Today, there was a shooting at Virginia Tech. So far, 31 people are dead. This is a great tragedy and my sympathies goes to everyone there.
[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18134671/[/url]
Printable View
Today, there was a shooting at Virginia Tech. So far, 31 people are dead. This is a great tragedy and my sympathies goes to everyone there.
[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18134671/[/url]
I just got back from work and saw it on the news... Really shocking. I just can't believe that people do this to each other :(
My thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends.
That is awful :(
I can only hope that some good comes out of it, including banning and confiscation of self loading weapons
[quote=nota;694980]banning and confiscation of self loading weapons[/quote]
Myabe we should just not go there? I'm not anyway.
This absolutely horrible, and, in a selfish way, I am very glad that, until next school year, no one I know is there. My heart goes out to all the killed and injured; this is sickening.
Apparently, this is the most deadly act of this kind in US history.
Yeah, seriously, what has this world gone to?:(
This is an awful tragedy and unfortunately in the end there will be stricter security measures at campuses across the nation and still no one will quit eunderstand why these things happpen.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, the survivors, and their families.
I don't know what to say. I never do, but I feel I ought to say something. I don't want to be selfish, but I hope it wasn't anyone I knew.
My heart goes out to the victims and their families.:(
I heard that on the radio at noon... I felt totally shocked. First thought I had was about Timothy, I knew you were in Virginia mate but didn't knew where, so I kinda flipped out. I'm glad to see it wasn't where you were...
As for the victims, well, I don't have proper words for the situation, except that my thoughts are with them. That kind of story makes me feel awful.
Turns your guts when you here shooting, Turns it more when you here school of kids young adults just starting in this world with so much more ahead of them..
Something has got to be done, I was just looking at the news here and they were saying almost all Americans are just like anyone else in the world, They don't shoot shit don't really care for guns or being arrogant stuck up hero's they go about there day like normal people. But when it came to the gun organisation and being able to restrict guns the conversation went nasty.
[QUOTE=nota;694980]banning and confiscation of self loading weapons[/QUOTE]
Because criminals would never break the law whilst committing crimes.
[QUOTE=NSXType-R;694983]Yeah, seriously, what has this world gone to?:([/QUOTE]
Indeed.
Sad that it happened, and sympathies to those involved, but...
I really don't see why we, in the UK, need to be have up-to-the-second rolling news coverage of something that, actually, doesn't really affect more than a handful of people or so who might know someone in the region.
There are more important and relevant stories to cover, both nationally and internationally, but I suppose they don't involve shaky pictures of cops with guns hiding behind patrol cars.
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695027]
I really don't see why we, in the UK, need to be have up-to-the-second rolling news coverage of something that, actually, doesn't really affect more than a handful of people or so who might know someone in the region.
[/QUOTE]
Maybe there is nothing else to report there?
Yeah this was quite terrible, the saddest thing is all the loved ones who will now be missing someone :(
I am amazed that one man was able to kill so many people with a 9mm pistol and a .22 handgun...
It is a terrible thing when lives are ended and I don't think I have ever felt what the families of the victims are feeling right now. I mean a school is probably the last place I would expect anyone to get shot (even in the US).
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695027]Because criminals would never break the law whilst committing crimes.
[/QUOTE]
Your sarcasm wafts into illogic in light of [i]our[/i] experience in cessating further gun massacres since this event, through gun control
[url]http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial/bryant/[/url]
[QUOTE=SlickHolden]But when it came to the gun organisation and being able to restrict guns the conversation went nasty.[/QUOTE]
Yeah mass murder is one thing .. but to even talk of gun control is beyond the pale, simply outrageous :rolleyes:
This is the ONLY thing anyone is talking about here, I live about 100 miles away from VT, I've visited numerous times, and I was actually about to walk onto their football team at one point. I know a lot of people that go there. It was initially my number 1 school to go to, before I decided on VMI.
This scares the living shit out of me. One girl that was shot went to my high school, however she's in stable condition now. There's at least 30 people going to VT from my school next year, and what if it happens again?
My heart goes out to the families....
one of the things that actually angers me most about the shootings is the lack of communication from administration to students. ive talked to numerous people that go there and they said they were locked down but nobody told them why and they were online asking each other and checking student emails and that was only during the first shooting. the other warnings didnt come until 2 hours afterward.
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695027]
Sad that it happened, and sympathies to those involved, but...
I really don't see why we, in the UK, need to be have up-to-the-second rolling news coverage of something that, actually, doesn't really affect more than a handful of people or so who might know someone in the region.
There are more important and relevant stories to cover, both nationally and internationally,[/QUOTE]
Not near enough to your doorstep ?
