A moment of silence observance on Friday morning in memory of the victims of the Virginia Tech Tragedy.

The moment of silence, in conjunction with an observance across Virginia, will be held at
9 AM Pacific Time. Noon Eastern Time.

susannah said:

Illegal drug laws are tough, Yet look how easy it still is to get crack cocaine or Crystal Meth. People who commit gun crimes very rarely go through the legal process to get their weapons. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (The Columbine Killers) Paid an older guy to buy their weapons for them at a local gun show. Other criminals buy them off the street or steal them. Let me reiterate that Cho Seung Hui was INSANE. He would've got those weapons one way or the other.

PS. It was a very nice gesture of the VT marching band to play the school fight song outside of the hospital where some of the survivors could look out the window and hear and see them. That was very cool.

It's not only the insane ones I'm worried about having a gun. (er...uh..although maybe this is a different type of "insane.")











The right to bear arms AND to be on severe medication does not mix.

I've posted on some of their myspaces, very sad...beautiful souls.

psychodelicide said:

I've read student scripts before that were similar. There are certain kids who write extremely violent schlocky over-the-top stuff like this, if they think they can get away with it. Pretty freaky though considering how he brought his thoughts to action. Most people don't do that.

What lessons can we take from this tragedy?

4
[Edited 4/20/07 18:39pm]

[Edited 4/20/07 19:35pm]

[Edited 4/20/07 19:35pm]

Ross Abdallah Alameddine, 20, Saugus, Mass.

"I just got word he was of the ones killed in the classroom," said a sobbing Lynnette Alameddine, moments after a chaplain called to tell her that her son was among the dead, according to a report in the Boston Herald.

Earlier Tuesday night, Lynnette Alameddine spent hours calling police and hospitals, which she said were unresponsive to her frantic pleas for information.

Ross Alameddine had just declared English as his major. A graduate of Austin Preparatory School in Reading, Mass., he was called a "bright and engaged student" by his former headmaster Paul J. Moran.

Jamie Bishop, 35, Pine Mountain, Ga.


German professor Christopher James Bishop was among the first hit. Known as much for his gentle manner as for his signature long hair, Bishop was an avid hiker, movie buff, and Atlanta Braves fan. He received both his bachelor's and master's from the University of Georgia, and was known to collaborate with his father, an award-winning science fiction writer, on novels and short stories.

Known as Jamie, he rode his bike to campus and worked alongside his wife in the foreign languages department. Bishop taught German at Virginia Tech for two years and was in the middle of a class when the gunman entered the room and opened fire.


Brian Bluhm, 25, Cedar Rapids, IA


Originally from Ceder Rapids, Iowa, Bluhm was a graduate student in engineering who has been described by friends as an avid sports fan and a devoted member of his Bible study group. Bluhm was only one class shy of receiving his master's degree, which focused on water resources.

One friend, Bill Jones, a chemical engineering student who went to undergraduate and graduate school with Bluhm, told the Des Moines Register, "He's a great friend, had a great personality."

Ryan Clark, 22, Martinez, Ga.


Ryan "Stack" Clark, a member of the school's marching band, the Marching Virginians, and a student resident assistant, is believed to be the second victim.

Clark reportedly rushed to the aid of the first victim, Emily Jane Hilscher, and was fatally shot inside Ambler Johnson Hall.

Clark was just a month away from graduating. Bryan Clark said his twin brother was a triple major in psychology, biology and English, and stayed on Virginia Tech's campus in anticipation of graduation ceremonies in May.

"He was staying just until we could come to graduation," his brother said. "Just wrong place, wrong time, I guess," he told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Clark was in his fifth year in the band, serving as its personnel officer, according to the band's Web site. The site says Clark also enjoyed making T-shirts and intended to pursue a doctorate in psychology with a concentration in cognitive neuroscience after graduating.

"The coroner and two sheriff deputies came by and let us know. … I still haven't quite comprehended what is going on," his brother said. "I'm not sure how long it will actually take, but at this point we just miss him and love him."

"He was the most loving person that you could ever meet," Clark's sister Nadia told “GMA.” "He loved anyone that he ever met. No matter what, he was always there. He had something sarcastic to say to make you laugh. … But he was always there to help you."

