Not the Headline You Want to See
Here's the latest on the Virginia Tech investigation.
This is not good news. One, the University's decision to wait over two hours to alert the students of a campus shooting is inexcusable. Two, the University was apparently not forthcoming in providing these details in the original 2007 investigation by Colonel Massengill of the State Police.
What struck me - in reviewing Massengill's report -- was that Blacksburg public schools were "locked down" that morning of April 16, 2007 due to the shooting, yet the Tech administration blithely continued forward with classes.
This situation is not going to resolve until someone at Tech accepts responsibility. No one has been held accountable.
Whoa there Senator!
1) The only remedy for this is not for someone to end their career. Remember, the cause of this is a lone, deranged gunman. Not an administrator who had been presented with an one-in-ten billion chance event.
2) Shame on Col. Massengill for not getting this right. Shame on the committee that didn't get it right. Shame on the Attorney General who didn't get it right. Shame Shame Shame.
3) VA Tech was to college security what Columbine HS was to Public school security. It never happened before and nobody could project it.
4) SHAME ON THE VA LEGISLATURE FOR ALLOWING A DERANGED MAN TO BUY THESE DEADLY WEAPONS WITHOUT A BACKGROUND CHECK!
5) It is likely that even if the campus had been "locked down" the gunman would have killed whomever was close by. Norris Hall was his "target of choice" but I'll bet he would have killed where ever he had been locked down into.
We are better now than we were then. We have solved the easy problems Senator. Now, Please fix the hard problems.
BeeCee:
Thanks as always for your candid words. I have to disagree with you pretty strongly on this one.
1. Cho did pass a background check when he bought his guns. He bought them from a registered dealer, not at a gun show.
2. We'll never know if things had been better if the administration had gotten word to students at 8 a.m. that 2 fellow students had been killed and that the gunman was at large. But it sure couldn't have been any worse.
3. Again, to go back to my original point, the fact that there was this long delay to notify ordinary students, when everyone with the facts is running for cover, is unforgivable.
I agree with you 100%, Chap, on your post and on your response.
I agree with you Chap!!! It is obvious that we need many more guns on campus not less. We all have seen the movies and we know how this works: the bad guy comes into the classroom and blows away a couple of kids and then a hero with a gun comes forward and take the bad guy out. A bill will be introduced in the GA in January to get concealed guns on campus. A recent report from the liberal Violence Policy Center indicates that CCW permit holders (like the Virginia CCW permit holder who just murdered 12 at Fort Hood) have only murdered 85 people, including 8 cops from May '07 thru Oct 09 - a truly outstanding record. Having provided this commendable record, will you be voting to get CCW permit holder to carry their guns on campus to top these tragedies? And thanks for that you do for the rights of guns in Virginia.
@Liberalkiller
Nice try at being sarcastic, but you fail bigtime. Why do you mention movies? I once saw a metal morphing Terminator on the big screen, but that doesn't mean it's reality. What IS reality: You can never secure a campus, certainly not an open one the size of VT. But, when things go south who do you call? Not the Ghostbusters, you call the police, er... wait... Good Guys.... who have GUNS! Just because you'd rather sit in a classroom armed with nothing more than a couple of pens and a trapper keeper doesn't mean the rest of us do, or will. Students were literally THROWING themselves out of windows to escape Cho, all because he had a disparity of force to use against them. Since I cannot fly I'll rely on option #2: Armed Self Defense. If you want to place blame on someone, Larry Hinker and the VT administration seem to be the appropriate people (after the obvious person, Cho), they lobbied the GA to kill a bill allowing mature, trained, and investigated 21 year olds (and older) to carry on campus. Here is what Hinker had to say about that bill: "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."
I'd rather BE safe than FEEL safe, and denying the basic right of self defense accomplishes neither.