At least 32 dead 29 injured in shooting at Virgina Tech

[Jaged]

At least 32 people were killed today on the campus of Virginia Tech in what appears to be the deadliest shooting rampage in American history, according to federal law-enforcement officials. Many of the victims were students shot in a dorm and a classroom building.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/16cnd-shooting.html?bl&ex=1176868800&en=a84a2d9cef4524e5&ei=5087%0A

Who the fuck does shit like this? I seriously hope there is a hell, just so this guy can go there.

There is still no ID on the shooter. If anyone sees anything as to who he was or what his motives were please post it. It is currently not even known if he shot himself or if police shot him.

[Rbstr]

What a horror. Why do people snap like this?

Jack Thompson is already blaming the video games ffs.

[Jaged]

Yup, its gotta be video games. Before we even know who did it.

http://kotaku.com/gaming/virginia-tech/breaking-idiot-blames-va-shooting-on-games-252702.php

[Ghryphen]

Unbelievable how much their lives must have sucked to have gone on such a rampage.

[Infernus]

One of my engineer friends got shot.

[Derfud]

Sorry to hear that Inf, I hope it wasn't fatal.

[LimpBIT]

Damn this is crazy. I just heard about it about 2 hours ago. Its nuts how people just snap like that

[Kikinchikin]

I almost decided to go to Virginia Tech last year. I have around 30 friends there, but luckily none of them were hurt. This is just horrible though. People in my dorm have been calling their friends and stuff. My friend actually said her friend was the only one in the classroom to survive. I'm still in shock about how close to me this was.

[Infernus]

If it was actually an engineer, it's not that amazing.

My floor has actuall calculated the pressure per sq. ft. on the brain that is engineering, and lets just say it's not pretty.

[Setari]

MASSACRE AT VIRGINIA TECH (fiery letters) tonight on Dateline!

I hate the news.

[Electrofreak]

This really sucks. The sad thing is, unless guns are outlawed, fucked up shit like this will still happen every now and then. And of course we can't outlaw guns.

It's a statistical and sad risk we have to take. There will always be whackos out there ready to pump bullets into random people.

[Rbstr]

Electro, since when has making something illegal made it impossible to obtain?
Yeah restrictions help, but if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. Even I understand that and most people call my political views socialist.

There's alot of pressure in this world. A large part of our culture is centered around this notion of succeding and when it seems you'll never make it sometimes it's to much.
Some people go crazy, they crack under it all. They're lost to rational thought.

That's not to say this is justified or right in any way. What's happened is a horrible tradgedy, a symbol of evils in this world. I, however, am sad for everyone involved, including the gunman, atleast untill the story becomes clear.

[Hamma]

Sadly when someone like this snaps and decides they are going to do something like this it is to late. They are going to kill as many people as they can and they don't give a shit. Regardless of guns legality they will find a way to obtain one.

Personally, imo if someone was armed in that campus then the guy would have been stopped sooner. Outlawing guns is not the answer, nor is outlawing video games. Fuckers are going to snap regardless. Either they strap a bomb to their chest overseas or they shoot someone here. Every time something like this happens people rail on gun control - sadly when someone defends themselves with a firearm you don't hear about that - you don't hear about fucktards who get owned before they can commit a crime because the news loves to report the bad.

They are having a news conference right now, there still isn't a ton of answers. Sadly they have lost control of the news conference because of all the asshat journalists there ripping at them like rabid dogs. Now more questions than answers have come out of the news conference.. they need to have a spokesperson out there or something and not the police chief who keeps getting himself cornered.

[OneManArmy]

Its not video games or guns

actually the reason this happened was because of the one thing that has plagued mankind since the dawn of time..

mother fucking women.

[Hamma]

Agreed! :ugh:

[Peacemaker]

Couple things I have heard....
1. He was asain.
2. It was indeed about a woman.
3. He was dressed like a boy scout.... who the fuck goes on a rampage dressed as a boy scout?

[Rbstr]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-students0416,0,803874.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

[Diviant]

VT prof sacrfices life to save students:

http://digg.com/world_news/I_don_t_think_my_teacher_got_out_VT_prof_sacrfices _life_to_save_students

[Giovanni]

"Shit happens" comes to mind. Sad thing is. The world is going to hell in a hand-basket recently. Nothing's gonna change it, nothing will make it change. Not the hippies waving their arms at the petroleum industry, not the banning of violent games, not the creation of more help lines and suicide hotlines.