"I'd have to say he was definitely very loud, very outgoing," his friend Floyd Miller told “GMA.” "About any little thing he could get on you for, his sarcastic humor, [he was] always willing to do something for you"

Austin Cloyd, 18, Blacksburg, Va.


Austin Cloyd, an international studies major, dreamed of one day working for the United Nations, her father told the Associated Press. Cloyd was an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Champaign, Ill., and enjoyed playing volleyball and basketball. But above all, she seemed to have a sense of social responsibility and helping people.

The Rev. Terry Harter of the First United Methodist Church told the Associated Press that "She was so inspired by an Appalachian service project that helped rehab homes, that she and her mother started a similar program in Illinois." At Virginia Tech, Cloyd was involved in an international rights organization and worked as a lifeguard at the student sports center. Cloyd would have turned 19 next week.


Jocelyn Couture-Nowak, 49, Montreal, Canada


A foreign language professor and former Montreal resident, Couture-Nowak taught at Virginia Tech with her husband Jerzy Nowak, a horticultural professor. Couture-Nowak and her husband taught at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College before moving to Virginia, where she was well liked by students and faculty.

One fellow Virginia Tech professor, Craig Brians, told "Canada AM," "She was a very nice person ... My wife often described Jocelyn as someone [who] when she'd walk into a room, just would bring a smile to the room, that even in the darkest of situations, she had something encouraging to say. She would have something uplifting to say."


Daniel Perez Cueva, 21, Lima, Peru


Daniel Perez Cueva was a native of Peru, studying international relations. His father, Flavio Perez, told RPP radio in Peru that he was trying to get a humanitarian visa from the U.S.consulate there, so he could travel to Virginiato claim his son’s body. A spokesman at the embassy said the father would "receive all the attention possible when he applies."


Kevin Granata, 46, Toledo, OH


Kevin Granata, a professor in Virginia Tech's Engineering Science and Mechanics Department, served in the military before coming to Virginia Tech. He and his students researched muscle and reflex response and robotics. Granata was described by colleagues as one of the top biomechanics researchers in the country, working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy.


According to fellow engineering professor Demetri P. Telionis, Granata was successful and kind.


"With so many research projects and graduate students, he still found time to spend with his family, and he coached his children in many sports and extracurricular activities," Telionis told The Associated Press. "He was a wonderful family man. We will all miss him dearly


Matthew G. Gwaltney, 24, Chester, Va.


From Chester, Va., Matthew Gwaltney was a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering. According to his biographical information on the Virginia Tech Web site, Gwaltney received his bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech in civil engineering in 2005, with a concentration in environmental and water resources engineering. As a graduate student, Gwaltney assisted the teaching of several undergraduate classes while continuing his research into rainfall and pollutants.


Caitlin Hammaren, 19, Westtown, N.Y.


Caitlin Hammaren, of Westtown, N.Y., was a sophomore international studies and French major at Virginia Tech.

"She was just one of the most outstanding young individuals that I've had the privilege of working with in my 31 years as an educator," her high school principal, John P. Latini, told The Associated Press. "Caitlin was a leader among our students."

Jeremy Michael Herbstritt, 27, Bellefonte, Pa.


Jeremy Herbstritt, a Penn State graduate who was attending graduate school at Virginia Tech, was another victim in the shootings, said Paul Ruskin, spokesman for Penn State's Office of Physical Plant.

When he graduated, Herbstritt, a notorious gadfly, was named “Most Talkative” in the 1998 Bellefonte High School yearbook. According to The Associated Press, Herbstritt grew up on a small farm in central Pennsylvania, where his father, Michael, raised steer and sheep.

"He liked to work on machinery, take a lot of stuff apart and fixed it," his grandfather Thomas Herbstritt told the AP. "He was a studious kid."

Herbstritt was also reportedly an avid runner who liked to kayak. He had been an altar boy, and was involved in research on the West Nile disease while at Penn State. Herbstritt's parents were in Boston Monday to watch their daughter run in the Boston Marathon when the shootings occurred. He was a graduate student studying civil engineering at Virginia Tech, according to the student directory on the college's Web site.


