racially profile all (1) Asians (Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, etc.) (2) Indians/Pakistanis (anyone from the subcontinent, including Ceylon) and (3) folks from Singapore, Malaysia, etc. Muslims/Middle Easterners in science/engineering programs across this country are already being profiled, so no worries there. As majority of Tigerhawks tribespeoplesupport profiling, this shouldn't present a problem. After all, these folks have displaced your kids in these programs (can't blame the blacks/Hispanics and affirmative action for that), and we all know how they flip out when they break up with a girlfriend or get less than a B+ on a midterm, so says the racist bloggers and radio blowhards, right? Had this shooter been black, his/her face would have been on the news by noon.
Fourth, I suggest that people stop telling their kids not to apply to schools with urban campuses. Getting your purse snatched on the subway's a little easier to deal with than 9mm round in you neck (not to mention the date rape or alcohol poisoning).
Fifth, Universities need a Three Stooges slap in the face over security. This thing was treated like a domestic dispute at first, and someone roaming a campus at will, armed, is something that everyone in a University adminstration should relate to as strict liability, not neglience or an act of God, regarding their jobs. The only people who seemed to know what the hell was going on were students blasting out emails, posting on Youtube, and jumping on myspace.com.
Sixth, fire the heads of CNN, the networks, Fox, MSNBC. Yes, the insane weather in the northeast and midatlantic is a lead story, but Sanjaya or whatever this clown on Idol is called, and Britney Spears' press conference, shouldn't bear constant monitoring. (see the student response in Point Five).
Lord help us all...
By CW, at
Mon Apr 16, 09:52:00 PM:
This incident should be compared to the U. Texas campus tower incident in 1966. That brain cancer-deranged shooter was shot by a combination of police and fellow students who pulled rifles out of their car trunks and began firing back in self-defense. If there would have been no armed students on the UTx campus in 1966, the death toll would have been higher as the shooter in the tower had a commanding vantage point of the entire campus.
CW
By Miss Ladybug, at
Mon Apr 16, 10:19:00 PM:
I should inquire with my sister's boyfriend as to the requirements for concealed carry - he's licensed, and DOES carry. He's someone I would trust to use his weapon responsibly.
By Dawnfire82, at
Mon Apr 16, 11:16:00 PM:
"First of all I laugh when a white person moans about being called a Gringo. Are you
serious? Jeez--get over yourself!"
Does that train go both ways, I wonder? I'm just wondering...
(like, when I always laugh when some black person is called a coon. That always struck me as
funny)
because it's possible to roll out a list of racial slurs that *you* dislike and then mock
you for taking offense.
Please, select a few.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_slurs
Is this more of that class and insight that you were bragging about?
(yeah yeah I know... feeding trolls. Guilty pleasure)
"Suffice it to say that the recriminations and calls for changes in policy have already
begun."
Like why it took them so long to halfway react to the first shooting instance, and why the
campus was not locked down with security forces present thereby allowing the (at this time,
single) individual to cross the campus, armed, and target another building?
I thought every high school in the country had this drill now. I can't wait to hear the
excuses rolled out by this college.
By Miss Ladybug, at
Mon Apr 16, 11:44:00 PM:
I think just about any college would have the same issues with getting the word out to people, and not having a good way to lock down. Having just graduated with my M.Ed. in December, I can tell you that the university I attended doesn't seem to have any sort of campus-wide communications system, and I never really saw campus police patroling the College of Education. At the satellite campus I took classes at one semester, we were kind of isolated - it's a new campus, built in anticipation of future growth in that area. As a free society, how much of our freedoms are we willing to give up for security? Instead of more draconian security means (a college campus could never be completely secure), the solution would be to allow responsible citizens to be armed in self-defense. If just one person in Norris Hall had been so armed today (and I'm pretty sure you have to demonstrate competence with your firearm to be licensed for concealed-carry), how many innocent lives could have been spared? I have never fired a weapon, but I wonder more and more whether I should look into it. But I also have to be able to acknowledge the enormous responsibility that comes along with carrying, and to be able to live with the consequences if the worse should happen and I had to take the life of another person, even when that person was trying to do harm to me and mine, or other innocents.
By Jeremiah, at
Mon Apr 16, 11:45:00 PM:
I really do love to see the "journalists" play Monday Morning Quarterback with the victims of this sort of outrageous and possibly psychotic and schizophrenic behavior. If I were the chief of police at VT or the President I would simply state to these idiots that you all wanted the accused to have all this damned protection so now you have to live with it. I'm not giving you (or OJ Simpson's lawyers) any insights into what I'm thinking right now. If you all were in danger, we'd let you know, but you're not because you don't have the cajones to ever get into a position of peril
Does no one understand the difference between a "person of interest" and a "suspect"? If it weren't for the ACLU, we wouldn't have to do this dance - we'd simply speak the truth in plain English sentences. But I suppose those days are gone and when this is all done, we'll have to balance the media's appetite for immediate gratification with their desire to protect all the illegal immigrants and to ignore the peril that their presence in this country represents.
By , at
Tue Apr 17, 12:44:00 AM:
Just wait until MICHEAL BLOOMBURG,RICHARD DAILEY,TED KENNEDY,HILLAY CLINTON and other liberal wussietards get up on their soap boxes and claim that if the bill clinton gun nand had been extended this would never have happened Yeah like all liberals they would rather blame a inanimate object rather then the vicious crinimals and just what kind of background did this hood have?
By Miss Ladybug, at
Tue Apr 17, 03:29:00 AM:
When you enact tougher gun control laws, the only people who follow them are law-abiding citizens. So, the wolves are heavily armed, the sheepdogs can't be everywhere at once, and the sheep are out there at risk of being slaughtered when there aren't any sheepdogs disguised as sheep.
By , at
Tue Apr 17, 12:34:00 PM:
Christopher says:
"First of all I laugh when a white person moans about being called a Gringo."
I wasn't "moaning", I don't like racist labels, I don't use them and I don't think anyone else should. "Gringo" is used as a derogatory term to denote white people North of the US/Mexico border. What happened in Virginia is a tragedy, and in the post Anonymous was using that that term as an insult. Do you, Christopher, think his post was appropriate?
By , at
Thu Apr 19, 12:53:00 PM:
I am a psychologist and a university instructor who has worked with many violent inmates and parolees with mental health disorders.
I understand how this could have happened in a disturbed individual who was not being treated, but understanding the possible contributing factors does not lessen the pain felt by all who were directly and indirectly impacted.
I wanted to let survivors of this massacre understand that we share in your anguish, your grief, and your profound sense of loss over this senseless act. Here is a song I wrote to express our sympathies:
Virginia's Tears
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr. BLT (c) 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/VT.mp3
