Shooting at Virginia Tech

[duck_duck]

They said on the news this morning that he left a note expressing anger towards rich people.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

I am not looking to start a pro-gun/ban gun debate but I just want to here the personal expierences from the pro-gunners.

First, do any of you know of anyone personally that has protected his or herself with a handgun (emphasis on handgun)?

If not but know of someone that you don't know personally, please explain.

Second, since most times you have protect yourself at short range, what do you think the difference between a gun and a very powerful stun gun shaped like handgun that can also mark the victim in some way?

Yes, no shots were fired. I know three people that were in attempted robberies, and one attempted car jacking. All thwarted by the potential victim pulling a gun and protecting themselves. FBI statistics state that the majority of handgun exchanges take place within 15 feet.

[Hime]

My fiance was once at a gas station when a large, enraged customer attacked an attendant. Being a brave former-military dude, he intervened to try and subdue the attacker. He managed to help until police arrived, but when he told me about it that evening, I was mad. The guy could have had a knife. I don't want to lose someone I love, and neither does his family at home.

Sure, it's easy to imagine throwing yourself on a grenade, or starting an epic shootout with a crazed gunman. But most of us have people counting on us who would really rather that we played it safe. How would you feel if you'd been putting your kid through college, only to have him get himself killed trying to be a hero? The choices that people make in moments of extreme stress like that are extremely difficult and emotionally loaded. It isn't fair to try to pass judgement on them.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

You point the gun at the bad-guy and pull the fucking trigger.
Whew, that sure was hard!

Really? Where are you, where is the bad guy, what's behind him and the wall behind him, do you have cover or concealment, are you really in mortal danger as defined by your state, did you retreat sufficiently to satisfy the law, he's not retreating is he, did you leave the coffee pot on, where's your son, is he in the ball pit behind the guy, is that a gun or a wallet in his hand, is he alone or does he have other people working with him, who is behind you, can you draw without getting his attention and allowing him to shoot first, you're under pressure and you have less than 2 seconds to make a decision and it has to be exactly the right one

Originally Posted by duck_duck

They said on the news this morning that he left a note expressing anger towards rich people.

Damn Commie.

[elSicomoro]

If a person wants to maximize the effect of their rage, they will find a way. If there is nothing available to help them do so, they will create it...they do it in prison all the time.

I understand why some folks think guns should be banned after an event like this...but such a thing doesn't solve the real problem--the criminal.

[Bullitt]

Liviu Librescu, 76, was a Holocaust survivor, who his son said, will be remembered as a hero. He "blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu told AP. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

Guy lives through hell and how does he finally go? Some nutjob kid with a pistol.

[elSicomoro]

Well, Dr. Atkins died from slipping and hitting his head...

[Hime]

Originally Posted by sycamore

Well, Dr. Atkins died from slipping and hitting his head...

I thought he had a heart attack.

[elSicomoro]

He apparently had a heart attack a year before he died.

[warch]

I understand why some folks think guns should be banned after an event like this...but such a thing doesn't solve the real problem--the criminal.

but I find a valid appeal for control. If multiple round automatic handgun clips are less available, perhaps the shooter will turn to a more time consuming, cumbersome method. And I can't help but spin an alternative to the trained packing student taking the shooter out- what about a slew of cops not knowing who the real shooter is?

[freshnesschronic]

Chris Rock has a method. From I think his shows Bigger & Blacker or Never Scared, he goes like instead of banning guns, you just make the bullets cost $1000 each. Funny skit, and intriguing idea.

[Cloud]

Here's a link to the shooter's violent plays posted by the AOL employee and student there:

http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/...ng-huis-plays/

[piercehawkeye45]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/young-...6696869631.html

He was a 23-year-old loner, with roots half a world away in South Korea, who hated "rich kids" and will now go down in US history as a notorious killer.

Cho Seung-Hui moved to the United States when he was just 8, but 15 years later his name is set to be permanently etched on the tragic roll call of US school and campus killings.

"You caused me to do this," he wrote in the several-page-long note that he left in his dorm room, ABC News reported, before going on a murderous rampage killing at least 30 people.

The note railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus, the Chicago Tribune reported.

But it shed little light on the motives behind his killing spree during which he stalked classrooms, firing on students and professors, before turning his gun on himself. By midday yesterday, 33 people lay dead on the campus.

Authorities were today trying to piece together a crime that sent shockwaves across America and the world.

Cho also died with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on the inside of one of his arms, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing unidentified sources.

Police suspect Cho, who was studying English at Virginia Tech, first killed two people at a campus dormitory.

Then, according to media reports, he leisurely returned to his own dorm to write a rambling invective, re-arm and then storm the classroom building.

Cho was among the 2,000 foreigners from more than 110 countries attending the 26,000-student university in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Police said Cho was in his senior year and lived on campus at the Harper Hall dormitory, which houses 249 residents.

Cho had shown recent signs of violent, aberrant behaviour, including setting a fire in a dorm room and allegedly stalking some women, the Chicago Tribune said, citing an unnamed investigative source.

Investigators believe Cho at some point had been taking medication for depression, the daily said.

He was a legal US immigrant whose residence was established in Centreville, Virginia, outside Washington, police said. According to US and South Korean media, Cho moved to America in 1992.

The Tribune said his family runs a dry cleaning business while his sister graduated from the elite Princeton University.

Cho "was very quiet, always by himself," neighbour Abdul Shash was quoted as saying in the Tribune. He spent a lot of his free time playing basketball, and would not respond if someone greeted him, Shash said.

Police released little more official information about Cho and university officials had trouble tracking down details about him.

"He was a loner," said Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations.

The lone gunman is the most common profile for a mass murderer, someone who is "isolated, reclusive and antisocial" said Alan Langlieb, director of workplace psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University.

"It's not exactly clear what snaps," he said. "Some of it is premeditated, but a person could wake up that day and decide I'm going to create social havoc."

Whatever Cho's motivations were, the tragedy has reverberated around the world, all the way to South Korea, whose government expressed "indescribable surprise and shock" after Cho was identified.

"We convey deep condolences to the victims and their bereaved families and the (US) people," said Cho Byung-Jae, head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American affairs bureau.

"We have established safety measures for ethnic Koreans in the US in case of contingencies and are in close consultations with all of our diplomatic missions and Korean communities in the US to implement the measures."

He did not elaborate but appeared to be referring to the possibility of reprisal attacks against Korean communities in the United States.

Police released little more official information about Cho and university officials had trouble tracking down details about him.

"He was a loner," said Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations.

The lone gunman is the most common profile for a mass murderer, someone who is "isolated, reclusive and antisocial" said Alan Langlieb, director of workplace psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University.

"It's not exactly clear what snaps," he said. "Some of it is premeditated, but a person could wake up that day and decide I'm going to create social havoc."

Whatever Cho's motivations were, the tragedy has reverberated around the world, all the way to South Korea, whose government expressed "indescribable surprise and shock" after Cho was identified.

"We convey deep condolences to the victims and their bereaved families and the (US) people," said Cho Byung-Jae, head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American affairs bureau.

"We have established safety measures for ethnic Koreans in the US in case of contingencies and are in close consultations with all of our diplomatic missions and Korean communities in the US to implement the measures."

He did not elaborate but appeared to be referring to the possibility of reprisal attacks against Korean communities in the United States.

[Happy Monkey]

It gets worse.

[Westboro Baptist Church] will preach at the funerals of the Virginia Tech students killed on campus during a shooting rampage April 16, 2007.

[JayMcGee]

whilst I understand your angst, might I remind you that only 33 dead would be considered a good day in Bagdhad?