At least 22 people shot and killed in a rampage at Virginia Tech. The shooter, apparently despondent over a romantic issue, checked himself out after doing all this damage.
Worse yet, it is initiating a debate about gun control, because of a recent debate at VT to make the college a “gun-free zone” and in the Virginia legislature about passing a law allowing students and faculty to carry weapons. I don’t see that it would have made any difference one way or the other. Crazed lunatics are going to find a way to get weapons no matter what the law is, and whether their victims are armed or not doesn’t matter if they can take hostages or take out the threats before they can return fire.
Wait, where’d you get the romantic issue bit? I don’t see that in either this story or any other. His name hasn’t been released. All I’ve found is where a student identified him as a young Asian male wearing a vest and maroon cap.– Spungen
Just an internet rumor. I came across another one that he was despondent over some academic issue, too.
This seems a lot worse than the usual “romantic issue” violence. Usually they just kill the person who spurned them, and whoever else happens to be immediately around. I would guess the motive here is a belief in a more general persecution. Academic, I could believe, along with general social isolation. No one even knows where or how he got the gun(s) yet, so I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about that. We also don’t know if he’s a student.I hear the school has a military training program, so maybe he was part of that. It’s unexpected that one person could take down so many people.
This morning, the news revealed the shooter was indeed a student and dorm resident, and it started out as a domestic dispute, confirming the rumor TL heard. My question is, why does a dorm resident feel the need to have at least two pistols and that much ammunition?
Maybe he was of the mindset that having lots of deadly guns is what makes a man masculine and powerful.