Rachel Hill, 18, Glen Allen, Va.


Rachael Hill, from Henrico County, Va., lived in West Ambler Johnston Hall. She graduated from Grove Avenue Christian Academy, and school officials told the Richmond Times-Dispatch she had attended the 261-student academy from kindergarten through high school graduation where she was captain of the volleyball team. Hill was also known for spicing up her conservative school uniform with Converse high top sneakers. She played the piano, and had not yet decided on a major but was interested in biology.

In her high school yearbook, Hill chose a C.S. Lewis quotation: "God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain."


Emily Hilscher, 19, Woodville, Va.


Emily Jane Hilscher, of Woodville, Va., was also killed in the dorm shooting. Hilscher was a freshman animal and poultry sciences major who lived next door to victim Ryan Clark. She came to Virginia Tech from rural Rappahannock County, where she was known as an animal lover, said family friend Will Nachless to The Associated Press. She "was always very friendly. Before I even knew her, I thought she was very outgoing, friendly and helpful, and she was great in chemistry."


Jarrett Lee Lane, 22, Narrows, Va.


Jarrett Lane came from the small town of Narrows, Va. The senior civil engineering student was remembered at a memorial service a day after the shootings, according to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. He was valedictorian of his high school class in 2003, an outstanding student and athlete who played in the band, and a member of numerous clubs and organizations.

In a prepared statement read at his memorial, Lane's family said, "All of us are still deeply stunned and in shock over the loss of our son, grandson and brother, Jarrett Lee Lane...He was a fun-loving young man, full of spirit. He had a caring heart and was a friend to everybody he met, both at Virginia Tech and here in Narrows. We are leaning on God’s grace in these trying hours and appreciate all the prayers, expressions of sympathy and thoughts. Our hearts go out to his classmates, friends, professors and everyone throughout the Virginia Tech community.”

Matt La Porte, 20, Dumont, N.J.


Matthew La Porte was a sophomore from Dumont, N.J., an Air Force cadet at Virginia Tech and reportedly credited the Carson Long Military Institute in New Bloomfield, Pa., with turning his life around during his duration there in high school.

Carson Long released a statement saying, "Matthew was an exemplary student at Carson Long whose love of music and fellow cadets were an inspiration to all on campus." The tiny military academy observed two minutes of silence Tuesday in its own French class -- la Porte was gunned down while in a French class at Virginia Tech -- and moved the flag to half-staff in remembrance of its alum.


Henry Lee, 20, Roanoke, Va.


Henry Lee was one of 10 children whose parents escaped from Vietnam. They left when Henry was 5. Lee was planning to major in computer science and French. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Lee was his high school's salutatorian with a grade-point average of 4.47. Susan Lawyer Willis, his high school principal, recalled Henry's graduation speech. "He said to the crowd, 'When I came to this country, I couldn't speak English. Now, I'm No. 2 in the class.'

He valued his education. It was so heartfelt. It moved us all to tears. He was proud of his American citizenship," said the principal.

Lee enjoyed racquetball and frisbee, and was by all accounts a happy, upbeat person. A memorial is scheduled for him at his high school, William Fleming High School, in Roanoke, Va.

Liviu Librescu, 76, Ploiesti, Romania


Romanian-born Liviu Librescu, an engineering science and mathematics professor at Virginia Tech, was killed in the Virginia Tech massacre. According to Librescu's son, students sent e-mails explaining that the professor had risked his life for his students by blocking the doorway of his classroom and allowing students to flee through windows. He was then fatally shot. Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, had an international reputation for his work in aeronautical engineering. He died the same day Israel marked Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day


G.V. Loganathan, 51, born in Chennai, India


A professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, Loganathan was teaching an advanced hydrology class in Norris Hall when he was shot by the gunman. He was born in the southern Indian city of Chennai and had been a professor at Virginia Tech since 1982, as reported by the Indianapolis Star. Logonathan had amassed numerous awards for his teaching -- the most recent in May 2006 -- and had been listed among the best 10 teachers at the college in 2001 and 2002.

