Shots fired at Virginia Tech (AP: 33 dead, 15 wounded)

http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2007&itemno=248 ^

[TomGuy]

Judge Napolitano is already assigning blame to the university.

I take the Judge's legal opinions with a grain of salt. He has been wrong on several occasions. I have a feeling that is why he works as a news commentator now, rather than as a judge.

[Aloysius88]

Thanks for your thoughtful words.

I think people need to consider what the words “lock down” mean. Any action by the authorities would have a propagation time. Even in this day and age communication is not instantaneous and the vagaries of comprehension add even more time.

After getting the message out the students and other people on campus would not vanish but would be moving out of a 2600 acre kill-zone. Some would inevitably move not out of but into the path of trouble.

And that assumes that the decision-making time of the authoriTIES (with imperfect understanding of the developing situation) would be quicker than the timing of the “lone” gunman with an already existing plan. Committees always react slower than individuals.

I think we often forget that organizations made up of human beings be it church, state or school are made up of HUMAN beings; limited, finite, and flawed.

[toldyou]

Interesting. Thanks!

[Velveeta]

Update: VTech student Erin Sheehan was in German class when the killer opened the door and “peeked in”:
“It seemed so strange,” Sheehan said. “Because he peaked in twice, earlier in the lesson, like he was looking for someone, somebody, before he started shooting. But then we all heard something like drilling in the walls, and someone thought they sounded like bullets. That’s when we blockaded the door to stop anyone from coming in.”
“He was just a normal looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout type outfit. He wore a tan button up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something.”
“I saw bullets hit people’s body,” Sheehan said.
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/04/16/at-least-22-dead-28-wounded-in-shooting-at-virginia-tech

[2nd amendment mama]

Guns on campus with a bunch of drunk students?

Absolutely! You must be 21 to legally posess a handgun - are you saying that at 21 a person isn't an adult?

What other parts of the constitution should they also have to give up? I teach at 2 local colleges and because of the laws I cannot legally carry when I go on campus. Not only is my safety compromised in class but on my way to an from school.

[NewLand]

in the pc world is there any description that tells us less than “asian”?

Not really...here are all the countries in Asia that qualify for accurately being referred to as 'Asian':

==========================================

Countries of Asia

Afghanistan
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei
Burma (Myanmar)
Cambodia
China
Georgia
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Japan
Jordan
Kazakstan
Korea, North
Korea, South
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Malaysia
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
Oman
Pakistan
Philippines
Qatar
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Thailand
Turkey
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen

============================================

That narrows it right down, I guess?

[Snoopers-868th]

I agree and do we really want the military to guard the campuses or what? Accidents and incidents out of most anyone’s control happens. I don’t understand this blame game that continually goes on seconds after an incident. I would bet lawyers are already being employed. Our country is no longer safe — anywhere — when are the people going to recognize that and expect something from our politicians rather than the courts.

[Halls]

My understanding is the VA tech is a smaller university. I went to a small Baptist UNiversity. if something like that happend there they would have had cops at every block keeping kids from coming to the school and that is what should have happend at VA Tech.

[DCBryan1]

I prefer radical realist.

I think you are radical dumba$$ IMHO.

[Halls]

where di you get that and how do you know it could be the shooter?

[ScreamingFist]

Hey, did the guy really have a bullet-proof vest on? I thought I read up thread that he had on a vest with clips attached, but FOX made it a bullet proof vest.

Conjecture. Black jacket and a beret. Still conjecture if he lugged locks and chains around campus.......one thing certain....he was well armed.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Mechanical Engineering degree.

[BronzePencil]

I wonder if the FBI is investigating link between the shooter and the Northern Virginia jihadi group that practiced by playing paintball?

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/003308.php

[r9etb]

Any poster who says the Constitution doesn't work, and who's meaninng needs to be stretched and altered -- the 'Living Document' contingent -- is a liberal.

The Constitution "works" only insofar as the citizenry already has a general respect for the principals it embodies.

Once the citizenry begins to stray from those principals, the only way to keep the Constitution "working" is to pass laws to ensure that the underlying principals are enforced, as opposed to them being followed as a matter of belief.

And, moreover, as we see all the time now, the plain text Constitution becomes words to be worked around, rather than the embodiment of what we already believe.

The divergence between the principals and current belief is why a "living Constitution" is in fact what we have.

One need not be a liberal to understand that.

[longtermmemmory]

Foreign students do not have ANY discounts and no government assistance loans. They pay cash and full freight. $$$$$

[oceanview]

where are you getting this information from?

[archy]

Who wears a purple hat.

Oh, I dunno....maybe a Virginia Tech student?

There are other, more sinister possibilities!

[Dante3]

I agree with you. At this point I don’t see how the University or the police can be blamed, but only the killer.

[CedarDave]

If the picture is of the (asian) shooter being arrested, how did the shooter end up dead and barely recognizable?

An Asian dude, but NOT THE Asian dude. He's dead in Norris Hall.