Our best chance for change would just be to bomb ourselves back to the stone age and hope the next species that takes our place will be better at this then we are.

[Rbstr]

Bad shit always happens Gio, it's not much different now thatn it ever was, except now we all know what's happening the minute it happens.

We just need to start treating ever person like they are actualy worth a damn. Put the well being of the many above the well being of the few. It's not hard, all you have to do is care.

[Infernus]

New rule:

If you're going to take a "shit happens" attitude, you can not complain about any of your own problems.

I donkey punch hypocrits.

[Lartnev]

Even if you ban guns they can still decide to bring a knife to school, or a home-made bomb or who knows what!?

What I hate is the media circus that surrounds these events, it just encourages others to do the same and gives the gunmen publicity they don't deserve.

[Hamma]

Agreed Lart - the fucking media these days is a disaster. They are more concerned with ratings now than they are concerned with actually reporting facts. With their catch tag phrases and their vulture reporters.

My favorite is when they start speculating for hours on end when they have no data. Don't fucking speculate, report the facts you have.

[Peacemaker]

Remember the ATHF "BOMB CRISIS IN BOSTON"? Oh yea. That was ALL the fucking media's fault.

[Hamma]

:lol:

Local news is the worst, they make national news look professional.

[Lartnev]

Well when you consider the shit they have to report on, if there's anything that's remotely newsworthy it gets them very excited :)

[Lonehunter]

if someone was armed in that campus then the guy would have been stopped sooner.

Exactly, this doesn't mean guards either. If a couple people/students carried a gun in that building this wouldn't be so devastating.

[Rbstr]

TBH I'm not a big fan of students being allowed to carry weapons on campus.

[LimpBIT]

TBH I'm not a big fan of students being allowed to carry weapons on campus.

I think with proper permits and such, and not being aloud to conceal them, it is a very good plan. Who would try to go on a rampage if they knew lots of other people on campus had guns?

[Setari]

We just need to start treating ever person like they are actualy worth a damn. Put the well being of the many above the well being of the few. It's not hard, all you have to do is care.

In doing that, unfortunately, many people would have to deny what seems to currently be fundamental to life. Often times most forget that other people are actual people, as opposed to speed bumps on their road to the top. I myself treat people badly often, and it disappoints me greatly, but I'm terribly lazy and rather slow to change things. I'm not blaming society for my part of it, but it's definitely not trying to make people more compassionate.

[Ghryphen]

I think with proper permits and such, and not being aloud to conceal them, it is a very good plan. Who would try to go on a rampage if they knew lots of other people on campus had guns?

I don't think that the people who do these things are too concerned with the concequences of their actions. Knowing that people in the classroom could be carrying weapons would not deter them.

[Hamma]

Yes but he probably would have got owned quicker by a quick thinking student or professor. :D

[Rbstr]

Using dead for political gains is horrible. However this really puts our misfortunes into perspective.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/17/cole-virginia/

Barring any debate on leaving or whatever:
For students in Iraq these things happen on monthly or shorter basis.

I hope that hits home.

[Peacemaker]

Two things...

One why does everyone have to introject things about the issues in Iraq. Everyone is so damn impatient and want results now.

The other, I keep hearing people say teachers should be armed. Ok, if you were a person whos goal was to kill someone in a room, and you know that atleast one person in the room (the teacher) who is normaly easily recognizable, especialy if taken by suprise, has a fire arm, who are you going to shoot first?

[OneManArmy]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18169776

[Rbstr]

Two things...

One why does everyone have to introject things about the issues in Iraq. Everyone is so damn impatient and want results now.

The other, I keep hearing people say teachers should be armed. Ok, if you were a person whos goal was to kill someone in a room, and you know that atleast one person in the room (the teacher) who is normaly easily recognizable, especialy if taken by suprise, has a fire arm, who are you going to shoot first?

Well it only works as a good example as what happens in the rest of the world.

I don't mean it to be an iraq reference nesicarily. But there are tons of places where 33 dead can happen with regularity.

I think that puts our problems at home in perspective, and shows that, while we have issues, the world has issues atleast as great as ours, mostly greater.

Essentialy I dissagree that it's a tragedy in our country, but a statistic in anouther.

We're all people and it's the same loss of life anywhere.

[Electrofreak]

I'll have to agree with Rbstr here.

I do think that it's a sad irony that our media is buried in this event, while in Iraq life is lost often in far greater numbers on a daily basis now.