Nah i do have to agree with Coventry, its sad and all but i would like to know what is happening in MY country first an foremost,
despite all the political and constitutional BS surrounding guns in the US. Gun control works, no where has gun control EVER increased or hurt anybody except they cant pump an M16 into a deer. Oh dear, big fkn loss that.
Get your heads screwed on America and join the rest of the 1st world countries.
Absolutely tragic event. But why do events like these mainly seem to happen in America?
Or is it just the media only reporting the ones that happen in America.
Raises some questions I feel...
It's a damn shame the USA is so far beyond gun control.
[QUOTE=nota;695050]Your sarcasm wafts into illogic in light of [i]our[/i] experience in cessating further gun massacres since this event, through gun control[/QUOTE]
If you have a dangerous person with a gun, removing the gun still leaves you with a dangerous person.
It would seem that more time and effort should go towards identifying why the USA is producing such a high number of dangerous people.
I'm not in favour of guns at all, but I think that you are completely ignoring the problem if you focus on guns, not the people brandishing them.
[QUOTE=macoran;695073]Not near enough to your doorstep ?[/QUOTE]
There are thousands of people dying in tragic circumstances every day across the globe, the vast majority of these events pass unnoticed by the world.
Why do we suddenly need blanket coverage of something happening 4000 miles away, when children are being stabbed on the streets of London?
It is a tragedy, but considering the actual importance and relevance to this country, the response to the story is completely out of all proportion.
For everyone screaming gun control, it has yet to be determined if the guns he used were purchased legally. Kthxbai.
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695100] If you have a dangerous person with a gun, removing the gun still leaves you with a dangerous person. [/QUOTE]
- who is unable to shoot anyone at least.
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695100]
It would seem that more time and effort should go towards identifying why the USA is producing such a high number of dangerous people. [/QUOTE]
Without knowing details of this case I would say it is pretty well impossible to identify, much less remove dangerous or more importantly potentially dangerous people. In the case where it is an individual with emotional or psychological problems they can manifest themselves in this way without most people around them knowing just how bad they have become. It is like suicides. If people knew their friends of family were suicidal they could take measures to help them.
How do you identify that someone’s mental state is potentially bad enough for them to want to commit such an act or actually carry it out?
Removing excessive and unnecessary guns from society is much easier. It is never going to be totally effective or eliminate the potential for people to be murdered but for each life it saves the cost is insignificant.
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695100]
I'm not in favour of guns at all, but I think that you are completely ignoring the problem if you focus on guns, not the people brandishing them.
[/QUOTE]
That’s true but you should not completely focus on one aspect of anything without considering all of them
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695100]
There are thousands of people dying in tragic circumstances every day across the globe, the vast majority of these events pass unnoticed by the world.
Why do we suddenly need blanket coverage of something happening 4000 miles away, when children are being stabbed on the streets of London?
It is a tragedy, but considering the actual importance and relevance to this country, the response to the story is completely out of all proportion. [/QUOTE]
True, if it bleeds it leads. Also it is easier to get this type of excess coverage form countries like the U.S. We got the same thing from the London bombings. Every little minutiae of detail (in many case speculation and incorrect). The news services love it. I suppose it must rate.
[QUOTE=Quiggs;695108]For everyone screaming gun control, it has yet to be determined if the guns he used were purchased legally. Kthxbai.[/QUOTE]
Kind of irrelevant. The fact they are available easily to anyone is the problem.
[QUOTE=crisis;695121]Kind of irrelevant. The fact they are available easily to anyone is the problem.[/QUOTE]
It's incredible relevant. If he bought the guns illegally out of some guy's trunk, all the laws in the world wouldn't have prevented this.
One of the main reasons the US is "so far behind" the rest of the world as far as gun control is because of the second amendment which gives "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." There's really no simple way for politicians to pass a law banning the personal ownership of weapons, because that would require amending the Constitution, again....which won't get passed.
Yeah, god forbid they try and make the constitution relevant to today's world. Only the military should have the right to bare arms. And really, what does the average Joe need 9mm handgun for? Hunting? Not for wild animals, they're used for hunting humans.
[QUOTE=crisis;695121]- who is unable to shoot anyone at least.[/QUOTE]
Ah, but as the UK is currently experiencing, they can stab - with a broken bottle, even - and you still have dead school children.
The UK authorities' approach in these cases is not to criminalise glass bottles or whatever, but to try and tackle the social aspects that are clearly the cause; i.e. knives are available nationwide, but stabbings are only happening in certain areas and certain communities, therefore something in those areas or communities is at fault.
[QUOTE=crisis;695121]I would say it is pretty well impossible to identify, much less remove dangerous or more importantly potentially dangerous people.[/QUOTE]
There have been 19 school shootings in 10 years in the USA.
There is a problem there, that isn't being experienced or replicated elsewhere in the world.
