Guest Post: Reflections on the Virginia Massacre
In sjhoward.co.uk’s first ever Guest Post, regular commenter Mort Karman provides an American perspective on the shootings at the Virginia Tech campus.
At latest count 33 people, human beings, are dead, shot to death by some crazy gunman we have not been told anything about except that he also killed himself.
Virginia Tech is a fine engineering university located in a peaceful area of rolling hills in the Virginia countryside.
It is the kind of campus parents like to send their children to because it is supposed to be located in a safe place.
Today, that place was not safe.
In two individual, but apparently related incidents, what appears to be a lone gunman armed with two assault rifles entered the open campus of the school and proceeded to murder people.
At a press briefing police and university officials offered little real information about what happened.
They just gave the figures: 33 dead including the shooter, and about 17 wounded or otherwise injured.
The university president and the local police chief sounded like the Keystone cops when they tried to explain why it took two hours to warn the students and faculty and why they did not lock down the entire campus. Super Cop said they thought the shooter of the first two people had hightailed it out of Dodge, so why bother to do any more.
I am sure there will be investigations up the yazoo and perhaps the university president and the police chief will get new jobs working as animal control officers, but that doesn’t bring back the dead people.
I don’t have answers.
We can’t turn our schools and universities into high security prisons with gates and a moat and machine gun toting guards. But we can’t keep loosing our young people and the folks who teach them.
Pictures from The Guardian
Your Comments and Responses
Comment from Mort Karman
It now appears that the guns which the Virginia Tech killer used were purchased from a gun shop which followed the law by having Cho fill out the required federal form to purchase a firearm and also called the authorities as required to get a background check and approval code before they sold him the gun. But Cho was not supposed to own a gun because in 2005 he was sent to a mental hospital. The Brady gun law says anyone who has been a mental patient is not allowed to have a firearm. Cho lied on the application and a loop hole in the law prevented the gun control people from knowing he had been hospitalized for a mental health problem.
The way it works is if you have been arrested by the police and convicted of a crime or sent to a mental facility it becomes part of the National Crime Information Computer- but if you go into a mental health facility or just go as outpatient to mental health care without a police or court involvement it does not go on the computer. So Cho lied and got his gun and now we have 33 dead people. What are the authorities to do? Charge the dead person with violation the Brady gun law? We need a better way to identify possible nut cases before we give them firearms. Perhaps before one can get a gun he should have to get a doctor fill out a form attesting to his mental state. It would be as easy as the form I and other handicapped people have to get to obtain the special license plate for parking and access. It would not take away any of the “freedoms” we Americans have to own firearms. There are requirements to get a driver license, so why not a gun license. No one would loose any “gun freedom” but we would all get some needed protection.
» This comment was received at 16:21 on 18 April 07
Comment from Bush
Fantastic website… Good resources for learning, easy to follow… Keep up the good work!!! Make your opinion about my resources 
» This comment was received at 02:15 on 30 May 07
Comment from Kiandra
COOOOOOL!!!!!!!! Let’s be friends!!! Go to my site and post your info
» This comment was received at 02:19 on 30 May 07
Comment from Mort Karman
Kiandra I would be glad to be your friend. But I have no address for your web site. Mine is dotmortthree@yahoo.com – Simon, you have my permission to print the address. Have a good day and evening.
» This comment was received at 02:39 on 30 May 07
