Virginia Tech Shooting

[Michael Romanos]

There was at least one New Zealander caught up in the shooting - he was one of the lucky ones though he is still in shock. The University offered to pay for his parents to come and visit him immediately and they have delayed this action for three weeks. The Kiwi student was very worried about his best friend at the University. But he was ok apart from being in a vigil at the hospital because his best friend in turn, had been shot and injured.

[Hayashi_eri]

it is sad that such events have been happening in America recently. It is illegal to have any guns in Singapore & we have never had such issues before. I believe that it would be great if guns can be made illegal in America too but I guess each country has such political issues to resolve. I am glad that we are safe from such violence here.

[Michael Romanos]

No one is safe, no country is safe, but things can be made a lot safer and people with such anger would have some time to cool down, if the easy access for guns was ditched and the guns'r'us attitude was wiped off the map. A person these days can place bombs in his/her body and blow a whole lot of people up without the need for a gun, but this kind of action takes quite a bit of planning and it is very premeditated whereas grabbing a gun or an arsenal of guns in the USA can be achieved with a wink and a nod and without much thought. Of course some of the killers have planned events for a month but the majority I believe, have been a lot more to do with quick action.

Perspectives are not much good at this time of tragedy, but there is a mass murder of innocent victims of similar proportions to Virginia Tech happening every week or even less on average in Iraq. And to God, every human is valued exactly the same.

We have mentioned once before on Go Corgi, but it us worthwhile repeating that the gun lobby in the USA is the most powerful lobby group in that country. Here are two stats nI have heard from good sources - one of them is incorrect with regard to the USA: 13,000 people in the USA died from gunshot wounds in 2002. Most recently over a 12 month period, 30,000 Americans died from gunshot wounds in the USA yet the figues in the UK over the same period was 163. The population difference is around four times. Multiply 4 x 163 and you get 650. So 13,000 or 30,000as opposed to 650 And the UK aint no soft touch as a country either.

[LaRositaMonita]

Originally Posted by Hayashi_eri

it is sad that such events have been happening in America recently. It is illegal to have any guns in Singapore & we have never had such issues before. I believe that it would be great if guns can be made illegal in America too but I guess each country has such political issues to resolve. I am glad that we are safe from such violence here.

Making weapons illegal is, unfortunately, a complicated issue here in the US. The "right to bear arms" is written into our Constitution... kids learn this in school right along with the fact that we have a right to free speech, freedom of religion, a fair trial by jury, etc. A lot of people will defend their right to use firearms for protection or sport seemingly to the death. Personally, I'm pretty anti-gun, mostly because there's no way I can think of to allow people this sort of freedom with a dangerous weapon while also requiring them in absolute terms to be responsible with that weapon. With the right that many so vehemently defend also comes the potentiality (maybe the eventuality, depending on how you look at it) of tragedies like this occurring.

Ultimately, though, we must remember that our political discussions are,for now, coming from a place designed to find someone to blame for our loss. We want to know who had to have been negligent enough to allow this to occur; we want to know who we can point a finger at so that we can trick ourselves into thinking that this won't ever happen again. We need to not lose sight of the fact that ultimately these were the actions of one very disturbed man. The signs were there. People did what was in their power. But, whatever his motives, this man had evil intentions, and now we are suffering because of his evil actions. Again, I just ask that we pray and keep in our thoughts all those affected. Watching the coverage of today's convocation ceremony and candlelight vigil brought me to tears.