That problem needs to be identified and addressed, otherwise the matter is just being swept under the rug. "Our kids are turning into murderous nut-jobs, but as long as we can keep them away from guns: mission accomplished!"
The fact is that kids shouldn't be attempting to murder in the first place.
[QUOTE=crisis;695121]We got the same thing from the London bombings.[/QUOTE]
I don't mind so much if it is something that will have wider political or economic implications, or that will dramatically affect society on the whole.
This incident is unfortunate but otherwise entirely irrelevant.
[quote=Coventrysucks;695027]
I really don't see why we, in the UK, need to be have up-to-the-second rolling news coverage of something that, actually, doesn't really affect more than a handful of people or so who might know someone in the region.
There are more important and relevant stories to cover, both nationally and internationally, but I suppose they don't involve shaky pictures of cops with guns hiding behind patrol cars.[/quote]
Awwwww poor coventry :( Like you honestly wanted to watch the news all day anyway...
[quote]If you have a dangerous person with a gun, removing the gun still leaves you with a dangerous person.
It would seem that more time and effort should go towards identifying why the USA is producing such a high number of dangerous people.
I'm not in favour of guns at all, but I think that you are completely ignoring the problem if you focus on guns, not the people brandishing them.
[/quote]This I agree with. This is why we could seriously limit the number of dangerous people in the US if we build a massive wall around New Jersey.
[quote=hightower99;695041]I am amazed that one man was able to kill so many people with a 9mm pistol and a .22 handgun...
It is a terrible thing when lives are ended and I don't think I have ever felt what the families of the victims are feeling right now. I mean a school is probably the last place I would expect anyone to get shot (even in the US).[/quote]
Honestly I'm not. It's not like anybody was going to pull a gun out of their waistband and shoot back at him. He was unopposed and easily unloaded round after round. Even if you were in that situation would you have gone up behind him and attack if you knew he had two very maneuverable hand guns?
[quote=Quiggs;695108]For everyone screaming gun control, it has yet to be determined if the guns he used were purchased legally. Kthxbai.[/quote]
QFMFT.
[quote=Sweeney921;695130]One of the main reasons the US is "so far behind" the rest of the world as far as gun control is because of the second amendment which gives "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." There's really no simple way for politicians to pass a law banning the personal ownership of weapons, because that would require amending the Constitution, again....which won't get passed.[/quote]
Plus there is a Texan in office....
[quote=LTT;695132]Yeah, god forbid they try and make the constitution relevant to today's world. Only the military should have the right to bare arms. And really, what does the average Joe need 9mm handgun for? Hunting? Not for wild animals, they're used for hunting humans.[/quote]
Mostly negros that try to rob your house at 2:30 AM. Home protection FTW.
[QUOTE=Quiggs;695124]It's incredible relevant. If he bought the guns illegally out of some guy's trunk, all the laws in the world wouldn't have prevented this.[/QUOTE]
If the guns are illegal it makes it hard for the bloke selling them out of his trunk to get them, and should also make that a more serious crime.
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695139]Ah, but as the UK is currently experiencing, they can stab - with a broken bottle, even - and you still have dead school children.[/QUOTE]
It's going to be fairly hard to stab 33 people to death in a situation like this.
[QUOTE=baddabang;695146]This I agree with. This is why we could seriously limit the number of dangerous people in the US if we build a massive wall around New Jersey.[/QUOTE]
Speaking of New Jersey, I'll be spending a night there. I'm sleeping at a hotel in Morristown friday when I'll be back from Washington D.C. in part of my NYC/Washington D.C. trip with school. I already bought myself a kevlar bulletproof vest and two loaded Glocks. I'm set. Best part of the trip: we're 7 dudes and 47 chicks. Who said school trips sucked?
As for the subject, I don't think the fact that guns are so easy to buy in the US is a good thing. Even if it matters or not in the actual subject, it's still not a good thing. It's not that I believe crime rates will be lower, but maybe if there is no weapons that makes mass murdering easy there won't be 32 persons killed, maybe 2 at best if the killer used broken bottles as Coventry said. Two fatalities is better than 32 in case of killing rage...
[QUOTE=2ndclasscitizen;695147]It's going to be fairly hard to stab 33 people to death in a situation like this.[/QUOTE]
So, one or two children at a time, that is acceptable?
[Quote=baddabang]Awwwww poor coventry Like you honestly wanted to watch the news all day anyway...[/quote]
Yes.
I [I]was[/I] hoping for a long drawn out-debate about how all Americans are ****s for, yet again, refusing to cooperate with an inquest into dead British soldiers caused by US pilots.
Now all I've got as entertainment is looped clips of a very fat policeman "running" along with his M16 knock-off. He seems intent on hurting someone; it looks to be himself.
