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Atleast 22 dead in US college shooting


5thElement

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least 22 people, including the suspected gunman, were killed and many others were wounded at Virginia Tech university on Monday in the deadliest campus shooting incident in U.S. history.

 

The rampage took place in two separate areas of the huge campus about two hours apart during the morning. Police said they believed a single gunman was responsible.

 

"This is a tragedy of monumental proportions," Virginia Tech president Charles Steger told reporters.

 

Virginia Tech campus police chief Wendell Finchum said the suspected gunman was dead and that police were trying to determine whether he killed himself or was shot by officers.

 

"At this time we believe it's only one gunman," said Finchum.

 

The first shooting on Virginia Tech, a state university known for its demanding science and engineering curriculum, was reported to campus police at about 7:15 a.m. (12:15 p.m. British time) in West Ambler Johnston Hall, a dormitory housing some 900 students. It was followed by more shooting at another campus building, Norris Hall, Steger said.

 

I just heard it might be as many as 32 dead? not sure if thats true though

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I heard that the amount was at the moment, still unconfirmed. I also heard that there were 2 gunmen. Probably just best to wait till everything is cleared up and then release more info.

You really have to think about what can drive people to do such things. :(

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Fox News says 32 dead, one dead gunman.

 

I'm just waiting for the gunban *beep* to start hitting the fan.

 

Edit: Now they're blaming video games. *fruitcage* idiots.

 

CNN implied quite a bit about 'semi-automatic and automatic' weapons. Meanwhile, ABC news is being pricelessly idiotic:

 

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ETA:

 

Here's the article. I like how they talk about the sunset of the AWB like it was an accident:

 

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/0..._of_federa.html

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"I think gun control advocates will say, 'See, we need more gun control,' even though this is exactly the product of gun control," Pratt said.

 

Currently, only Utah and Oregon have statutes specifically authorizing law-abiding individuals with concealed handgun permits to possess their firearms on state university property. Most other states have explicit or implied prohibitions.

 

"Every [other] school campus in this nation is a 'gun free zone,' supposedly," Pratt bemoaned. "But, isn't it amazing that criminals, bad guys never obey those laws."

 

Regarding Utah, Pratt adds, "Isn't it interesting that that's the one state where we haven't heard of any school shootings."

 

http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/04/va_tech_...aised_defea.php

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According to student eye witnesses, the gunman was:

 

- A young man of Asian descent

- Wearing somewhat military clothes (One student described it as: "He was dressed like a boy scout.")

- Wearing a black ammunition vest

- Definitely had one weapon, although two weapons were later recovered

- Had an all-black handgun with a polymer frame (GLOCK? USP?)

- Was extremely calm and mechanical during the shooting

 

The bit about the vest scares me. I know this event is bad news for the firearms community, but if the shooter turned out to be an Airsofter... it could be the end of Airsoft in the U.S. because we don't have powerful lobbying groups like the NRA to protect us.

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Some people see this incident as proof that we need to get rid of handguns.

 

I see this incident as proof that we need more handguns.

 

If there had been one competant pistolier in the German class that got shot up, the shooting would have only one casualty: The gunman.

 

The simple fact that the gunman was never engaged by law enforcement officers before killing himself hammers home another related point: The only person responsible for protecting you is you. You cannot rely on the police to come to your rescue.

 

As for the weapons, I would suspect that it's highly likely that both were either Glocks and/or Springfield XDs in 9mm: They're inexpensive handguns firing an inexpensive cartridge. They're both available with black, polymer frames.

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So am I the only one that thinks gun control may well stop or at least reduce the number of instances of this happening in the US.

 

There seems to be a presedent for it. In the UK prior to the gun ban we had dunblane and the like....afterwards....not a single school shooting. To me that seems like a little bit more that a coincidence.

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The shooter was a Chinese national here on a student visa, Last time I checked you had to be a citizen to purchase a firearm.

 

 

All guncontrol did today was disarm the students in Norris hall, and make them easy targets for a criminal psychopath that didn't give a flying *fruitcage* about our laws.

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The shooter was a Chinese national here on a student visa, Last time I checked you had to be a citizen to purchase a firearm.

All guncontrol did today was disarm the students in Norris hall and make them easy targets for a criminal psychopath that didn't give a flying *fruitcage* about our laws and walked right into a "gun free" zone with two fully loaded illegally purchased firearms.

 

 

By gun control I was talking about an outright ban similar to what we have in the UK. With the ban it's bloody difficult to get your mitts on guns illegally (not to mention a fair amount more expensive.) Add that to the fact that ammunition is just as hard to come by, even if something like this did happen over here I very much doubt it would be on the same scale. The fact is we haven't had anything like this since dunblane and as far as I can tell the one overiding reason for it is the gun ban. Can't really see how you can argue it any other way.

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