Gunman kills 30 at US University

[edhead999]

This whole this is so messed up. As an American, there are so many problems that were exposed from this incident. First, the university was tipped off several times that something like this was gonna happen with this particular individual. But the officials could not take action becuase there was no hard facts, only here-say. It's kind of messed up because it's one of the biggest loopholes in the bill of rights, specifically the fourth and fourteenth amendment. I mean to say it's unconstitutional to intervene on a student who could potentially take out 31 other people, is pretty messed up. Even though gun control is a really touchy subject, there's so many problems with it. Like in Virginia, someone could literally walk into a gun store and walk out with a gun. In some other states, like California, you're actually required to wait a seven day period in order to get the gun. Also it's against the law to do a medical background check, so the gun store couldn't know that the guy was recently inducted into a psychiatric hospital. (I know that he had two guns, and that he probably would have underwent the killings even with one gun, but it's surprising how he was allowed to buy another gun. I also agree with the statement that "Guns don't kill people, people kill people", but that really has no relevance to my argument.) Another problem is the American culture. The modern generation is so 'dumbed' down from violence games that their response is totally different than what it was before. That could also be argued conversely, with people's desires to kill other people.

And that's where my view of Gun control lies. I believe that the paradigm of gun control should effectively change, but there shouldn't be full gun control (hypocritical? I know =\). Even if people couldn't buy guns legally, they'd peruse buying illegal guns. Personally, I would never own a gun, but I have no right to say that guns should totally be outlawed.

I'm already starting to see a backlash... even from California. A Korean chick I work with in the pharmacy is getting cold shouldered by many of the customers, and it's bullshit. It's inevitable, but there are gonna be un-educated people who will start to make remarks against Asians, regardless of whether or not they're Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc.

Man, there are so many weak points in my post. (Go easy on me >_>)

[ew0923]

I'm already starting to see a backlash... even from California. A Korean chick I work with in the pharmacy is getting cold shouldered by many of the customers, and it's bullshit. It's inevitable, but there are gonna be un-educated people who will start to make remarks against Asians, regardless of whether or not they're Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc.

Yeah, that is just bullshit. There's been something like close to 20 school shootings in the past decade in America (though this one had the biggest death toll) and just because it's done by an some with Asian instead of a anglo-saxon descent, somehow the Asian community needs to bear the consequences? But I agree it's inevitable, there are always going to be racist people, it's just that somehow it becomes appropriated after incidents such as this. Sad, really.

[modesta107]

I've mentioned this before, but I'm from VA myself. Not just anywhere in Va, Northern Va,  this is also the area where the shooter lived.I actually have a friend who lives in the same town.
I look at thing shooting in a different way, since its more local to me, and I know a few ppl that went to tech. It's been a real tough week.A gradutae of my highschool, a guy that gradutated in '73, had a daughter that was one of the victims.

Today In my math class, about 14 of us in there, a girl, a graduate from my school who is a senior at tech came to visit. She walked into the room and hugged my math teacher, And then she started to cry, I had no idea who she was, but after she started to cry, I knew it had to do something with  tech.So the left the classroom and returned a few minutes later. My teacther introduced her, and the girl said something about just returning from a girl's funeral, a victim by the name of caitlin i think, and she also mentioned about being in blacksburg VA, for the week.

 After that she thanked  us and left. When all these shootings happened, I thought about how these familes and friends exprienced a loss and hurt, but when I say this girl cry, that's when I truly realized my much this shooter hurt VA tech students that weren't wounded or killed in the accident.Being close to death is a scary thing. I always thought of  the places surronding my home were safe. Around 2001, one lady was killed in one of ther sniper killings terriozing the DC, Maryland, and VA area.

[StreakInTheSky]

I hate how anything that happens in this country involving a "minority" or "immigrant" ends up with a bunch of racist crap.

Something I heard on the news last night from I think it was the police chief or some other head guy in Blacksburg that disturbed me. "People who are not used to seeing these kind of images shouldn't have had to see them" or something along those lines. Take it as you will, but it was one of those things that just made me say "WTF is that supposed to mean?"

All this political crap going on I never really said how the event itself makes me feel.

I'm extremely saddened by the events that have taken place. My prayers go out to all who were effected by this tragedy. The past few days this thing has been on my mind, and has just made me think about so many things.

[Marks Spencer]

I just watched Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine again and it's a good reminder on what really drives tragedies like these is not just screwed up individuals going on a rampage but something clearly wrong with American culture. After all societies with a higher ratio of guns to people have much lesser murder rates than the USA.

[Daisuki Daiiyo]

If by American culture, you mean the media, then I might agree.

It's great that the media covers things and lets the world know what's going on, but repeatedly showing pictures of him with guns to his head, and clips of him talking about how he's some kind of savior can potentially be fuel for other psycho's out there. This is exactly what he wanted, exposure, and I don't think we should give it to him. Report the tragedy, honor the victims and move on with life. I'm pretty sure there will be a E! True Hollywood Story that comes out a few years down the road that will explain everything behind why he was so fucked up, and so they don't need to be constantly airing his message and rubbing it in everyones face now.

Like how my friend in Reno, Nevada told me that apparently now Reno University is shut down due to bomb threats, and that most likely whoever was behind this recent event was inspired by the VA Tech shootings.

[Rei-chan]

Yeah, it's sad how he actually got all he wanted. He wanted the exposure and "fame" and the assholes gave him just that. Playing his video over and over on TV just like he wanted. Stupid people...

