Weathering The Storm

As a UVA alum, I am not a fan of VA Tech, but good lord...

What the heck happened there?

My heart and my prayers go out to VT families.

Yes, the horrific tragedy in Virginia. It numbs the mind trying to comprehend the extent of the carnage.

Right now the number killed stands at 21, 31, 32 or 33 depending upon the media source. Apparently a lone gunman armed with two handguns and lots of ammunition.

I could only shake my head in disgust when I read in an earlier CNN story (which I cannot locate now) that a spokesperson said that something to the effect of "While President Bush supports the right to bear arms, he also believes that all laws must be followed". This has since been replaced with comments from Bush about grieving, prayer, etc. etc.

So in case you forgot folks, guns don't kill people, people kill people.

Or should that be, "People with easily obtainable handguns kill people"?

I always loved Chris Rock's solution of making bullets $5,000 each.

Pork Roll, the kind of carnage that unfortunately occurred today at Virginia Tech, for all your attempted smartness, probably did not occur with an "easily obtainable handgun." Certainly it was something on full auto, more likely an illegally converted assault rifle or even an Ingram or a Tec-9 (the sort of weaponry that rappers rhapsodize so about) than a 9mm Glock. It takes quite a bit of firepower to generate so many deaths so quickly.

In any event, you might have waited until the dead are somewhat colder than they currently are to inveigh as if the matter is somehow at least partly President Bush's fault (let alone that of deerhunters nationwide). And even until some ballistics evidence is in.

The idea is to hold one's rash tongue until AFTER the rumors have subsided, not before they arise or during their brief heyday. One such rumor going round this morning, after all, was that the perpetrator of such slaughter was an "Asian-looking man" searching for his "girlfriend." Would you then condemn all Asians, or even the concept of romance, thwarted or otherwise? Really, the President is not at fault here. Nor are any of the Democrats who consistently assure us (Senator Webb of VA, who genuinely totes a gun, immediately comes to mind, as does Governor Landrieu of LA) that they have nothing against hunting and even hunt themselves.

Cathar,

Slow down old timer, I think Pork Roll was simply commenting on the appropriateness of Bush's response, ie: sadness and condolence weren't the first things he (Bush) thought of.

Although, America has a murder rate that far exceeds that of any other western nation. I'd be interested to know how other societies treat personal gun ownership. For example, I know every adult Israeli keeps their own weapon from the Army, but you don't hear about large scale Israeli-on-Israeli shootings.

No, perhaps the availability of weapons is a part of the problem, but there seems to be something particular to American culture that fosters these incidents. No, no I'm not knocking the good ol'US of A, but within our society, we should be able to have an honest conversation about the roots of civil violence even if it leads us down some dark alleys of our own culture.

"...but there seems to be something particular to American culture that fosters these incidents."

This is true but I am not sure what it is. American history is replete with violence but I'm not sure if it's something inherent in American culture or something else entirely.

Cather, that was the type of reflexive response (i.e., "knee-jerk") that one might expect from your arch-nemesis here ("HWSNBN"), not you.

I do not yet know (nobody does, except perhaps for the authorities) how "easily-obtainable" were the gun(s) used in this massacre. However, all the news reports have described the gunman as being armed with handguns. In fact, I just watched an interview on CNN with one Erin Sheehan (a shaved-headed young woman who, save for her thick-rimmed glasses, bears a resemblance to Sinead O'Connor), who survived the second shooting spree in Norris Hall by playing dead. She described the gunman as possessing what appeared to be a single handgun, confirming earlier reports.

Erin did mention that the gunman was wearing what may have been a bandolier. So, I suppose one lone gunman armed with a single semi-automatic handgun and many extra clips of ammo could very easily walk from classroom to classroom, picking off terrified and unarmed students. Especially easily since the first victims were caught completely unawares.

Oh, and Erin too said he was "Asian-looking".

But you read far too much into my comments to impute that I was somehow blaming Bush, deerhunters, or anybody else other than the gunman for this tragedy. Really, that's quite a leap, don't you think? I mentioned Bush simply because I found that comment by his spokesperson to be particularly repugnant at a time like this. Yes, the bodies are not even cold yet, and the first impulse was to rally 'round the second amendment.

Yet it is the mentality of folks like Bush, the NRA, et al (et tu, Cathar?) that obstruct the national debate on how meaningful handgun control legislation could be one part of a successful strategy to reduce violent crime in this country. While I don't care to partake in the manly sport of blowing away furry woodland creatures myself, I would not deny others the right to do so. The only hunting I seek to end is the hunt for humans.

