Federal Officials: At Least 32 Dead After Virginia Tech University Shooting

Originally posted by Watchful1
If we ban guns kids will just turn to explosives....

really? i don't follow the logic.

explosives are harder to get hold of, espeically the military type. plus the laws around the sale of certain chemicals are tight in the States now since 9/11.

Again,

To be sensitive to the issue and to not derail this threads topic I posted a new link for debating guns and rights. I think it will help keep this thread on track.

I believe that people coming to this thread are going to want to know the issues at hand and not gun opinions, even though I was guilty of this as well earlier on.

Debate Guns and Rights

[edit on 16-4-2007 by Realtruth]

Well seeing as how this conversation is continuing on this path here instead of the other thread,I'll just reiterate what I posted there here.

I think that this has something to do with our mindset these days.Used to be just a few psychotic loners skulking around America looking for victims.....now it can be anyone that just decides to take out their frustrations in a massive rage of violence.I don't know what it is.....but it seems like whatever it is,it's a fatal wound on America that we keep hoping a band-aid will cure.We gotta figure out how to stop the bleeding altogether instead of hoping it'll just go away.

Originally posted by DocGonzo

Well as far as enjoying violent video games and movies....whether we want to admit it or not,there is a primal need for these sort of things.If anything I think playing out those fantasies in virtual form would help soothe the savage beast,so to speak.The thing is most of us who play/watch such things know the difference between right and wrong....reality/fantasy.Unfortunately a growing number of Americans seem to be confusing those boundries,and therein lies the problem.

Well good for you that you know the difference, but a lot of people don't and that is why there are still so many killings everyday. What is wrong with the good old boxing ball to loose some aggression ? These days it's not enough anymore, we need to kill to feel good, although it's virtualy, accept this time it happened in real life. Speaking about virtual.....isn't it that a lot of people in virtual games pretending to be someone they are not in real life but wish to be?

I just heard on CNN that there where two shootings, and the students went back to class after the first one.

Originally posted by Realtruth
Here is my concern for this tragedy, many times copycat killers will follow, so lets hope this does not happen.

It's the intense media coverage that encourages the copycat response. The story has been running endlessly on BBC News 24 since it broke. You tend to get a follow-up copycat event within a week or two of the main incident.

Originally posted by Flyer
Also, bad guy has a gun, shoot bullets, your child or wife is dead.

We can go round and round with this argument. For those of us who abide by the law, to deprive ourselves the right to own a gun knowing well enough that a criminal will obtain one anyways, is downright moronic.

Originally posted by Flyer
Also, guns really didnt help these 31 people who died, did they?

Sorry, but that made zero sense. Yes, I'm sure all those kids were packing heat. They probably just couldn't figure out how to take the safeties off.

Peace

Originally posted by infinite

Originally posted by Watchful1
If we ban guns kids will just turn to explosives....

really? i don't follow the logic.

explosives are harder to get hold of, espeically the military type. plus the laws around the sale of certain chemicals are tight in the States now since 9/11.

You ban guns,what next? Knives? Sharp pointed sticks? Ropes? You can kill a person with just about anything. Guns don't kill people. People kill people.

[edit on 16-4-2007 by SpeakerofTruth]

Originally posted by Flyer

Also, guns really didnt help these 31 people who died, did they?

No they didn't because everyone on campus knows it's against the schools rules to have Guns, Hence the very reason to ALLOW guns.

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth
Banning guns just disarms the good people of a nation.

"Good people"?

A firearm is designed to kill, how can a owner use it for "good intentions"?

This might be the European in me speaking, but I don't see how owning a firearm is a good thing. As I said, its designed to kill.

As Eddie Izzard said..

The NRA say "Guns don't kill people, people kill people", But I think the gun helps..

Originally posted by thedigirati
No they didn't because everyone on campus knows it's against the schools rules to have Guns, Hence the very reason to ALLOW guns.

Allow guns on campus??

Then you end up with more than 32 dead.

I hope you and I are wrong about this, but with the media machine they tend to create news instead of reporting it these days.

Originally posted by torsion

Originally posted by Realtruth
Here is my concern for this tragedy, many times copycat killers will follow, so lets hope this does not happen.

It's the intense media coverage that encourages the copycat response. The story has been running endlessly on BBC News 24 since it broke. You tend to get a follow-up copycat event within a week or two of the main incident.

Originally posted by rai76
Well good for you that you know the difference, but a lot of people don't and that is why there are still so many killings everyday. What is wrong with the good old boxing ball to loose some aggression ? These days it's not enough anymore, we need to kill to feel good, although it's virtualy, accept this time it happened in real life. Speaking about virtual.....isn't it that a lot of people in virtual games pretending to be someone they are not in real life but wish to be?

Exactly....why is it that a growing number of Americans are blurring the lines between reality and fantasy,so much so that other peoples lives are seen as worthless things that can be taken away on a whim.Yes,some people try to be something they aren't in the virtual world,but as long as they keep it there I see no harm in it.Come on.....did we see a wave of people tying up guys in bathtubs and using a chainsaw on them after Scarface came out? Not that I know of. The point is,like I said before,something is changing in our mentality as a whole as it relates to the value of human life.

Originally posted by enjoies05

This makes no sense at all. You really think a person with a gun is going to let someone close enough to them that they could get them un-armed by hitting them?

Yes, its happened before, if someone goes nuts with a knife or even sword. They get rushed and disarmed. 1 or 2 may die or get injured but they dont stand around waiting to be slaughtered. I guarantee you that if he doesnt have a gun, the death rate drops 90+%.

Originally posted by enjoies05And the 31 people who died didn't have guns so that doesn't make any sense...

[edit on 16/4/2007 by enjoies05]

Thats my point, you say people should have guns to protect themselves but they could not even do that because they weren't allowed but the gunman was allowed to go down his local shop and buy his weapons.

Originally posted by infinite

Originally posted by Watchful1
If we ban guns kids will just turn to explosives....

really? i don't follow the logic.

explosives are harder to get hold of, espeically the military type. plus the laws around the sale of certain chemicals are tight in the States now since 9/11.

Anarchist Cookbook...


Molotov Cocktails for lunch anyone?



Didnt someone eariler say that some kid in the eightys who was a physics major shoot professors? Wouldnt it follow that chemistry or even just highly motivated students bent on destrustion be very able to kill with explosives?



Oh yea... AND its soooo tough for thoes Iraq militants to devise SOME sort of IED, be it small or large...

Honestly, why can't you guys take the gun discussion to the before mentioned thread, so we can have this for news? Thanks in advance.

Originally posted by dahl
flayer that was kinda stupid thing to say:Also, guns really didnt help these 31 people who died, did they? criminals all wasy get a hold of gunz if those 31 would have had a gun more of them would probably be alive

Great, so the answer is to arm all students then?

Originally posted by Flyer
Yes, its happened before, if someone goes nuts with a knife or even sword. They get rushed and disarmed.

But he didn't go killing 30+ people with a sword, it was a gun - there is a difference.

hell...


fill a 3 liter jug with gun powder and place an improvised charge in it...

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth
You ban guns,what next? Knives? Sharp pointed sticks? Ropes? You can kill a person with just about anything. Guns don't kill people. People kill people.

[edit on 16-4-2007 by SpeakerofTruth]

You can kill 1 or 2 people with a knife but theres no way 30+ people would have died if this guy had a knife or stick.