Virginia Tech Shooting Kills at Least 33

The New York Times ^ | April 16, 2007 | CHRISTINE HAUSER and ANAHAD O’CONNOR

[rebekah7gray]

At least 33 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

[cinives]

Why should Congress do anything of the sort ? We have the 2nd Amendment; that’s enough.

If you want to carry, get a permit and carry. Otherwise just wait for the police to show up if you don’t want to defend yourself - and hope you’re still alive and unmolested by then.

[GnL]

If you are legit, you have a lot to learn about how gun grabbers work and what their true mission is.

[firebrand]

eleni121, is that you???

[metmom]

How about just leaving the 2nd Amendment alone?

Congress should not be in the business of regulating guns either by forcing everyone to carry or prohibiting or anything in between.

Nobody here is interested in nanny state-ism.

[DoGood]

Was he a terrorist?

[GnL]

Lets just say all the Virginia Tech students were armed. What is to stop the gun man from obtaining RPGs or dynamite or machine guns to do his evil work while wearing a body armor ? What NRA policy would the student body have to adopt, if we know that criminals can obtain machine guns and RPGs and dynamite ?

You are really barking up the wrong tree with these arguments. Guns can't prevent every murder scenario, but they can prevent many. That is the point. Arming every citizen is not going to put an end to mass murder, but it will make it more difficult. Any of this sinking in yet?

[metmom]

Nothing would stop him from wearing body armour but one good shot to an unprotected spot can still kill, troll.

[alisasny]

You are just simply ridiculous Are you a mother or wife? Grandmother? Or just an insane eunuch?

[org.whodat]

The college pres was just on TV and it is obvious the university security screwed up big time. He said they thought that things were contained in the dorm until they searched the room and did not find a gun. He was implying that the dorm shooting was first thought to be a murder/suicide since a male and female were found in the room. This conflicts with the earlier statement from the Police Chief of the university who said they thought the shooter had left the city and was headed out of state. The changing stories are really making me suspicious of the jilted boyfriend scenario.

Agreed, we once again have a bunch of cops running around wasting time dressing up in their little swat combat gear, while people are dieing.

[combat_boots]

Where did the chains and locks come from? What was on the 2nd floor of that Engineering building?

[Atlas Sneezed]

Aren’t most guns, involved in gun crimes, legally purchased at one time and subsequently either sold or stolen ?

---

Yep. Same as cars, hammers, and boxes of rocks (if the shoe fits...)

So, therefore...ahem... we should ban the legal sale of all those items, right??????

[rebekah7gray]

Thanks for the welcome.

The point of my comment is, if we can prove that most of the gun deaths are due to guns that were once legally purchased rather than guns smuggled into this country, than we can say that restricting the availability of legal guns would substantially decrease the number of deaths due to guns.

If strict gun control laws are passed, guns can only be obtained in the black market and if the police have a buy back program, there would be a great reduction in guns on the black market.

If we have a comprehensive informant system where informants are paid $5000 per gun and $10000 per gun which is in the possession of a felon, we would greatly reduce the availability of guns

[Finny]

Again, Rebekah, here's the deal:

As long as human beings draw breath, there will be whackos who want to do harm to others. It is a state of the human condition.

As long as human beings exist, there will be people, including whackos, who manage to get access to things that will do harm to others, whether those things are RPGs, dynamite, machine guns, baseball bats, rocks, foul language, or lies.

No matter how many intrusive, freedom-restricting laws we pass to restrict whackos or weapons, the two items I list above will ALWAYS hold true. ALWAYS. There is not one thing under the sun we can do to change either one.

There is only ONE factor that we CAN manipulate: the right and ability of people to defend themselves from whackos (or anyone else) who mean them harm.

Your tossing RPGs (don't know what that is offhand), dynamite (nothing to do with the 2nd amendment or firearms), machine guns, and even body armor (!!) into the equation is inane, as much an illusion of depth or meaning as a room walled in mirrors where you look into "infinity." It convinces me all the more that you do not seek answers, you seek rationale for dictating how others may or may not defend themselves.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Lets just say all the Virginia Tech students were armed.

What is to stop the gun man from obtaining RPGs or dynamite or machine guns to do his evil work while wearing a body armor ?

What NRA policy would the student body have to adopt, if we know that criminals can obtain machine guns and RPGs and dynamite ?

---

Where does one get RPGs, dynamite, and machine guns? They’re always sold out by the time I get to the gun show.

And people who manage to acquire those things can still be stopped by a pistol bullet, even if they are wearing “body armor”. Just aim for the head (or is he wearing a helmet in your deluded scenario?)

[rebekah7gray]

If criminals find it difficult to buy or steal RPGs, dynamite or machine guns, than why is it easy for criminals to obtain guns ?

[Clock King]

I did mis-speak. You’re right. I understand the the autofire mechanism must be disabled (or is it restricted to semi-auto). I thought that to sell the weapon fully automatic is not allowed, but conversion kits are available. My point to the original poster was that dudes with prison records and parole restrictions will disobey these laws as if they don’t exist.

[El Laton Caliente]

The vast majority of guns in this country used in a crime are stolen handguns. In England, with far more strick gun laws they are smuggled in from Eastern Europe. Austrialia, now with far tighter gun laws is having something like 10,000 guns per year smuggled in.

The one thing that’s sure is the bad guys will be armed...

[Atlas Sneezed]

The point of my comment is, if we can prove that most of the gun deaths are due to guns that were once legally purchased rather than guns smuggled into this country, than we can say that restricting the availability of legal guns would substantially decrease the number of deaths due to guns.

---

Just like waiting lists for cars in the Soviet Union prevented car crashes?

No, you moron. You see, we have hundreds of millions of guns lawfully owned in this nation. And only a tiny fraction of one percent are ever stolen and used in crime. That small number could easily be supplied by innumerable ways, if little tyrants like you managed to violate half of the Bill of Rights and confiscate all those guns.

You get 90% of guns, and there are still tens of millions available for theft, sale, etc. to criminals (after all, the 10% that keeps them will have been made into criminals by your little scheme.)

Oh, and what about the criminals who already have guns. You expect THEM to be turned in? No, the million guns now held by criminals will still be kept as the essential tools of their trade.

Criminals will NEVER be denied guns. They can, however, be deterred from using them (or stopped) by good citizens with guns.

[doug from upland]

VIRGINIA TECH IS A GUN-FREE ZONE — http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1818359/posts

[DariusBane]

You know you are right after all. What we don’t have enough of in this country is definantly informants.

IB4 the ZOT

I hereby summon forth the kittens of wrath.