Don't get me wrong... what happened at VA Tech was a terrible thing... but I'm willing most Iraqis would look at how utterly stunned and shocked us Americans are by this terrible event, and be simply amazed that a "mere" 32 dead innocents in one day can so captivate us as a nation.

[Lartnev]

You're forgetting that the value of human life is much lower in Iraq than it is in the US. The downside to that is what we're seeing here: it's a tragedy that has a large impact. In Iraq, Kashmir, Zimbabwe, etc people are used to innocent people getting shot and killed and so the impact is far less.

Also, things happening on home soil have a far greater impact than those happening abroad. It's not ironic, it's just human nature.

[Peacemaker]

Ok, now I see what your getting at rob. I didnt see it in your post till reading that. I whole heartedly agree.

[Hamma]

Comparing this to iraq or any other situation is dumb, we are talking about the United States here, not some fucking civil warzone. We are talking about our home country where we are supposed to be safe. Not some school in a warzone where every other person walking around has a bomb on their chest. Not some shit hole desert where people kill everyone because of their race.

The US, is supposed to be civilized these things just don't happen. Comparing us to them is like comparing apples to oranges.

Just like blaming this incident on anything else except this guy being a complete, off the wall, whackjob. This isn't rocket science, this happened because this guy was a fucktard. If it wasn't a gun it would have been a bomb.

The other, I keep hearing people say teachers should be armed. Ok, if you were a person whos goal was to kill someone in a room, and you know that atleast one person in the room (the teacher) who is normaly easily recognizable, especialy if taken by suprise, has a fire arm, who are you going to shoot first?
Teachers alone should not be armed.

In VA - you can get a license to carry. Yet on campus they make their own rules and you are not allowed to carry even if you are licensed. That's great.. now guess who has a gun? The criminals.. how is that working out for VT now? It's one thing to know who has the gun, its another entirely to have no idea if someone is armed or not. If someone in those hallways had a gun that fucker would be dead or injured and on trial. Making guns illegal, or tightening laws is not the answer to this situation. Neither is arming everyone.

Hindsight is 20/20 in these situations - sure we could have done this or that, sure he was a fucking psycho but there are lots of psychos out there are we to lock them all up? Are we to make guns illegal because someone shot someone? So.. someone runs someone else over with a car on purpose do we make those illegal?

Personally, this situation has encouraged me to arm myself. If something like this happens when I am around, I want to be able to do something about it and not cower in fear behind a door. And that is my right, as a US Citizen.

[Peacemaker]

GroundChuk has taken over Hamma, run for the hills!

Yea, Ive got a carry permit, not a concealment one though. Always have had one since I had someone bust into my house in the city and I ended up getting shot in the leg by the fucking asshole. Then again Im a redneck and I need my firearms fix.

[Hamma]

:lol:

Naw - I've always thought like this. Recent events just made me turn into chuk... ;)

[Lartnev]

In VA - you can get a license to carry. Yet on campus they make their own rules and you are not allowed to carry even if you are licensed. That's great.. now guess who has a gun? The criminals.. how is that working out for VT now?

Or how many more shootings would take place if students were allowed to carry guns around with them on campus. Isn't a better solution to have better/armed security on campus?

[Rbstr]

I think having a kind of armed security, besides campus police, would be a better option.

A bunch of just-turned-21 somethings aren't necessarily the most stable people in the world.

[OneManArmy]

there's no need for everyone to start carrying chain guns just because everyone ignored the signs of a seriously unstable man.

perhaps if society stopped trying to be so cold and distant from everyone things like this would happen less.

[Hamma]

Who the hell says carry chainguns :lol:
perhaps if society stopped trying to be so cold and distant from everyone things like this would happen less.
That's not going to happen.

Or how many more shootings would take place if students were allowed to carry guns around with them on campus. Isn't a better solution to have better/armed security on campus?
There are several campus's throughout the states where people who are licensed to carry are allowed to do so. Haven't seen them on the news have you ;) More armed security guards in conjunction with that, is a good thing.

Maybe instead, it's time we all stopped being such tree huggers and blaming this on anything other than the fact this guy was a mental, wingnut, headcase. If he hadn't done this with a gun he would' have found another way.

[Peacemaker]

Half of america is a bunch of Tree huggers. Atleast thats what they want to think. When it comes down to it no one here wants to sacrifice anything or do any work to make something better. Like I said before, everyone expects results on everything ten days ago. People need a reality check.