Large Scale Central

VT Tragedy

General Discussion
#1

Talk about hitting close to home…my little brother graduated from VT last year…the Dorm involved was next to the one he used to stay in, I’ve walked through it personally…the class rooms are the ones where he had a lot of his classes…Luckily he moved to Falls Church when he got a job with the Navy, but his girlfriend graduates in May… she was at her off campus apartment when everything went down. One of their friends was in the building wher the shootings occured. Scary part is my Mother and my daughter were gonna be there this weekend…

Props to the administration, warning got out VERY FAST and a shelter in place went down. The Internet proved to be a valuable tool because the phones and cell systems quickly melted down…

#2

Wish you could tell this to Dr. Phil who was quick to bash VT for warning via email.

Never ceases to amaze me how people can blame administrations for not completely protecting the public from the stupidity (or insanity in this case) of individuals.

I still haven’t seen or read much of the news on this. Was busy fighting water Sunday night and Monday AM, then exhausted went straight to bed after work yesterday. But I did hear that stupid Dr. Phil comment this morning ion the radio news.

Glad your family and friends were not harmed.

JR

#3

Sounds like the Admin might be in for a rougher ride, now theyre saying it took 2 hours for the admin to issue any kind of notice about the 1st shooting, students are saying that it was other students texting and phoning friends that got the word out about the second shooting starting and helped save students who then fled or barracaded themselves where they were.

#4

I’m very full of thoughts, both pro and con, about how the victims and authorities handled this. I’ve got a safety meeting in a couple of hours and I’m trying to find something of this to relate to my employees. All of life is a lesson, some are harder to learn than others, but all are lessons. I feel rage, anger and stunned quietness because of this incident. I am amazed that some people are shocked that anything like this could happen. That bothers me more than anything. My prayers are with the families in Virginia. God Bless the USA.

#5

This is my Little Brothers away message today…I like it…

"Forget any and all college affilliations today. For Today we are all Hokies HOKIES UNITED!!!

#6

What scares me is that passing through metal detectors will become an accepted part of going to college. 1984 is not that far off.

Hokies United!

#7

Our THOUGHTS and PRAYERS are with the VT Community
Sincerely,
Ron

#8
Steve Featherkile said:
What scares me is that passing through metal detectors will become an accepted part of going to college. 1984 is not that far off.

Hokies United!


Metal detectors aren’t going to come close to ever stopping actions like this. A person hell-bent on destruction isn’t going to let a little beeping portal stop him from his rampage. He’ll merely chose a different venue, if he doesn’t just blast his way through the detector.

Yes, events like this are tragic, but they’re no more tragic than many other–smaller–displays of depraved indifference that don’t get nearly the publicity. Having spent 12+ years in the media, I’m here to tell you they happen everywhere. Road rage here, gang initiation there, disgruntled employee down the street; random stupid stuff. I’m sure Bart, Matt, and other emergency services workers can rattle similar events off the top of their heads, too. Bad stuff happens because one person decides that life has no value. No amount of security will ever be enough to counter that.

You’re never going to stop senseless tragedy, you can only learn from it. Columbine didn’t keep the tragedy at Platte Canyon from happening, but the lessons learned from Columbine improved the outcome. Believe me, all of our hearts sank when we got word that the one student had died, but everybody in the newsroom–particularly those who covered Columbine–were grateful that it wasn’t worse.