In addition to teaching, Logonathan served on the faculty senate and was an adviser to approximately 75 undergraduate students. In an interview with the NDTV news channel from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, his brother G.V. Palanivel said, "We all feel like we have had an electric shock. We do not know what to do. He has been a driving force for all of us, the guiding force."


Partahi Lumbantoruan, 34, Indonesia


An Indonesian doctoral student, Lumbantoruan studied civil engineering at Virginia Tech. Devoted to his education, he and his family sold property and cars so he could attend Virginia Tech. His father, Tohom Lumbantoruan, told The Associated Press, "We tried everything to completely finance his studies in the United States. We only wanted him to succeed in his studies, but ... he met a tragic fate."

Lumbantoruan was known to be a hard-working student, who was in his third year of studies at Virginia Tech. Family members were planning a public burial in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.


Lauren Ashley McCain, 20, Hampton, Va.


Lauren McCain, an international studies major from Hampton, Va., was shot while in class Monday in Norris Hall. McCain and her family were active members of their church, and Lauren was educated at home before going to Virginia Tech, according to the Virginia Daily Press. On her MySpace page, she listed "the love of my life" as Jesus Christ.

McCain's parents released a statement Tuesday afternoon: "We grieve over our great loss, and yet find peace in the reality that God is worthy of our trust and we are sustained in our sorrow by that truth."

Daniel O’Neil, 22, Lincoln, R.I.


Daniel O'Neil was a graduate student in environmental engineering, who hailed from Lincoln, R.I. He was among those killed in Norris Hall, according to Connecticut College, where O'Neil's father, Bill, is director of major gifts.

O'Neill's friend Steve Craveiro described him to The Associated Press as smart, responsible and a hard worker -- someone who never got into trouble. O'Neil graduated in 2002 from Lincoln High School and from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., before heading to Virginia, where he was also a teaching assistant.

A musician, he played guitar and wrote his own songs, which he posted on a Web site. According to Craveiro, O'Neill always had big plans. "He would come home from school over the summer and talk about projects, about building bridges and stuff like that," Craveiro said. "He loved his family. He was pretty much destined to be extremely successful. He just didn't deserve to have happen what happened."


Juan Ortiz, 26, Bayamón, Puerto Rico


Juan Ramón Ortiz, a graduate student from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, was killed while teaching a class, according to the North Carolina News and Observer.

The teaching assistant, who was recently married, leaves his wife, Liselle Vega, also a student at Virginia Tech. Neighbors in Bayamon remembered Ortiz as a quiet, dedicated son who decorated his parents' one-story concrete house every Christmas. "He was an extraordinary son, what any father would have wanted," said Ortiz's father, also named Juan Ramón Ortiz.


Minal Panchal, 26, Mumbai, India


Minal Panchal, a first-year master's building sciences student in the faculty of architecture, was also reported killed.

The 26-year-old from Mumbai, India, was found dead at Norris Hall, where 30 students and faculty were fatally shot, according to The Associated Press. Panchal looked forward to following in her late father's footsteps and becoming an architect. She loved cricket, the fictional character Harry Potter and drawing. Her mother, a widow who lives in India, and her brother-in-law, who lives in New Jersey, have not decided whether to send her body to India, the Indian Embassy told AP.


Erin Peterson, 18, Chantilly, Va.


Erin Peterson, a graduate of Westfield High School -- the same high school that the gunman attended -- was a freshman international studies major and, at 6 feet 1, the center for her high school basketball team, according to The Associated Press.

"She was just a super child," her godfather, William Lloyd, said. "Her and her dad, man, you couldn't separate them. He lost a child from cancer -- a daughter, 8 years old. A week later, [Erin] was born."

Michael Pohle, 23, Flemington, N.J.


Michael Pohle, from Flemington N.J., was known for his athletic ability and fun-loving, friendly nature. He was set to graduate in a few weeks with a degree in biological sciences.

His father, Michael Pohle Sr., told the Asbury Park Press that he was looking forward to a career in the sciences and had job interviews lined up for after graduation. "He was an absolutely great kid who loved people," Pohle Sr. said of his son. "He loved Virginia Tech. He would do anything for anybody."

