So sad. A terrible tradgedy.
Please keep in mind, 3abdo's above quote hits the nail right on the head. More gun control will solve nothing. All more gun control would do is keep guns out of the hands of good people. Because of the "black" market (i.e. true market), people can get whatever they want, whenever they want, albeit, for a price. This bypasses all laws, fingerprinting, government data records, etc.
The sad irony is that Virginia has one of the more leanient gun laws of the 50 States. For example, even out of State residents can apply (for only $50.00 I might add) for a concealed weapons permit. That is correct, like the State of Utah, you don't even have to live there! All you need to do is attend a class, prove you won't shoot yourself, and there you go... you're carrying a conealed weapon on you. But all this does no good when schools have strict "No Guns" policies. You can carry around a concealed weapon anywhere in Virginia (with obvious exceptions of government buildings and airports) but once on campus, you must forfeit that right. Criminals on the other hand care very little for "rules". Hence, there is no "good" person anywhere on campus that has a gun, and "psycho" shooters know this. Hence, they walk on campus knowing there will be no one that can stop them until it is too late. 30 some people dead... horrible, simply horrible. Had the students had the right to bear arms as they do off campus, there would have been fantastic odds that there would have been several, perhaps even many students available with a loaded weapon who would have quickly pulled a gun and killed the shooter far before 30 some people wound up dead, that is for sure.
Why do you think that "psycho" shooters rarely walk into police stations (and for that matter, gun ranges) and start shooting? Because they are NOT psycho afterall! They know beforehand that they will not get the opportunity to make their "point" as they will very quickly be shot down. At best, they could only hope to kill one or two officers before being killed themselves. No, "psycho" shooters are not psycho at all! They know exactly what they are doing! They know it will take quite some time to be brought down before they have already wreacked havok on their fellow man.
But again, I emphasize, that further gun control laws, are not the answer. Further "banning" of guns are not the answer. To illustrate:
Peanuts (yes, peanuts) kill more than 1000 children in the US every single year due to allergic reactions! Amazing, but true! So where is the National outrage over peanut banning?!? Where is the outcry from parents who are so sick and tired of their loved ones needlessly dying from the toxins contained within the deadly peanut? Afterall, nearly no one is allergic to almonds and almonds are even more healthy for you? Problem solved! Ban peanuts, and no child will ever again die from an allergic reaction to the deadly peanut (the peanut industry may have other thoughts on this). And now we begin to see how ridiculous this reasoning is, yet peanuts kill more than 10 times on a yearly basis more children than gun violence at schools. Sad fact.
No, the answer is not banning guns, the answer is quite the opposite. In those dorms where the shooter began his rampage, where a gun was desperately NEEDED to stop the calous attacker... none was found except in the hands of a "madman" with absolutely zero regard for human life. Had the students access to a defensive weapon (i.e. gun) the shooter would have been dead right then and there. There would never have been the second tragedy of him walking clear across the entire campus to begin shooting again, this time, in a classroom!
Now, at the very least, had teachers had the right to carry a weapon, then there in the classroom, the carnage would have ended! The teacher could have ended the nightmare! But no, the gunman knew this. He knew all were helpless until the police arrived... and to everyone's dismay, far, far too late.
I'm sory for the ramble, but we need to see the logic behind gun control. We need to enforce the laws that are already in place, not add even more! We need to think clearly, the police can only do so much. They simply can not be everywhere all the time. Had the shooter known ahead of time that nearly 50% of all students on campus had a loaded gun on them and that they would be fired upon (and hence, killed) within one or two students being shot, they would not have attempted the shooting in the first place! Tragedy bypassed! And in the slim likeliness that the shooter had the nerve to attempt the rampage anyway, they would be quickly killed, with only a very small number of children sadly losing their lives vs several dozen!
I'm hoping that law makers can see things clearly.
Ben