I'm trying to be nice about this whole issue. It's sad that this incident happened, and my heart goes out to all students and faculty that lost their lives in a senseless killing spree.
I hate when people say the words too bad campus police or the police department couldn't have acted faster to avoid this whole thing.
What people don't seem to realize is it is very hard to be everywhere at once. How on a large campus like this one would you be able to prevent this type of thing? I mean 2 people are shot, so police respond to investigate and see if they can find the guilty party. While they are investigating, he goes to another part of the campus and starts shooting people. In the middle of all this, you got mass hysteria from all the students now trying to run away. All this happens in a matter of minutes including the gunman shooting all those people. You are not going to stop someone like that. Now, many of you are going to Monday night quarterback this and say, well I would have at least tried to subdue him. Yeah right! All those students and faculty were unarmed. An unarmed person is not going to take on an armed gunman, not in real life. What most of those people were thinking was I gotta get away before he points that gun at me. It's natural human instinct. "Protect you and yours". Nobody is going to blame them. I'll finish my little spiel further down. I'm not picking on you Impact, just stating my opinion on your post.
Yes, in New York state you need to get a pistol permit to carry a handgun. It takes up to 6 months to get one with a thorough background check on you. They don't just hand these things out like candy. VA on the other hand you don't. So my answer would be get stricter gun laws in VA. Why anyone should be able to walk in to any pawnshop or gun shop and buy a handgun off the shelf is beyond me. That law would definitely be a problem. Just any psycho can buy a gun. How safe is that???
Should we have metal detectors in schools? Yes, but there are problems with this.
1. Metal detectors would have to be at all entrances and exits to the buildings. Doors should be locked except for the main entrance to the building.
2. In order for them to be effective you would have to man them at all times. Reason: Because I'm standing around and you come up to one of the side doors,you ask me to let you in, I do. Now, if you happen to have a gun on you, I've just let you enter the building. If you are going to shoot someone, that's where you are going to start. By now it's too late. They are in the building and they are going to bypass the metal detectors. Somebody is going to get hurt or possibly die. No way to stop this from happening.
3. Yeah, it's going to cost a lot of money. Your talking about armed officers at all the doors of the schools, plus the cost of metal detectors. Would it be worth it? Yes, but problem is who is going to pay for all this. Nobody wants the bill on this one. Every town normally has at least 2 or more schools in their town. There are also a lot of doors to these schools.
4. Now, you are going to get people saying, Not my Town! It won't happen here so we aren't going to have all this cost for nothing. Then what happens?? It happens in their town! There is no way to predict this type of thing. I see it every day. People that have mental problems look like ordinary people. Sometimes you can tell but others, you always here he /she was such a quiet person.
True. If I had been investigating this incident as a campus police officer, I would have done things maybe a little different. See I have some power like if after talking to someone, I deem that they are a threat to themselves or someone else, I can take them to the hospital under the mental hygiene law. Problem is, that the hospitals let them go if they say the proper words to them. They actually believe the person!! So even if I brought them in to be mentally evaluated, if the person says: " No, I'm not thinking of hurting myself or anyone else," they let them go. Laws are getting more and more strict. They don't protect the victims they protect the defendants committing the crimes. I get frustrated in my type of work when I get told by the Defense Attorney / DA that I can't charge this person because of a stupid technicality. Please.
Something should have been done, but we really only know what the papers are telling us. The paper wants to sell papers, they don't care. Also, look at the time issue on this. The teacher said this occurred in 2005 with the essays. Even the way our system is, this might not have been prevented.
The girls roommate said they didn't even know he existed. She wasn't aware this guy had a crush on her.
I'm tired of people always saying: Well, it was the way I was brought up. Bullsh@t! What a lame excuse. We don't think of killing people just because we were abused or molested by our families. That is the biggest cop out I have ever heard.
I could go on and on.
I read that a lot of the people that got shot had more than one bullet in them. Do you realize how many rounds this guy had to have on him? How fast he was reloading to do this, because nobody tried to stop him? Thats what I'm talking about. It happens so quickly and people are shocked that they can't react quickly enough to stop it.
I'm experienced first hand having a loaded shotgun pointed at my face. A door was separating me from this individual who was using a couch as cover. I carry a gun, and most people say well I would have shot him. Right! You would have been dead! If a person points a gun at you, and yours is holstered. What do you think that person is going to do if I go for my gun? You got it, Shoot me! I got the hell away from the door and then went for my gun.
My point is that everything happens so fast that unless you are experienced and been trained to do this, people aren't going to react quickly. People have different reactions, they freeze , they panic, they run etc.
Well, I'm long winded and I'm out of time. So, feel free to respond.