Joel Nachlas, an industrial and systems engineering professor and Virginia Tech lacrosse coach, said: "There's no one who was more full of fun and life. Just a happy, fun, fun-loving kid. And everything he did, he was just always having a good time. He was making the most of it." The family intends to bring his body back to Flemington to be buried.


Julia Pryde, 23, Middletown, N.J.


Julia Pryde was a biological systems and engineering graduate student from Middletown, N.J. A swimmer and softball player in high school, childhood friend Nicole Malone told the Asbury Park Press, "She was always having a good time."

Malone, 20, now a student at La Salle University in Philadelphia, added, "She was never really upset about anything; she never had a frown on her face." Pryde was described by her friend as an independent spirit who excelled at her studies. She traveled to Ecuador to research water-quality issues, and she planned to return there this summer to continue her work. Pryde was sitting in an advanced hydrology class when the gunman entered and killed many in the room, including the professor.


Mary Karen Read, 19, Annandale, Va.


Mary Karen Read of Annandale, Va., was killed while in French class in Norris Hall Monday. A freshman, she was born into an Air Force family in South Korea before moving to Texas and California, and finally settling down in Rochester, NY. She had yet to declare a major, her aunt Karen Kuppingertold told The Associated Press.

She considered a number of colleges before deciding on Virginia Tech, where a lot of her classmates were going. "I think she wanted to spread her wings," said Kuppinger, who said Read had struggled to adjust to the college but had recently made friends and was looking into a sorority.


Reema Samaha, 18, Centreville, Va.


Reema Samaha, a freshman of Lebanese descent from Centreville, Va., was also killed. The 19-year-old had been a dance captain at Westfield High School, the same high school that the alleged shooter had attended. Samaha's brother, Omar, is a Virginia Tech graduate. He'd visited campus this past weekend to see his sister in a dance recital.

Samaha's father, Joseph Samaha, told CNN that his daughter was a "motivator."

"She keeps me going," Samaha said. "Dance was her life." Country and state flags were flying at half-staff at Westfield High School in her honor.


staff at Westfield High School in her honor.

Waleed Shaalan, 32, Egypt


A graduate student in civil engineering from Egypt, Waleed Shaalan leaves behind a wife and 1-year-old son.

According to the National Muslim Student Association, Shaalan began his doctoral research in Egypt but came to the United States in August 2006 when he was offered a position at Virginia Tech.

His father was also a civil engineering student, and friends say Shaalan always made time for those around him, despite juggling a hectic class schedule, research, and teaching assistant responsibilities. The Muslim Students Association has set up a memorial fund for his family.

Leslie Sherman, 20, Springfield, Va.


Leslie Sherman, a sophomore majoring in history from Springfield, Va., turned 20 just a week before her death, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Rebecca McMahon, a high school and college classmate, told the Dispatch that Sherman was planning on visiting Russia this summer.

"She just had a lot of big dreams," McMahon said, "and she can't do them anymore."

Maxine Turner, 22, Vienna, Va.


Maxine Turner of Vienna, Va., also died Monday while in a foreign language class. A senior and chemical engineering major, Turner had formed an engineering sorority for "females who never had female friends," according to the sorority's Web site.

The group was "a chance for them to meet great girls with similar interests" and to "build professional skills to help girls after graduation," she wrote on the site. Turner was just a few weeks away from graduation, and her father, Paul Turner, told First Coast News that she only took the foreign language class as an elective. Paul Turner says his daughter "was very excited -- she was very excited about school in general."


Nicole White, 20, Carrollton, Va.


Nicole was an international studies major who loved animals and the water. A Smithfield, Va., native, White graduated with honors from Smithfield High School, and was a junior at Virginia Tech when she was gunned down while in German class.

Friends told the Virginian-Pilot that Michelle was full of life and loved to have fun. She was a lifeguard at the YMCA when at home in Smithfield. At 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 17 there was a moment of silence observed in her honor at Smithfield High School, and a writer listed on Facebook as Ginny Gwaltney, a friend from Smithfield High, said on the site, "I love you, and I'll see you again, Angelface."

The boy who did this obviously had alot of pent-up anger and didn't know any other way of channeling that anger but through what he wrote which is sickening n kinda sad and just plain awful that innocent ppl had to cop the shit of this person's ill feelings when he eventually exploded it all into action.

