So we now know the "shooter" was a guy named Cho Seung-Hui, 23 (left), a South Korean who was a resident alien in the United States. He was described as an English major in his senior year at Virginia Tech. Another victim has died, raising the death toll to 34 at Va. Tech.Of course, this turns on its head the "profile" of such a shooter. Historically, mass shooting and rampages on college and high school campuses have been carried out by angry, disgruntled white males. Then we had the D.C. sniper shootings a few years ago, which turned out to be two African-American males, and now this guy, who is Asian. It's ironic when the FBI says that the only way to prevent such a crime is to "be aware of your surroundings, to note suspicious persons, to note persons who look to be out of place." Who looks "out of place" on a college campus? They are the only multi-racial/multi-ethnic enclaves left in the U.S.
I'm sure the litigious nature of our society will kick in shortly and there will be a flood of lawsuits against the university because of the "gap" between the first and second shootings, two hours later, and how the university should have locked down the campus, etc. That, of course, is nonsense. From this early stage of the investigation, it appears proper protocols were followed. And besides, a campus-wide shut down wouldn't have stopped the second round of killings anyway. He was, after all, a student who studied and lived there, and who never left the campus after the first shooting, apparently. More than likely, he would have shot up his dorm building, or another building close by.
Others have much more to say on this than I have time to write (including Marc Cooper who notes this kind of thing goes on, times two, every day in Iraq and that our president calls it "progress"), but for me it merely adds to April being the cruelest of months. Oklahoma City, Waco, Columbine, Springfield...what is it about "spring has sprung" that includes the nut cases as well?
And memo to any future mass shooter whose plan is to end the rampage by turning the gun on yourself: just stay home and start with yourself first. And spare everyone else "your pain" and bullshit.
Cross posted from AoF
4 comments:
Sotp the insanity! This shit has to stop, and stop soon. Our nation cannot go on like this. We have lost our souls.
Yes, you can bet the farm lawyers are lining up at the victims homes.
I don't know what it will take to stop this insanity, but having guns so easily available does not help.
After hearing the professor, Lucinda Roy, speak of all the alarms she rang, what else can anyone do? I agree about the availability of guns, but if not guns, he would've gotten fertilizer, poison...any other kind of way to kill a lot of people quickly. I am so on board about the whole, "just-kill-yourself-and-leave-the-rest-of-us-alone" mentality. The pain that drives one to suicide shouldn't be wrought upon the lives of others.
Meanwhile, 178 are killed in Baghdad...does that take ur breath away as the number 32 does in VA?
Did mine.
There's no way to get away from the occasional surprise. And it would be a surprise if someone offed themselves first thus saving the community the trouble of dealing with the media.
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