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695155]
Now all I've got as entertainment is looped clips of a very fat policeman "running" along with his M16 knock-off. He seems intent on hurting someone, it looks to be himself.[/QUOTE]
Yes I noticed that too...
[quote=Coventrysucks;695155]
Yes.
I [I]was[/I] hoping for a long drawn out-debate about how all Americans are ****s for, yet again, refusing to cooperate with an inquest into dead British soldiers caused by US pilots.
Now all I've got as entertainment is looped clips of a very fat policeman "running" along with his M16 knock-off. He seems intent on hurting someone; it looks to be himself.[/quote]
You love to play that card don't you? Why don't you take that up with BBC News or whatever your networks are instead of complaining on here that you didn't get to watch your programming.
In before this gets (really) ugly.
[QUOTE=fisetdavid26;695153]Speaking of New Jersey, I'll be spending a night there. I'm sleeping at a hotel in Morristown friday when I'll be back from Washington D.C. in part of my NYC/Washington D.C. trip with school. I already bought myself a kevlar bulletproof vest and two loaded Glocks. I'm set. Best part of the trip: we're 7 dudes and 47 chicks. Who said school trips sucked?[/QUOTE]
That's only about 20 miles from my hometown, and like a half hour from Rutgers. Maybe you'll notice the better side of Jersey and shut these haters up for good.
Now, on the matter of Virginia Tech. My condolences go out to the families of the victims and hope this matter gets resolved quickly. It's terribly sad to see such things happening in our country.
Second matter at hand is just as disturbing to me and it's happening right in this thread. Some of the posts from foreigners just disgust me, acting completely indifferent to such an issue because it wasn't confined to the borders of your country. Perhaps a headline about Peter Brock's death or an excerpt about Tiff Needle's silly accident would have warranted a better reaction.
This is whats going to happen:
Everyone will cry, cover up and blame everyone else. The NRA will say its not our fault it’s the shooter, the shooters family will say he bought the gun from a store and shouldn’t have been able to, the NRA will say ITS OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS! GWB will say its sad but guns get me votes. that’s all and in the end nothing will change except for a memorial at the college and an annual report on the news about it.
[QUOTE=Coventrysucks;695027] I really don't see why we, in the UK, need to be have up-to-the-second rolling news coverage of something that, actually, doesn't really affect more than a handful of people or so who might know someone in the region.
There are more important and relevant stories to cover, both nationally and internationally, but I suppose they don't involve shaky pictures of cops with guns hiding behind patrol cars. [/QUOTE]
What I really don't understand is why we in the rest of the world need to have an up to the second rolling news coverage of prince William's break up with his girl friend. Now that's a total waste of otherwise usefull news air time.
My prayers go out to all affected in this tragedy. :(
[QUOTE=Blue Supra;695169]This is whats going to happen:
Everyone will cry, cover up and blame everyone else. The NRA will say its not our fault it’s the shooter, the shooters family will say he bought the gun from a store and shouldn’t have been able to, the NRA will say ITS OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS! GWB will say its sad but guns get me votes. that’s all and in the end nothing will change except for a memorial at the college and an annual report on the news about it.[/QUOTE]
Hopefully some effort will be made to prevent things like this happening again. But so far they keep asking why the students wern't notifed about the earlier shootings and looking for people to blame.
Some effort will be the nearest gun dealers will be cracked down on for a week. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=2ndclasscitizen;695147]If the guns are illegal it makes it hard for the bloke selling them out of his trunk to get them, and should also make that a more serious crime.
[/QUOTE]
Guns can be made illegal, but criminals don't follow the law anyway! The problem isn't guns, it's mentally unstable people. A gun is an inanimate object which doesn't hurt anyone; it's the nut behind the trigger who does.
Washington D.C. has the most strict gun control laws in the country, yet has the highest crime rate.
If guns were made illegal that means homeowner would have no way to defend themselves if a criminal broke into his house. And you can bet that the criminal would have some kind of gun. He would make one if he had to; banning guns doesn't mean criminals wouldn't have any. It just means the law-abiding citizens would be defenseless.
[QUOTE=Fleet 500;695184]Guns can be made illegal, but criminals don't follow the law anyway![/QUOTE]
But if there's less guns around they'll have less opportunity to get them. Have a buyback of illegal firearms and there'll be less on the street.
[QUOTE=Fleet 500;695184]If guns were made illegal that means homeowner would have no way to defend themselves if a criminal broke into his house. And you can bet that the criminal would have some kind of gun. He would make one if he had to; banning guns doesn't mean criminals wouldn't have any. It just means the law-abiding citizens would be defenseless.[/QUOTE]
Who's more likely to get shot: someone who confronts a robber with a gun with their own gun, or someone who just hands over whatever the criminal wants and doesn't give them any trouble?