Oh !

I think this country needs to WAKE UP and realize we don't live in Mayberry! Of course I mean everyone else except me! It would never happen where I live!!!!!

Oh, and although it would never happen to me, I've 100% sure it would never happen twice!

(But then, maybe I live in the State of Denial! Yah think?)

CJ

Connie, you bring up a good point.
So your country isn't on track to becoming Mayberry and families can't be Leave-it-to-Beaverish anymore.

So what's the country's vision for excellence?
Disney's Vision is "The Happiest Place on Earth". I'm certain they'd be willing to share it, but there may be better, more pertinent visions statements.

Would your vision be deliverable only with guns and missiles and having more billionaires than country B.

I believe because of the fact that the school setting is one of the most vulnerable places for violence to occur (as supported by the CNN broadcast I just viewed), the school systems should have some type of program set in place to help prevent the violence before it happens. "An ounce of prevention..." I also believe there should be some form of protection available to the faculties (not the students), but not really sure what it could be.

The biggest problem that has created the problem (again as supported by the report) is the removal of disciplinary system and lack of control the adults actually have in a facility, and it's showing at a very early age. Like the rest of the country, the education system has become too passive, and too afraid of hurting someone's feelings, as stated earlier in this thread!

As far as mass weapons, I believe they could be the answer in some instances! People would like to think today, weapons are more readily available to killers, but that isn't true. They've always been available. It's the lack of authority! I have a friend/co-worker who's son has gone astray. She can't get help from the system because he hasn't committed a crime in which he has a charge. So, she will have to wait until he actually commits one before they will do anything! I kid you not! The system is failing!

CJ

I have posted on occasion before... but where to start? I am a graduate of Va. Tech, I have a kid at Va Tech, and I LIVE in Blacksburg. Today has been a nightmare for everyone in this town. I work in the public schools and we were on lockdown today w/ very limited access to the media. Students' parents, teachers' spouses work in law enforcement or at the university. 25,000 plus students attend Tech daily, along w/ faculty and staff. It is a very open community as are most campuses. Today, cellphones were jammed. Strong winds made helicopter evacuations impossible. Power outages in outlying areas.
I watched the evening news and became quite annoyed w/ Ms. Katie. She graduated from rival UVa. Hmmf. She was very unfair to the Tech administration officials that she spoke with. After the incident last August when the university went on lockdown because a local convict escaped custody (he overpowered an unarmend hospital security guard, shot him dead, then escaped and murdered a deputy sheriff 1/2 mile from campus), authorities reviewed the incident to better improve 'things' should it happen again. I feel certain that the Univ. handled things in the best manner possible under the given situation, given what they knew, when. A not well publicized fact: Norris Hall, where most of the carnage occurred, was shut down last week due to a bomb scare. The second scare in several weeks. This tragedy today could have happened anywhere with similar results. We have lots of hunters and NRA folks in our community. I'm not convinced that a GTA in Norris Hall w/ a gun could have ended this nightmare. We are somewhat like Mayberry, and we sometimes joke that Deputy Fife is here. But today we were a Law & Order episode. No one wants to live a Law & Order.

Betti,
Thanks for posting. Thanks for the testimonial.

I believe any organisation's administration has the responsability to expect to be challenged on any extraordinary event and this one certainly puts VaTech's administration under the microscope.

However, when done by the press (Couric , Blitzer, whoever) with the expressed and unsubtle intention of boosting rating for the sole purpose of selling better advertising, that's the straw which breaks the camel's back.

I know it's a supply and demand thing. The press feeds the public with what they request, not what they need.
Doesn't the press have a responsability for improving the quality of information which is sold as news?


Need proof? We saw a poll a while back where a significant percentage of Americans couldn't answer what year the Sept.11 attack occured.
I'd bet, most Americans could answer what year Saddam was captured (basically the equivalent of modern-day Hitler).
Most Americans probably couldn't answer how many years the US has been in Iraq ... at $100B per year, that's telling.

Up here, we have access to every single American news channel and more... we have a choice.
Do you have a choice?
Does everything have to do with money now?

I just wanna know why people who want to commit suicide are deciding to take as many as their fellow countrymen with them.

50 years ago people committed suicide, but it was a private affair. You left a note, you took your pills, you want to sleep, and you never woke up.

Now, people arm themselves to the teeth with automatic weapons, and go on a killing spree in a crowded place until they're stopped one way or the other... effectively committing suicide by police revolver.

Is it all just a copycat of Columbine, or is it the influence of video games, or is it that we're living in a society where infamy is almost as desireable as fame? What better way to achieve infamy than by blowing away a few dozen people before you get killed or take your own life. You're guaranteed your 15 minutes of infamy on the nation's television networks.

I believe the cops use "SbC" , suicide by cop, when one of these pops out of the woodworks.
And another slant is how we tend to immediately hate the person without knowing them.
How many times have you changed emotions about someone you finally got to meet, ok not 100% but when it happens ...

Now granted this particular person did something horrible (assuming the gunman is in fact dead; it really wouldn't be that complicated to plan a murder spree like that and then plant the gun in the hands of the last person you kill - how does saying that go ? "deadmen tell no tales"). This is someone's child , parent or sibling ... maybe the person just snapped....it happens.

Quote:

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Like it or not - having a "gun" around for the sake of "protection" or for the "thrill" of adventure is putting yourself in more danger than you'd be otherwise.

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Of the thousands of words printed on the subject in this forum those are probably the wisest, IMO.

And Dan, while I most often agree with your opinions (on the serious stuff) I have to take exception to your comparison of Saddam to Hitler.

Saddam is to Hitler as Mickey Mouse is to Godzilla.

Allow me to expand on the gun possession statement. It is certainly not true in all cases, but most likely in the great majority. I think statistics bear this out. Yeah, I know the NRA line that the millions who have saved their life or the lives of loved ones are not included.