Gunman kills 32 on campus!

[Chunks]

In Virginia a 12 year old is able to buy a gun.

That's totally not true.

it's 21 for a handgun, 18 for long guns.

In addition you can only purchase one firearm every 30 days and are subject to a background check on the spot and are required to show 3 forms of ID.

There's tons of other rules and regs, but those are the basics.

Many states have tighter regulations.

As an aside though, this guy was a psycho and was going to take as many people with him as he could no matter what. If it wasn't guns it would be a car, or a knife, or anything. Not really the point of the issue IMO.

[JamesL]

You reckon a guy with a knife running through a campus would be able to take out 33 people without being stopped? I doubt it. Whilst I agree that having a gun was in no way the motivation for the murders, it most certainly facilitated it more easily than had they not been available, and increased the final bodycount.

Guns don't kill, people do, for sure, but guns make it a darn sight easier, faster and more effective for them when they choose to do so.

[FrieChamp]

Guns don't kill people, videogames do

[Rick_D]

I agree with you James, but it's a real catch22 - you can't just take away guns - I think we all can agree that that is not a reasonable or sensible option; but what can you do?

The first thing that jumps to mind would be stricter laws in place for letting people get hold of guns - nothing unreasonable and overly intrusive (like: submit blood, semen and urine and allow us to monitor you with this camera 24/7/365), but something that checks into family history and the requirement to go under psychological evaluation before being cleared; you're given a government grant to purchase a safe gun cabinet that possibly utilizes fingerprint ID - sure it adds on a lot of time to the purchasing of a weapon and there's a lot of psychos who can disguise their illness and fool others but you're bound to "catch" at least 50% or more of the people that currently slip right through, that'll be 50% more than now so anything is better than nothing.

I don't think it should swing the other way where you're required to give your life story and allow yourself to be electronically tagged just because you did something legal and through the proper channels.

There's a problem in this country (the UK) with social workers, these people fail thousands of people every year but no reforms are being put into place, just a shock horror news story now and then about how they failed, the heads of office diverting attention to something like "oh we couldn't have known, they did the best they were allowed to do" - now if it were up to me I'd look at the cases and see where the social workers failed, why they failed and the practical solutions to those problems, no matter how much money it;s going to cost because if it's going to improve people's lives then maybe they won't go out and kill all these people or abuse their children who then grow up to do fucked up shit like abuse children.

But instead what happens is there's some knee-jerk reactions and calls to ban kitchen knives.

The same is true in the states, but it's a little more dangerous there, with all the little pieces of lead flying around, but I still think the solution is not a simple matter of "banning" something, but looking objectively at the problems, and their potential solutions, instead of offering some simple quick-fix solution like banning video games or confiscating guns.

[edit] Oh and I found this funny but sad:

At Oregon's Lewis & Clark College, another student was detained by campus police Wednesday shortly before a vigil for the Virginia Tech victims when he was spotted wearing an ammunition belt. Portland police later determined that it was "a fashion accessory" made of spent ammunition, and said the man did not have a weapon. The belt was confiscated.

Glad to see there's no knee-jerk reactions taking place already. :roll:

[Spellbinder]

but what can you do?

I think you could start by stricter laws, make it harder for all ppl to get hold of a weapon. Maybe like in Sweden, you have to use it in your profession or hunting to own a gun. And not only hunting btw, i think they have to be part in some hunter club or sum. This wouldnt get direct effects but after 1 generation or two it would look very different. We in Sweden have our share of murders and shoot outs, luckely we haven´t had any massacre yet though. I think and hope that in this country we are rather good to read signs from our children so we can adress problem a lot faster. Of course some ppl allways fall through. But less ppl falling through means less risk that something really bad happens. In US it seems like everybody just think of them self first. Like who cares if ppl live on the streets or dont afford medical help or drink them self to death or have problems in school. Sure it happens here too BUT the sociaty does everything to get ppl out of that situation.

[twiz]

Why does everyone think america is some cess pool of death and murder and rape and robbery? Sure there are some bad parts of the cities, but all cities have some 'bad' areas. The vast majority of the country is a very safe place to live. Sure we could use some work in social services and education, but we are spending billions of dollars on a war

There are hundreds of thousands of students in this country, there is bound to be someone to goes whacko. This kid's English teacher did see signs of mental illness, and did refer him to a psychiatrist, but they can't force anyone to do anything.

And about his roommates... I saw an interview with one of them. He said he never really talked to them, stayed in his room or went to class. He said he never read any of the kid's writings. Not that it really matters, go on Deviant art, you'll find hundreds of potential mass murders there. Just because someone acts morbid doesn't mean they're gonna go slaughtering people. Seriously, just think to yourself.. how f**ked up would someone have to be for you to honestly think they're going to seriously hurt someone, let alone go on a killing rampage. Sure if he had anger issues, was obsessed with guns/knives, made threats, yeah I'd probably say something to someone. If he sits in his room with no weapons, saying nothing to nobody, I'm not going to suspect anything.

I mean, d3 is morbid and angry(and lonely ), is he going to go on a rampage?

Sorry d3 i <3 you

[D3ads]

Sometimes I feel like it

Seriously though.. 12 years old to buy a gun? Which fucking planet are you from Bluestrike?!

Btw 170 people were killed in Iraq yesterday.. but it's ok, it's just Iraq.

[kleinluka]

what's Iraq?

[D3ads]

It's like Eraq accept that if affects your eyes...

...I have my coat and am approaching the door...

[twiz]

I feel sorry for all the quiet loner kids like me who are gonna be harassed because of this. just leave us alone

[Spellbinder]

He sat in his room? They say (and i dont know this ofcourse) that he followed and harassed girls.

[Rick_D]

Funny (not haha but hmm), the social services failed him, they knew he was fucked up and could have prevented him getting guns.

oh and GG news sites not showing the whole thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAXlVXxw ... ed&search=