A sad day for America

[dew7]

I thought the school shooting today was terrible and I just wanted to say my hopes and prayers go out to the families of those who had people killed.  It certainly is really sad that this happens in modern day society.

[PirateKingChris]

Yeah that was insanely ridiculous. My 16 year old brother just told me Friday he was considering Virginia Tech for engineering....I wonder what his thoughts on it now are... 

[Shades2585]

I thought the school shooting today was terrible and I just wanted to say my hopes and prayers go out to the families of those who had people killed.  It certainly is really sad that this happens in modern day society.

I'm right there with you Dew7. Best wishes and prayers to all.

[tessspoon]

The whole thing is just so terrible. Quite a few Elon students had relatives or friends up there, but luckily none of them were fatally wounded, nor were the two Elon students that were attending the engineering program there.

[dew7]

Elon?

It surprises me that more was not done to stop this person before the shooting since apparently there were clear warning signs that he was not mentally stable.  In addition, I feel that if someone is not mentally stable then they should not be allowed to have a gun.

[koko_99_2001]

However, those who sold him the gun had no indication that he was mentally unstable.

[PirateKingChris]

Maybe it's against privacy issues, though maybe it shouldn't be, but I think places that sell guns ought to have some way of seeing someone's mental hospital files....Am I wrong?

[hercrabbiness]

I don't know much about gun laws, but aren't they supposed to do check people's backgrounds before selling firearms to anyone?

[PirateKingChris]

They are, but I don't know what that check entails....Maybe it's just your criminal record. They really ought to check things besides that obviously.

[dew7]

Maybe it's against privacy issues, though maybe it shouldn't be, but I think places that sell guns ought to have some way of seeing someone's mental hospital files....Am I wrong?

I agree and even if the deny request did not say anything about a medical record per say but said this person is denied a gun due to factors that may make this person more dangerous to society when armed with a gun.  Perhaps if some kind of scale could be developed that would assess a person's risk then that might be more effective rather than just relying on a criminal record.

[Drunken Chinchilla]

This is starting to verge on the whole tricky political side guys can we please keep it to thoughts and prayers for all involved please?

[Petra Rocks]

Indeed, 'tis tragic.

 And if you want a place to talk about the how and why, the Divine Insanity forum seriously needs some new topics.   Be warned, I am looking for an excuse to use my mod-powers for the first time, so don't get rowdy. 

http://kodi.smfforfree.com/index.php

[Zelly]

This whole thing has made me feel a little sick to my stomach.
It's heartbreaking that we live in a world where this sort of thing happens...
But anyway, I want to offer my sympathies and prayers to those who were involved in the tragedy and their friends and families, and to the friends and families of the shooter. I am sure that all of this has been every bit as hard for them.

[Yonkey]

It's definitely senseless, tragic and the kind of thing that should not happen in today's society.  My deepest condolences go out to the victims and anyone else affected by the incident.  Hopefully better security measures will be put into place so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again in the future.

[Rosella]

It really scares me that these things are happening so close to me and my friends. Many people I know had friends in VA Tech that they couldn't reach right away, or even ones that were killed.

One thing that bothers me about the news on it though, is that they keep talking about the "32 lives lost." 33 people died that day. The shooter is still human...

Still...things like these shouldn't happen...

[dew7]

Well, it certainly is sad but there will always be people who hate others I think as long as humanity exists.