ThePunisher said:

Thats what I mean though - in a country where guns are illegal, they're a hell of a lot harder to find. So maybe he wouldnt have been able to get one. Or maybe he would've changed his mind in the months that it took to find a "dealer". It would have been a lot more of a chore than walking into some store, pre planned.

if you look at this kid's life, he probably never got over the shock of coming to this country and trying to fit in.....plus he probably was under a lot of pressure to get good grades (i mean he came here not knowing English and got into Va. Tech!)

combine that with the fact that he was not exactly attractive and far from a chick-magnet so he probably got made fun of a lot

and he was poor

i wonder if any other asian-american people can relate to this kid

i taught a student once who grew up in China and all of a sudden came to live with her mother here in the states and started 9th grade here

nobody took time to include her and other kids, mostly black, made fun of her.....plus she was overweight and had acne

it's got to be rough.....and then you live around and go to school with rich kids who never had to wash a load of laundry in their lives

no excuse for what he did but the cards were stacked against him from the beginning





Cho was born in South Korea when his family was living in Dobong district of Seoul, staying in a rented basement apartment. Landlord Lim Bong-ae states that, "I didn't know what [Cho's father] did for a living. But they lived a poor life," Lim told the newspaper. "While emigrating, [Cho's father] said they were going to America because it is difficult to live here and that it's better to live in a place where he is unknown."

Cho immigrated to the United States in September 1992, when he was eight years old, with his two parents and older sister, Sun-Kyung Cho. They lived in Detroit, Michigan prior to moving to Centreville, an unincorporated community in the western part of largely affluent Fairfax County, Virginia, about 25 miles (40 km) west of Washington, D.C., and a few miles south of Washington Dulles International Airport.[8] Cho graduated from Westfield High School in the Chantilly section of Fairfax County, Virginia in 2003.[9] His older sister is a 2004 graduate of Princeton University and works as a contractor for the United States Department of State.[10][11] He was a lawful permanent resident of the United States and a South Korean citizen.[12] Cho had a permanent address in Centreville.[13]

Cho was an undergraduate at Virginia Tech, majoring in English, although he had told others he was a business major.[7] At the time of the attacks, he was living in Harper Hall, another dormitory just west of West Ambler Johnston Hall dormitory.[14]
[Edited 4/21/07 15:03pm]

heartbeatocean said:

Agreed.

3121Addict said:

Obviously, the kids had brains and high expectations if his sister graduated from Princeton too. My hunch is that there was some "dysfunctional" family stuff on top of the cultural assimilation issue (from reading his play) and probably a mental illness diagnosis forthcoming.

'I am so sorry that you could find no help'


Virginia Tech pays respects to victims, gunman

Andrea Hopkins reuters

BLACKSBURG, Va.–Mourners gathered today for the funerals of many of the 32 victims killed at Virginia Tech as some students extended a note of forgiveness to the gunman responsible for the massacre.

A small tribute to Seung-Hui Cho, who shot his victims then himself Monday, has been added to a growing memorial of stones in the center of the sprawling university in southwest Virginia where knots of weeping students continue to gather.

"I just wanted you to know that I am not mad at you. I don't hate you," read a note among flowers at a stone marker labelled for Cho. "I am so sorry that you could find no help or comfort."

The note, one of three expressing sorrow and sympathy for the gunman, a deeply disturbed English major, was signed: "With all my love, Laura." A purple candle burned and a small American flag stood in the ground nearby.

Seung-Hui Cho, on the Inside.


CNN/Time Magazine

Harper hall is nothing special, a four-story stone dorm on the south side of the Virginia Tech campus, small by comparison to its neighbors on the outside and on the inside today, quiet — just the way Cho Seung-hui had liked things.

It is no accident that very few of the several dozen students entering or exiting Harper today knew Cho. According to two who were aware of him, he was quiet, serious and, in the words of one, "gloomy."

"He seemed like a down person," said Mike Lee, a freshman from Fairfax, Va. "Like, gloomy."

Another student, a 21-year-old from Woodbridge, Va., recalled having lunch with Cho two years ago when both were sophomores. The chief reason for the lunch was to see if Cho could be made to laugh.

