My deepest and most heart felt condolences to those who lost friends, family and loved ones during this, most recent, tragic and insane episode. My prayers are with you.

 

Yea it was very sad. The guy that sits in the cubical next to me went there and graduated last year, and still has alot of friends there.

 

I second that and wish all the loved ones my deepest sympathies...what senseless killing. I dont think any of us can understand all of this. It is so hard to comprehend.

 

Glad to see there are a few that have compassion and not concerned about eating habits, for the moment.

 

It's a horrible, horrible thing. I can't imagine going through that or having a kid as a student there.
Not that this is of great comparison, but we had a high school shooting in Midland, MI a month or so ago. It didn't get much publicity for some reason. A girl was shot 4 times and lived - the gunman shot and killed himself.
I've spent some time in Blacksburg, VA (being from WV and all). It is a quiet little place where I'm sure very few would expect an event like this to happen.
Along with you guys, my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected.

 

Agreed, I don't think anyone could comprehend what happened monday.

In fact my friend who I graduated high school with (who shall remain nameless) was suppose to be in the engineering class where it all started but he over slept.
That made me stop and think. That you can be that close to death everyday and never know it... my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved in this horrific act of violence.

 

It hasn't made national news yet, but a lot of the alumni of VT are pushing to get people around the country to wear Tech's colors on Friday. They're calling it "Hokie Hope" or a national "Orange and Maroon Effect" day.

 

How about the teacher who had survived the Holocaust and ended up saving the lives of several of his students before he was killed. Makes you stop and think about why each of us is here, what roll we play in this life.

 

WE'VE COME ALONG WAY.


In 1970, 29 Ohio National Guardsman fired 67 bullets from their M16 automatic rifles into a crowd of students at Kent State University, striking 13 and killing 4.
37 years later:
All it takes is a single, crazed, 2 fisted gunman using a 9mm and a 22 cal. semi automatic pistols to shoot over 50 people, killing 33.
How efficient we have become at perpetrating such unspeakable violence upon our fellow men, women, and children.
I'm sure our enemys (those who hate America, and all it stands for) are dancing in the streets upon hearing the horrendous news. They're probably saying, "Why bother wasting anytime, money, people, or other resorces trying to kill or maim Americans, when they are so successful at doing it to themselves.
I just don't know what the answer is, it all seems so senceless and evil it's hard for for anybody to really understand the full extent of the tragedy.
I tried to come up with 33 names of friends and family, just to imagine what it would feel like to suddenly have their lives snuffed out by a single human being. The thought was simply too incomprehensible for me to dwell on.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families and friends of those who lost their lives at the hands of one severely deranged individual, and I thank God my Daughter wasn't there. Unfortunately, it just goes to show that it can indeed happen anywhere.
I am neither a gun control advocat, nor am I pro NRA. I can see the validity of both sides arguments. But I have to ask myself, "If our founding Fathers really invisioned the possibility of "crazed lunatics" when they penned the 2nd. Amendment?
I'm sorry I have no answers, only questions.

 

El momento de Silencioso

 

Proud to see crossfire enthusiasts especially from CrossfireForum.org are well balanced in Politics, Humanity and Life.
...Amen

 

Apparently the shooter was an Islamic convert...written on his arm was the phrase "Ismail Ax". Ismail is considered as Isaac in Islam. He went to his 200 virgins...

Gary

 

As sick as this whole thing is hopefully this will open the eyes of other institutions in this country that NO ONE is safe or beyond violence. They all need to be on the alert and have a plan for keeping their students and staff safe and protected from these idiots. I know that is easier said then done but maybe if something had been in plan at VT there wouldn't have been as many deaths. His rampage lasted for hours which I dont understand why everyone wasn't alerted or more on guard then they were??? The authorities assumed too much I think...just my .02.

 

Well according to the police the reason the campus wasn't put on alert was because the initial suspect of the first two killings at West Amber Johnston Hall was the boyfriend of one of the victims. He was apprehended by police leaving campus between the two shootings. So two victims, male and female, female's boyfriend, a known gun owner, is caught leaving campus. I'm sure the police felt they had a domestic violence case with the suspect, a jealous boyfriend, in custody. Obviously that wasn't the case, but nobody could possibly have known what was really happening at the time.

 

The real issue isn't how the police or the university handled it. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big fan of gun control insofar as it affects those who buy and own firearms for hunting and for sport. But lets face it, the Walther P22 and Glock 19 aren't sporting firearms. They are, first and foremost, designed for law enforcement/paramilitary use. They aren't worth crap as target pistols, and as far as home defense goes, I can walk into the local Wal-Mart in just about any state in the U.S. and be out the door inside of a half hour with the best home defense weapon that money can buy.

