Yes, I wish some students had had the guts of Liviu Librescu, the Va. Tech. professor who blocked a classroom door with his body while kids jumped out of windows or hid. Cho shot and killed Librescu; the students who ran survived. But then Librescu was a Holocaust survivior and apparently learned something from it. He wasn't paralyzed with terror by the prospect of a hate-filled lunatic who wanted to kill a lot of harmless and defenseless people.
But I can't condemn the kids. This stuff happens so fast, that if you can't somehow make yourself act almost immediately, it's already too late. This thing came out of nowhere on them, and there's no way they could have foreseen the need to be ready for such an event. They had no way to defend themsleves, let alone take out a maniac gunman. To ask more would have meant asking for them to sacrifice themselves. As much as we admire that, we can't demand that someone do it. I've been confronted by an armed man who wanted and tried to kill me, and lemme tell you, my first thought was like Mel Gibson in Signs: "I'm not ready for this!". I desperately wanted to push the pause button that wasn't there.
I can't condemn the cops either. You cannot imagine the confusion that in a situation like this. Things are moving fast, and there is no HUD to let you know what's going on outside of your line of sight. But in keeping with the postmodern imperative to scapegoating, they will be blamed, along with the school president.
What should come out of this is yet another lesson that the school administrations need a real contingency for even the most bizarre eventuality. And that we are responsible for our own security. We all need to be prepared to act to save our or others' lives.
My point is, you don't know who will react well. Most people who post on this board have never, and probably will never know. But you can't just discount everyone straight out of hand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lobo
And you must know it well, since you are being trained as psycho killer in the marines, seals, rangers or any other of those organizations for dudes with Peter Pan syndrom
I know, from first hand experience once again, that with a lot of daily exercise, your confidence levels can very go high up and you can take control of many more social situations, for one example of how it alters you compared to the world around you, than you could without it. My point is that someone with overinflated confidence, not ego, through exercise is most likely much better set as far as strength/endurance, response time/reaction, thinking clearly and also gutsiness in such a circumstance than someone who walks to and from school occasionally getting up for a snack while playing video games.
I feel bad for that Chiang guy who was unjustly accused. Good thing he isn't the killer because he has a lot of cool rifles just like many people on these forums
Don't blame the gun?...you american fellows are trully amazing
Listen, here in the Mediterranean coast we have hot summers, women like mermaids singing fight with my husband and you will get me, pre-historic quarrels nobody remembers the reason, a freaky and tortured hebrew-christian heritage that makes us to be all day in anger and arguing about any kind of absurd polemic, you get the point?
Well, a mass murder happens once in two decades...why?...because we can't go to our local ammunation and say: "hey bro, a want a kalashnikov and two pocket tactical nukes"
Balaceras are good for the John Wayne's movies, let the professionals defend yourself, hey, you won over commies, relax...well, Putin is worse than commies but whatever
Last edited by Lobo; April 17th, 2007 at 05:05 PM.
Well, a mass murder happens once in two decades...why?...because we can't go to our local ammunation and say: "hey bro, a want a kalashnikov and two pocket tactical nukes"
Yeah, you have strict gun laws in Spain, and yet, ETA has led to over 900 deaths in the past three decades, islamist crazies blew up your train station with homemade bombs. I saw the Corte Inglés in Madrid a week after it blew up...no guns there, but people were scared shitless.
Italy? Pretty tight gun laws too. And yet, warring mafia/camorra/n'drageta clans have every urban and rural economy South of Napoli paralized with their own internecine wars, extortion, murder, whatnot.
France? Very hard to bring guns into the country, you say? Good thing the police are unable to enter most of the cités to police this or they'd be in for a rude shock.
Nuh-uh, bub, sorry to say it, guns don't kill people. Nor do bullets (well, strictly speaking, they do). It's crazy morons with guns, who'd use other means at their disposal if they didn't have guns (look up Timothy McVeigh and Theodore Kaczynski whenever you get a chance.) In fact, I think the 19 pricks who committed the worst terrorist act ever on American soil used office supplies to create flying bombs (last I checked, boxcutters were available at Home Depot.)
Think about that. Maybe Jack Thompson is right, it was the fault of violent video games like this one. Murderer.
The arguement for gun control centres around "someone loses it, buys a gun, and goes on rampage" This has been dealt with by a waiting period and police check.
Anyone who plots to commit something like this, will find a way if they dont have access to guns. They will just use something else.
btw. in some counties in Texas where it was a law to carry a gun, the crime rate was virtually nil.
Frankly I think it's legit to do a psych profile and to require gun training on anyone who wants to buy a gun. The police in Zurich, where I normally live, require you to come in to just chat with a guy before you buy a gun -- he tells you about all the laws, and he was very open to me that part of the reason for this was to make sure you're not a drooling psycho.
I know that's not feasible in huge cities, and you don't want some idiot bureaucrat deciding if you can pack or not, but I found it to be a cool idea. There are MANY people whom I don't want to give access to guns (or to cars, children, computers and annoying yappy little dogs.)
R-BS, while I appreciate your Texas example, to my knowledge these are mainly rural environments, so the equation is flawed. You generally have less crime in the countryside compared to suburbs or cities, people grow up more familiar with guns so you have fewer accidents and more responsibility, there's more of a social support and pressure network, and a whole lot of other factors.
I have another example that you may not like fuzzy, but it does kinda support your theory, it's from Bowling for Columbine . In canada, the amount of domestic guns, as in private owners, outnumbers the amount of guns in the U.S. In canada the amount of gun deaths, is far below that of the U.S., so owning guns isn't necesariily the problem
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Re: Thoughts on Virgina Tech 
"No, I do NOT want to talk about it."
.gif "Roll Eyes (Sarcastic) at that stupid method of spelling color")
. In canada, the amount of domestic guns, as in private owners, outnumbers the amount of guns in the U.S. In canada the amount of gun deaths, is far below that of the U.S., so owning guns isn't necesariily the problem 
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