Virginia Tech shooting - at least 32 dead

this is obviously something more deeply rooted than that he had a gun, but for fucks sake, when concidering the magnitude of this tragedy the gun-control laws play a big part for sure, saying theyre not is just naive, you might as well say that if everyone in that classroom had been packing they would have been alive today. (ironically concidering the current laws it is perfectly possible)

in sweden a 23year old student can not get a gun, I can not get a gun.
and IF he has the right kind of underground connections to be able to get a gun it would be some rusty revolver from former soviet, he wouldnt be able to show it to anyone and he proboably wouldnt be able to afford it in the first place, he certainly wouldnt be able to execute 32 people with it.

when the police make a big bust for illegal weapons (and they do) its atleast page 2 news here and the picture looks like something chuck norris would have left behind in the late 70s...

sure anyone can still kill their girlfriend but some average enraged joe going on a random killingspree with a bunch of automatics just isnt going to happen here, it is not possible without a decade of planning.

 

After an event like this occurs there is an shock factor that seems to affect people deeply. If you take a tragic incident such as this then it infects people with those emotions as they attempt to make some sort of sense of them. It is human nature. Another aspect of this is that people feel it necessary to discuss their feelings and get them into the open.

On the morning after the incident I was contacted by virtually every American I knew on MSN and sat busily talking with them. That is the why this debate may have wandered off topic so swiftly, led by me or not. People need to talk, get out their fustration, anxieties and issues. It's human nature. A bit of psychology goes a long, long way.

The biggest question at that point was "Why?" and we all begin to speculate with the scant information available to us. Only time tells the truth, but sometimes questioning is better than bottling it up! That is my main reason for thanking mod staff for keeping the thread open. It might have been shut way back and I think that would have missed out of the resolution stage of the arguement as most of those who were arguing appear to have come to an understanding of one anothers stance.

Given the nature of the incident and peoples diverse feelings on the matter it was possibly inevitable mate, although I think it has been suggested I was the cause of this shift, it was just a matter of time before someone did.

For my part, taking this OT it is worth noting that my views come from my experiences relating to being on the wrong end of a gun in two separate incidents. I don't wish to repeat myself (I think I mentioned this in another thread), but my wife and I were involved in an armed robbery that ended with the gunman being shot right in front of me by an armed response team.

The fact is that I (for one) have reached a better understanding of the situation. Guns HAD to be mentioned in a thread relating to the incident. People need to express their deepest fears, regrets and anxieties as that allows freedom to shape opinion (even if it is your own) through heated debate.

Being a parent I know that it is often wiser to allow your children to argue through their different opinions than to stop a discussion and build up the tension. This thread for me at least has been like a thunderclap. The lightening was the incident as it really brought home a lot of my own feelings on the subject matter.

Hearing all sides of a hard debate, however ill placed can often resolve issues without people realising it. That is the essence of difficult subject matter. I realise this is not a political forum, nor is it a gun forum etc. I'll go back to talking consoles.

 

The problem with this guy is simple: he had a TON of guns.

I do believe having a gun is a right that SHOULDNT be removed from the constitution, but I also believe there should be a stricter, more intelligent gun control policy.

I've gone to countries in south america where gun control is just too hard (like a glock is considered a "war weapon" WTF?) and that doesnt prevents criminals and gun nuts from getting some big ass weapons, like M4s or even grenade launchers.

In this case, the problem is simple: that korean guy was a psychopat, and had just too many guns. Why do you need so many guns? I've a gun and have yet to use it in a real life situation.

When some guy gets an arsenal like that is just plain obvious that hes planing to make something bad and or against the law.

Gun law should make it very difficult to have more than 2 or 3 firearms, and make an extensive psychological analisys and background check of the subject/buyer before letting him get the gun.

If this crazy korean dude couldnt have a gun the most he could've done is shooting some guy's eye with a BBgun, or stabbing him with a knife.

 

What the hell are you talking about? Everything that I have seen or heard stated that he had two handguns.

 

Nah the last 3 pages or so has been you and others going off topic on a gun debate... Why couldnt this just have been a thread where you could give your condolences and a message to sexilicious. We did say take it to another part of the board and leave the thread alone... If i removed all the anti-gun/anti america posts there would be like 10 posts about what happened.

 

He used 2 handguns but apparently he had a BIG arms collection, havent you seen the photos?

 

Collections seem to be nasty things eh? Maybe i ll go on a spree and beat people up with devkits then.

Collecting arms for the sake of their collection is justifiable to an extent - being a total dick to humanity and killing people because u can't get laid.. well..that's unfortunate and sad.

 

Speaking of whom, how is sexilicious doing after all this?

 

I just had a mental image of that...........

Anyway, you can collect knifes and such becos they look good, even if you dont know how to use them, but weapons will go bad if you dont use them most of the time, and therefore you have to know how to use it, which means you KNOW how to use them, and ina very professional way since gun collectors usually know how to clean and repair they weapons, so you wont see one of them with a rusty Colt that gets jammed all the time.

Plus you cant compare the sheer power of a firearm to any other collectible weapon like knifes, swords or arrows. You need a lot of training to use those properly, but a gun is as simple as point and shoot.

I mean, would you like if I had a collection of missiles? I always liked the Trident ones...

 

well it takes a very skilled individual to murder people with a paper-clip or stamps, true.

 

I believe the images you are thinking of are of a completely different person who had nothing to do with the incident. He managed to fit the initial description so people jumped to conclusions.

 

Yeah I heard of something like that. I think Geraldo exposed the wrong guy as the killer or something.

 

Wait wait, now it isnt the korean guy? cuz thats the guy I saw in the newspaper...

 

Images (and a movie) of the real guy are here.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18169776/

 

why is he dressed up like Lara Croft?

 

Maybe video games are to blame after all!!

Seems like he was trying to look "bad ass" or something.

 

some people really need to get layed more, like Cho I guess :/

 

Speaking of women..

did anyone catch that shot on CNN of a sheriff at the scene carrying a victim out by her breasts?

 

No, please link us sounds like something Duke Nukem would do

 

Can't seem to find a direct link to the video, but here's a still image I found.

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/3757/102me0.jpg