The Virginia Tech Tragedy

Lefty · April 16th, 2007, 06:13 PM

Looks like it was an international student from China. How did this guy get guns being an international student? I think we will be seeing a lot of changes with letting international students into our universities. Also, I hope Virginia Tech has a lot of money because I can see them get sued by a lot of families.

This is a horrible tragedy and it makes you wonder how safe we really are.

NMCard · April 16th, 2007, 06:36 PM

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-50658

Gun bill gets shot down by panel
HB 1572, which would have allowed handguns on college campuses, died in subcommittee.
By Greg Esposito
381-1675

A bill that would have given college students and employees the right to carry handguns on campus died with nary a shot being fired in the General Assembly.

House Bill 1572 didn't get through the House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety. It died Monday in the subcommittee stage, the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.

The bill was proposed by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, on behalf of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Gilbert was unavailable Monday and spokesman Gary Frink would not comment on the bill's defeat other than to say the issue was dead for this General Assembly session.

Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.""

Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, would not comment Monday because he was not part of the subcommittee that discussed the bill.

Most universities in Virginia require students and employees, other than police, to check their guns with police or campus security upon entering campus. The legislation was designed to prohibit public universities from making "rules or regulations limiting or abridging the ability of a student who possesses a valid concealed handgun permit ... from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun."

The legislation allowed for exceptions for participants in athletic events, storage of guns in residence halls and military training programs.

Last spring a Virginia Tech student was disciplined for bringing a handgun to class, despite having a concealed handgun permit. Some gun owners questioned the university's authority, while the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police came out against the presence of guns on campus.

In June, Tech's governing board approved a violence prevention policy reiterating its ban on students or employees carrying guns and prohibiting visitors from bringing them into campus facilities

Zeno · April 16th, 2007, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NMCard

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-50658

Gun bill gets shot down by panel
HB 1572, which would have allowed handguns on college campuses, died in subcommittee.
By Greg Esposito
381-1675

Well with this, looks like this thread needs to be moved to the politics board.

Folster · April 17th, 2007, 01:48 AM

I heard people on the news blaming the school. That is crazy. I attend ASU West. It would be incredibly easy for anyone to walk in to one of my classes and start shooting it up? There is nothing a school can do about a maniacal person like that. The only thing a school can do is have a sound and an automatic response planned for extreme situations such as what occurred today.

Sunshooter · April 17th, 2007, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lefty

Looks like it was an international student from China. How did this guy get guns being an international student? I think we will be seeing a lot of changes with letting international students into our universities. Also, I hope Virginia Tech has a lot of money because I can see them get sued by a lot of families.

This is a horrible tragedy and it makes you wonder how safe we really are.

He's a KOREAN!

I think the main point is why people live in US can buy guns easily.

PortlandCardFan · April 17th, 2007, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunshooter

He's a KOREAN!

I think the main point is why people live in US can buy guns easily.

Here we go....

Donald · April 17th, 2007, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Folster

I heard people on the news blaming the school. That is crazy. I attend ASU West. It would be incredibly easy for anyone to walk in to one of my classes and start shooting it up? There is nothing a school can do about a maniacal person like that. The only thing a school can do is have a sound and an automatic response planned for extreme situations such as what occurred today.

Or any terrorist from going into any school. National nightmare.

Divide Et Impera · April 17th, 2007, 08:25 AM

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266506,00.html

Quote:

Professor Who Helped Students Escape Among Those Killed

Tuesday , April 17, 2007

AP
ADVERTISEMENT

JERUSALEM —

An Israeli lecturer who died in the massacre at a U.S. university saved the lives of several students by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before he was fatally shot, his son said Tuesday.

Students of Liviu Librescu, 76, a holocaust survivor who was an engineering science and mathematics lecturer at Virginia Tech for 20 years, sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said the son, Joe.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

Liviu Librescu, was respected in his field, his son said.

"His work was his life in a sense," Joe Librescu said. "That was a good place for him to practice his research."

The couple immigrated to Israel from Romania in 1978 and then moved to Virginia in 1985 for his sabbatical, but had stayed since then, said Joe Librescu, who himself studied at the school from 1989 to 1994.

In Romania, the academic community also was mourning Librescu's death.