"I didn't know him," said the student. "He was quiet." But a roommate who had known Cho in high school in Chantilly suggested during their sophomore year that they ought to try to bring Cho out of his funk. "We'd try to talk to him. but he'd barely respond. So one day my roommate challenged himself to get him to talk to us. We told him a joke." Cho did laugh that day, according to the student.

They were saying how odd it was for him to sign his name question mark. "?" I thought about I just can't wrap my head around how he went all through college without saying a word or only a few words. They did say on first days that he'd never introduce himself whenever the professor would go around the classroom. I personally hate that myself and feel a little anxiety, but I never sit unresponsive. With him being an English major, I'm sure there had to have been times when he had to give presentations or work in groups. I'm trying to figure out how get got out of doing things like that.

susannah said:

Susannah, Making guns illegal will NOT make them harder to find. Not in this country. And even if Cho couldn't get a gun. There are other ways to to cause mass casualties. 9/11 and the Oklahoma bombings proved that. As well as these people in Iraq who strap bombs to themselves and detonate them in places where huge groups gather. Cho was crazy enough to do any of those things.

ThePunisher said:

You're honestly saying that getting a gun illegally is just as easy as getting a gun legally? It's as easy as just walking into a store and buying it? If that's really the case, then the USA has already gone to hell...

.

ThePunisher said:

of COURSE it would've been more difficult for a disturbed college student to obtain a weapon if there were heavier restrictions- it's not like there's easy access to some seedy criminal element that can supply illegal weapons on your average campus. i highly doubt he knew how to fly a plane, or had the technical skills and knowledge necessary to create a bomb, so those are ridiculous examples.

but hey, use whatever excuses you need to justify the 'right to bear arms' to yourself. i hope your children aren't shot at school.

ThePunisher said:

No, maybe not in the USA - thats why they should have never been legal to begin with.

The other examples you give happened in the USA as well, or other areas where guns/ weapons are just as easy to find. Which brings me to my original point - it wouldnt have happened in a country where guns were illegal.

EVEN in the USA, guns are a lot easier to come by than the explosives required to become a suicide bomber. Thats not really a valid comparison. What Im saying is if it were harder to get a weapon, the odds of this happening would be seriously diminished.

Its simple: guns=illegal --> less guns available --> less gun crime.

i heard that students have the option to drop courses and spend the rest of the semester and summer with family since it might be too soon for some students to return to classes. here's an exerpt from an article:

University officials were not sure how many students planned to be back Monday. Virginia Tech is allowing students to drop classes without penalty or to accept their current grades if they want to spend the rest of the year at their parents' homes grieving last week's campus massacre.

But whatever decisions they make academically, many students say they will do their mourning on campus - and that they can't imagine staying away now.

http://apnews.myway.com//...DNN80.html

blame Guns and Roses.....WTF?

Yesterday we predicted that it was only a matter of time before some band or artist was blamed for warping the mind of Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech gunman. After the Columbine shootings in 1999, much was made of the fact that the students responsible, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, were Marilyn Manson fans. This later turned out to be false - but Manson was pilloried all the same, forced to cancel his US tour under pressure from Christian protest groups. His career never recovered.

Well, lo and behold, today the media is buzzing with speculation that Cho Seung-Hui may have been incited to murder by Guns N' Roses. Details are sketchy but it seems the killer once wrote a play which takes its name from the GN'R song Mr. Brownstone. It tells of a gang of 17-year-olds who skip school to gamble at a casino and fantasize about murdering their teacher. The play apparently goes through the lyrics of the entire GN'R song, relating Mr. Brownstone to the teacher the main characters want to kill.

Once again, a rock band comes under fire for the actions of an unhinged individual. Why this need to find a scapegoat? If anyone is responsible, beyond the killer himself, it is surely those responsible for upholding America's gun laws, which ensure that getting hold of murderous weapons remains laughably easy, even as the murder rate spirals out of control.

But the NRA is too vast and nebulous a target. People need easy targets, and that's why we can expect to see Axl Rose denounced by ill-informed moral guardians in the coming weeks.

ThePunisher said:

I don't think what Cho did had anything to do with terrorism.