And for what? By showing his video all they're doing is creating terror on vulnerable people, and giving incentive to other potential killers like him. Just like this killer called the Columbine killers "martyrs", some other fucked up kid in the future will probably idolize all these degenerates and pull off another mass killing. And why? Because what the media is showing to all the fucked up minds like theirs is that they can pull this off and get their message across and get their fame and be remembered forever.

I wish that media would not have shown the videos, and instead had just given more attention to the victims maybe... to show people that doing a horrible crime like this won't get you the attention you want.

Now that the idiots gave this killer what he wanted, I just hope it doesn't cause other kids to go kill more people to become famous and have their message displayed on TV.

[arun.yothin]

There have been a few cases of people making threats around here. There have been quite a few threats a few weeks before the shooting, but now it seems like some people are just doing to shut their schools down for a bit.

About his video, it does suck that he got what he wanted. But with the showing, people get to at least see who he his. With anything like this, focus has to be on the victims and the attackers. You can learn about just the victims, but that's only half of what's going on. The media could've handled the video much better though. I heard that NBC put their logo on the vid so that no matter what other stations showed it, NBC would still be visible. That's just fucked.

[Guchi_Jnr]

I don't get people saying "He got the media coverage he wanted", because the guy's going to be none the wiser if they show it or not...cause he's dead.

Personally, I found it interesting trying to understand what the hell was going through his head, and why he snapped. 

[StreakInTheSky]

I don't get people saying "He got the media coverage he wanted", because the guy's going to be none the wiser if they show it or not...cause he's dead.

So what if he's dead, he'll still be going down in history for doing what he did. It's obvious that's one of the things he was hoping to achieve, if not exactly what he wanted. That video itself could be full of bullshit that he made up for all we know. He new it would attract massive media attention. Just look at all the other dead school shooters, people are still talking about them after so many years.

From looking at how everything went down, I don't think he actually "snapped". He probably carefully planned all of this for a long time.

[marktobias]

I'm already starting to see a backlash... even from California. A Korean chick I work with in the pharmacy is getting cold shouldered by many of the customers, and it's bullshit. It's inevitable, but there are gonna be un-educated people who will start to make remarks against Asians, regardless of whether or not they're Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc.

It hadn't even occurred to me that might happen. Although I did read a post on another forum where someone said something along the lines of "there's the excuse Bush has been looking for to finally go to war with Korea", obviously he meant North Korea. Some people are so uneducated!

I have no real thoughts on this whole thing except for the Oldboy stuff. The Sun (the most popular daily paper in England) had half a page talking about Oldboy.

[Tuffty]

So what if he's dead, he'll still be going down in history for doing what he did. It's obvious that's one of the things he was hoping to achieve, if not exactly what he wanted. That video itself could be full of bullshit that he made up for all we know. He new it would attract massive media attention. Just look at all the other dead school shooters, people are still talking about them after so many years.

True. He did praise the shooters at Columbine as "martyrs", so I think there's the explanation as to why he did it.

[Rei-chan]

I don't get people saying "He got the media coverage he wanted", because the guy's going to be none the wiser if they show it or not...cause he's dead.

What SITS said.

This VT killer obviously somehow got some inspiration from the Columbine killers, since he mentions them in his written document and even called them "martyrs". And he said something about him being like Jesus Christ and becoming an inspiration for future generations of people who feel like him. Even though he's dead, his actions and the exposure and fame he's gotten could have a big impact on young weak disturbed minds.

Personally, I found it interesting trying to understand what the hell was going through his head, and why he snapped.

If people are interested in understanding the mind of a killer, then they should go take a psychology class. A tragedy like this should be handled seriously and carefully, not just using it to get ratings and to cater to the curious masses. Everyone is probably interested in knowing why he did this, but that's just not reason enough to give his so-called "manifesto" so much exposure.

[ctz]

Well he got the media coverage he wanted. But it really doesn't matter whether they had shown it or not. He is still dead and he has still killed 30 people. I think not showing his video for "revenge" (not letting have what he wanted) is kinda naive. Bad things happen in the world. Censoring the news won't make it any better.

And what comes to adding the NBC logo to the video... Isn't it the normal procedure when one of the TV stations have rights to some material.

[~Dan~]

Cho Seung-Hui's ebay account http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=blazers5505

Ebay keep messing with that page.  First they started deleting some of the auction pages, then they made him not a registered user, and now they've made the feedback private.



There was Item #150105080082, Mar-23-07 11:53, oneclickshooting (14482).  I never did see what that one was cos they deleted the page quickly.

He bought magazine clips. "Walther P22 standard 10 round magazines 2 pack" http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140098812797 That page has gone as well, it was there yesterday.



This one's still there. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200070466090 Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus with games
"The calculator was used for less than one semester then I dropped the class."
A rather unfortunate choice of words.



He was also a ticket tout: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200058573157

This is the most bizarre one: "Three dozen Fun Rubber Duck Duckie Ducks (Brand New)" http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5662643381 (EDIT: Link works, I missed a 1 off the end before)
"One Giant Jumbo Rubber Duck, Duckie, Large Quack" http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5661942065
(Page also archived at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0422071cho1.html)

[StreakInTheSky]

other than the magazine clips his account seems pretty normal

[Marks Spencer]

"three dozen fun rubber duckies?"

You know what? I think I know what that was for. He probably took them to a remote place somewhere and used them for target practice! Isn't that what all sickoes go and do first? "live out in their mind what they are going to do in real life, probably talking to himself, rehearsing for his "grand performance"!

[kwanleekwan]

So sad........for those who are studying in US, just one word to you all - "Be Careful"