"It is a great loss," said Ecaterina Andronescu, rector of the Polytechnic University in Bucharest, where Librescu graduated in mechanics and aviation construction in 1953. "We have immense consideration for the way he reacted and defended his students with his life."

He also received a Ph.D from the Bucharest-based Academy of Sciences in 1969, and received an honorary degree with the Polytechnic University in 2000.

At the Polytechnic University, his picture was put on a table and a candle was lit, and people lay flowers. "We remember him as a great specialist in aeronautics. He left behind hundreds of prestigious papers," said one of the professors, Nicolae Serban Tomescu.

Librescu, who specialized in composite structures and aeroelasticity, published extensively and received numerous awards for his work. He also received several NASA grants and also taught courses at the University "La Sapienza" of Rome, Italy, and at the Tel Aviv University in Israel.

In Monday's massacre, a gunman killed 32 people at the Virginia university before committing suicide. It was the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.

It's amazing, sad and utterly tragic that he survived a massive killing machine, yet some punk kid with a grudge and a gun takes him out. However, he's a true hero in every sense of the word. How many people would have the balls to do what this guy did? I'd like to think I would do that, but a lot of people would like to think that about themselves. No one knows what they would really do until they are actually confronted with this situation....

/Moment of silence

AZZenny · April 17th, 2007, 09:14 AM

Much of the world is pointing to the laxity of gun laws here -- and compared to anywhere in the world, that is the only word for it -- and imagining this tragedy will make a difference. However, I can see this bringing forth calls to arm more students and teachers.

Quote:

In Italy, leading daily Corriere della Sera ran an opinion piece entitled "Guns at the Supermarket" - a critical view of the US gun lobby and the ease with which guns can be purchased.

"The latest attack on a US campus will shake up America, maybe it will provoke more vigorous reactions than in the past, but it won't change the culture of a country that has the notion of self-defense imprinted on its DNA and which considers the right of having guns inalienable," Corriere wrote in its front-page story.

I really think we could tighten up access to guns substantially, without infringing our Constitutional right to bear arms-- but the bottom line is that if someone goes psychotic, or is a psychopath, they can always find a way to commit mayhem. Just probably to a less extreme degree.

Dback Jon · April 17th, 2007, 09:26 AM

Yes - the condemnation of U.S. Gun Laws is world-wide - including our allies in Britain and Australia.

Renz · April 17th, 2007, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Folster

I heard people on the news blaming the school. That is crazy. I attend ASU West. It would be incredibly easy for anyone to walk in to one of my classes and start shooting it up? There is nothing a school can do about a maniacal person like that. The only thing a school can do is have a sound and an automatic response planned for extreme situations such as what occurred today.

It appears that VT did not have a sound response to an extreme situation. I can't imagine why a school wouldn't be locked down immediately after a shooting on campus. We don't have all the facts yet, but it seems like the school screwed up big time.

green machine · April 17th, 2007, 09:32 AM

I honestly don't know much about it all, but would stricter gun laws have stopped something like this? Unless you don't plan on letting civilians carry guns, how would they know that a kid that had never been in trouble, never really done much of anything, would do something like this?

green machine · April 17th, 2007, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renz

It appears that VT did not have a sound response to an extreme situation. I can't imagine why a school wouldn't be locked down immediately after a shooting on campus. We don't have all the facts yet, but it seems like the school screwed up big time.

My freshman year at UofA there was a shooting at the Nursing College. I don't remember them locking down the entire campus.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and it's terrible that this happened. But if they had reason to believe it was an isolated incident then I think they probably did what they should have done. Nobody could have seen this coming.

Zeno · April 17th, 2007, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by green machine

I honestly don't know much about it all, but would stricter gun laws have stopped something like this? Unless you don't plan on letting civilians carry guns, how would they know that a kid that had never been in trouble, never really done much of anything, would do something like this?

Stricter gun laws probably wouldn't have stopped it, the last report I read said both guns he carried had the serial numbers filed off. Which means the guns were probably either stolen or bought off some less than reputable source (or very likely both).

krepitch · April 17th, 2007, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by green machine

Nobody could have seen this coming.

That's always the excuse. I wonder how many times it's actually true.

The Virginia Tech Tragedy

He survived the Holocaust only to heroically lose it to a cowardly killer....