Later,

K

#9
Steve Featherkile said:
What scares me is that passing through metal detectors will become an accepted part of going to college.
Steve, Kevin is right. You cannot prevent anything like this unless you round up every firearm, every knife, every explosive, and any other type of weapon. Then they can chuck rocks and sticks at each other. This is a sad tragedy, and unfortunately will be repeated from time to time in the future. ........Sigh.......... :( :( :( j
#10

That’s the one sad thing that’s wrong with gun control. You can take away the guns from the good people, but the crazies and the crooks will always have access. :frowning: :frowning:

#11
Warren Mumpower said:
That's the one sad thing that's wrong with gun control. You can take away the guns from the good people, but the crazies and the crooks will always have access. :( :(
Besides, it doesn't take a gun to kill dozens of people. Any nutcase can do it with a can of gas and match. It's happened many times, yet we don't see the papers full of editorials demanding that gasoline be banned.
#12
Ray Dunakin said:
Warren Mumpower said:
That's the one sad thing that's wrong with gun control. You can take away the guns from the good people, but the crazies and the crooks will always have access. :( :(
Besides, it doesn't take a gun to kill dozens of people. Any nutcase can do it with a can of gas and match. It's happened many times, yet we don't see the papers full of editorials demanding that gasoline be banned.
No guns used in Oklahoma City

I dont know if anyone here saw the interview with the gunshop owner who sold the nutjob the Glock, he described him as a “clean cut college kid” Kid passed what passes for a background check in Va and bought the gun with a credit card. Nothing according to the owner to raise any eyebrows.

While I dont want to get into any gun control debates here, but it still surprises me it can be easier to buy and operate a gun in this country than it is to buy and operate a car?

But Ray and Warren are correct, almost all guns used in crimes are stolen guns bought and sold on the black market, no amount of government gun control is going to circumvent that access, only an aggressive law enforcement campaign against black marketeers will effect that. Until they decide to deal with that any badguy who wants a gun can find always find access to one. Sad.

#13
John Bouck said:
Steve Featherkile said:
What scares me is that passing through metal detectors will become an accepted part of going to college.
Steve, Kevin is right. You cannot prevent anything like this unless you round up every firearm, every knife, every explosive, and any other type of weapon. Then they can chuck rocks and sticks at each other. This is a sad tragedy, and unfortunately will be repeated from time to time in the future. ........Sigh.......... :( :( :( j
I did not suggest that having metal detectors would prevent such a tragedy, only that they might become part of the landscape of college campuses, as they have become at our airports. Let us be real, if a student had been packing heat, this tragedy would have been much smaller. But, in the anti-gun lobby's zeal to disarm the populace, all they have succeeded in doing is to disarm the good guys. When I was a student, I carried a rifle on campus, between classes, because I was going from the armory to the rifle range. No one objected, nor thought I was in the least bit "strange." Had this looser tried to do his thing then, I and the other ROTC students who were doing the same thing would have "made his day."

How things have changed.

#14

They need some gun control. Arm the students!

#15

Tom Ruby said:
They need some gun control. Arm the students!

My shooting coach said that gun control was putting the round inside the bullseye. We are getting a bit afield from the original post. My sympathy for all at VT.

#16

While this incident ALMOST hit close to home, I have a nephew who has plans to attend VT, another similar incident did hit very close to home. I had two nieces attending Santana High School in Santee, Ca when one of the students there went nuts. So I can emphathize with the parents who had loved ones attending VT and my sympathies go out to any one who was involved in this senseless tragedy.

#17

MAN! I just read about a young lady at VT who was a Freshman at Columbine…

#18
Bart Salmons said:
MAN! I just read about a young lady at VT who was a Freshman at Columbine.....
Yikes, thats like the lady who was on the Titanic, the Lusitania, and the Britannic when each went down! She also survived each event, though I dont she was very keen on boats.
#19
Bart Salmons said:
MAN! I just read about a young lady at VT who was a Freshman at Columbine.....
All we can do now is pray for all those families and hope that we stop the next ones before they can kill.All these kids want to do is get a education and try to make this world a better place for us and they have to live with the fear of this happening again may God look out for our kids and protect them from this lunaitic thinking.
#20

I keep asking myself “What’s gone wrong”. When I was growing up we didn’t have the crime and lunacy that exists today. This is entirely a different world than it was 50 years ago…:frowning: I often ask myself “Did my generation do something horribly wrong in raising our kids?” Why?