If a shoot some hyped-up junkie that broke into my house looking for drug money with a .22 or 9mm in a non-vital area, chances are they're not gonna stop. There's also the added danger, especially with the 9mm, of the round hitting something (or someone) beyond my line of sight. If I put a load of 12-guage 00 Buck into you inside of 20 feet, it doesn't matter where I hit you, you're gonna go down, and you're not gonna get back up. The muzzle velocity of buckshot from a shotgun isn't nearly as high as that of a 9mm pistol either.

The bottom line is, that chump had no realistic rationale behind buying those guns. Am I saying they should be banned? No. But they shouldn't be available to John Doe the college student to buy on a whim, either. People who work in security/law enforcement have a reason to own and carry handguns, both on and off-duty. Same goes for those with concealed carry permits. That's going to be a hard pill to swallow for most of the "You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands" crowd, but if you want to be taken seriously for now on, you really don't have a choice.

 

I'm quite sure there are many things that the founders of this country could not have envisioned at this time in our history. However, the documents they drew up are nothing short of brilliant.

Having said that, my original intent of this thread was for people to offer condolences, but under the circumstances, it's very easy and appropriate to discuss relevant issues.

As usual, crimes committed with firearms always invoke the gun control crowd. I am not and never have been an advocate for gun control. All this does is keep them out of the hands of law abiding citizens. The criminal will always find a way to obtain the unobtainable.

I have a license to carry a concealed weapon and proudly carry a 9mm Beretta.

There are several problems with the killings at VT. The laws in Virginia made it too easy for Cho to purchase a handgun. He was able to purchase them too quickly [background check only took minutes]. If his history would have been on record, he would have failed the background check. Because he was only a legal resident and not a citizen, he should have never been allowed to purchase a gun in the first place.

 

Well, how far should gun control laws reach? My cousin who lives in Buffalo, NY got in an argument with his girlfriend awhile back, and she walked out. Being the manipulative ***** that she is, she went to the police and convinced them that he threatened her and got a restraining order put out against him. As a result, he's had to borrow my dads Remington whenever we've gone hunting for the past three years because he can't buy a gun in New York. He has a "history of domestic violence". The real stink of it is, when he first went out to buy himself a shotgun, he truthfully told the salesman at the gun store that his ex-girlfriend once had a restraining order put on him (there was no actual domestic violence charge on record). The store owner called the sheriff's office to get clarification, and they responded by tagging his record with a "no sale" flag.

 

Coming from a country where public are not endorsed to own a gun or such weapon, no such license given out, those whom possessed gun must have gotten theirs illegally smuggled from other countries, we have to face other sources of crimes, problems, conflicts and misfortunes. I truly can't contribute in the "what to be done to reduce or avoid such incident" department.
Nonetheless, I AM concerned about the VT incident, one because it’s only humane - me, feeling for families of the victims and two, my guy is out there in one of the states in US. While am asleep, he is awake, driving, working or even just walking. How safe is he? How much safer will he be even with possessing a concealed weapon? Will he be harmed less or will he be exposed to more harm since others are as cautious. Besides having a weapon should he equipped himself with self-defense technique (not that he doesn't have)? Will that be enough? Its ok don't have to answer, just to "Contemplating silently".
Actually myself, am not 100% sure how safe I am here now and bad enough am not in Singapore, my own country. One of the victim is a 2nd of two children of a family in Indonesia. If I have a chance I will want to visit them while I am here.

What I can contribute which to some perhaps its of insignificant at all, I'll pray even if it made a very slight difference but still for the better.

Having said that, I followed up on the media version of this whole "thing".
I read from Yahoo with full story sourced from www.Charleston.net
The...shooter is a <-- one confused chap.
Besides being "abused" in his life, he was inspired by ideology/ies BUT misinterpreted them.
IF we cannot help to prevent such incident/s from happening, maybe we can help in our own little ways by not creating one or oneself, a confused soul.
IMHO.

 

While some of you are in the mid of dawn...

A day of mourning for Va. Tech victims.
As experts pored over Cho Seung Hui's twisted writings and his videotaped rant, parents and officials urged people to instead focus on the victims of the deadliest rampage by a lone gunman in modern U.S. history.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared Friday a day of mourning and called for a moment of silence at noon to honor the 32 victims in Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech. Churches around the country, from California to National Cathedral in Washington D.C., have scheduled vigils and special prayer services.
"We want the world to know and celebrate our children's lives, and we believe that's the central element that brings hope in the midst of great tragedy," said Peter Read, whose 19-year-old daughter, Mary Karen, was killed. "These kids were the best that their generation has to offer."

So SSSHHH

El momento del Silencio

and read the rest of it.

 

This is an interesting article I found on the V-tec/Nasa shootings: http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/...d_assassin.htm

I found it interesting that the CIA was involved with some of the faculty of v-tec and Nasa before these events occurred, but not enough facts out there to have real opinion about involvement.