Certainly it was something on full auto

Thats what I thought, too, but the news reports indicate the weapon was a common .45-caliber semi-auto handgun. He just stood there, pulling the trigger, reloading the magazine, very cool-headed, practiced or trained.

If schools are "sacred", how does one install enough security to prevent this kind of tragedy without removing the open atmosphere that encourages learning?

If schools are "sacred", how does one install enough security to prevent this kind of tragedy without removing the open atmosphere that encourages learning?

I don't know about schools being "sacred", but short of implementing prison-style security measures (fences, guards, electronic door locks, surveillance systems, etc.), I do not see how this could be accomplished. And aside from being impossibly impractical, the cost would be prohibitive.

But without meaning to diminish the magnitude of the tragedy at Virgina Tech, incidents of this magnitude are still relatively rare compared to the leading causes of death for children and young adults, most notably auto accidents and suicide.

Yet aside from the incident response plans that many schools and police agencies adopted after Columbine, there are probably other things to be done. I still maintain that this carnage is one price we pay for living in a society with unfettered access to firearms. Easy access to guns by disturbed individuals can never have a happy ending.

I also cannot help but think the glorification of violence in our entertainment media must somehow play a part in these incidents as well.

"I still maintain that this carnage is one price we pay for living in a society with unfettered access to firearms."

But why now? We've had access to firearms since the beginning. And, with the exception of Charles Whitman in 1966 at the U of T, all of the mass school shootings took place in the last decade or so.

There's something else going on. Maybe this: "...the glorification of violence in our entertainment media..." But I don't think that tells the whole story.

There's something else going on. Maybe this: "...the glorification of violence in our entertainment media..." But I don't think that tells the whole story.

My $.02 on this matter of "cause and effect":

A) With the ever increasing urbanization of suburbia and suburban culture, there is increased gang activity or, at the very least, the perception that such activity is something to aspire to. In communities where there actually are gangs, illegal handguns ("Saturday Night Specials" if you're of an older generation) are pretty easily obtained.

B) It's not 1957 anymore and the town quarterback isn't allowed to shove people into lockers with impunity... Or so the media wants you to believe. The truth of the matter is that bullying and the high school caste system is still in full effect. After Columbine happened several of my friends and I (having been disenfranchised suburban youths with an affection for black clothing and trench coats) were given an even harder time by the schools "cool" kids because they thought we might "pull a Columbine." Having been involved in the Rocky Horror community up until only a year or so ago, I still hear stories from our mostly HS aged audience about tales of the socially elite picking on people for nothing more than the clothes they wear.

C) To an incredibly small degree, the access to shooting video games helps to desensitize people to real life violence. Now, I like to unwind with a little Grand Theft Auto as much as the next guy, but not all of us have that ability to place that squarely in the "fantasy" part of our brains.

Point B can usually be defused with a healthy dose of C, so long as the person in question can 1) get all of their frustrations out on the video game and 2) keep the mentality that the video game is the place for violence, not real life. But, if the stresses in real life become to great, it is all too easy to access the guns in point A.

Not that I'm saying that this is the case in VA Tech or (if it is) that in some strange way the actions of a few students brought this down upon the heads of many. Ultimately, the fault lies with the shooter. I'm just saying that there is always a reason and (if my guess is correct), the current school caste system is a breeding ground for this instability and the continued urbanization of suburbia is an excellent facilitator.

I agree that the increasing levels of acceptance of violence in our culture has a catalytic affect on violence itself, but the blame should be shared by not only video games but also tv, film, video, internet, music ... all of these "channels" create a culture that desensitizes us to violence and propagates the myth that there are no consequences for such actions.

On the other hand, there will always be the exceptional factor that causes someone to make the jump from the emotional outburst of saying "I will kill you" to actually planning and carrying-out the actions. Maybe more psychological screening is necessary in our culture—as well as rehabilitation programs—to avoid such personalities making that tragic jump.

From CNN - "A source familiar with the investigation said the weapons found at Norris were a Walther .22-caliber semi-automatic and a 9 mm Glock -- both with the serial numbers filed off."
Makes you wonder how easy it is for an alien student from South Korea to obtain "hot" guns.

The account I read said that they also located receipts for these weapons in his backpack. So if he had receipts, they had to be legal purchases, no? I am totally confused.

From AP:

Police identified the classroom shooter as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior from South Korea who was in the English department at Virginia Tech and lived in a different dorm on campus. Cho committed suicide after the attacks, and there was no indication Tuesday of any possible motive.

"He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him," school spokesman Larry Hincker said.