Australia's only had one "shooting rampage" I can think of .. and yes, the guy was seriously nuts.

But guns here are much more strictly controlled - sure, you could probably get one if you busted your balls, but it wouldn't be an easy feat. Odds are, the "gunman" would probably seek an easier alternative to take out his aggression - maybe a baseball bat, knife, etc. As bad as that still is, there's a much greater chance of getting them stopped before a whole floor of people are killed.

Thanks TJ, this is a really great post, and it's obviously more than a difficult situation. I think we can all just hope for more gun control!

Guns are only inevitable like illegal drugs in this country. In most Western democracies, guns aren't so readily available, and there aren't nearly so many shooting sprees.

Similarly, many other countries have saner drug laws, and they don't have nearly as much drug-related violence.

A few years ago, I heard somebody say, in all seriousness, that the way to make flying safer in America would be to simply hand out handguns to the passengers as they got on the plane. Can you imagine? "I SAID I wanted the chicken!" BLAM!
Guns have been part of our culture in this country since its founding. From "Bowling For Columbine" (ironically):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NPBHtjZmSpw
How heffing sweet of your bf to throw you into a safe place like that.
I felt disturbed and sad all day yesterday and today about VPI.

so how many murdered is it going to take - 32 at once, or 96 at once, or thousands and tens of thousands in a year - until the reasonable, rational , good people in this country of ours finally admit that we actually CAN make this better, that we actually CAN collectively and seriously reduce violent (and accidental) gun deaths by major, genuine, and dramatic gun control laws?? The idiot, Joe Six Packs of our country may never understand or never agree, but the facts remain, that in most every other civilized country on this little planet we all call home, that has any sort of serious gun control laws (like the U.K. or Australia, among many others) the rates of gun deaths are so many times lower than they are in our country. If only our own collective hubris could somehow stop blinding us from the fact that we do NOT have all the answers and that some of our laws and policies are so seriously flawed and cause us so much serious harm - like that fact that we have allowed an irrational attachment to "the right to bear arms" (which arguably does not apply to our modern reality) to continue to cost us thousands and thousands of real, beautiful lives every year. How many thousands more will die before our leaders finally *lead* us toward the type of real gun control laws that have so clearly saved so many real, beautiful lives in so many other societies around the world?
I am sure that i will be pummeled and savaged for these opinions. but how many more will die before so many other good people finally stand up and call a spade a spade?

If only every student carried a gun. I bet you that fucker wouldn't have pulled this shit if he knew everyone in the classrooms was packing heat.

You know Britain is touting their anti gun laws but violent crime is on the rise and people just use knives and swords, even skinning people alive. I think TJ's right you can't stop violent mentally ill people from committing crimes you just have to be more aware and not let them slip thru the cracks. This kid was noticed and the system tried to respond but it wasn't enough. I don't have a problem with eople owning guns, I think it's a smart right, in Rwanda 800k people were killed with machetes and simple weapons, if they had a few guns a lot more of them would be alive.
The right to own weapons is important considering that the normal crowd that wants to get rid of them is the same crowd that complains that the government is run by nazi's.

Folks, this is not about gun control. It's a law that you have a right to own a gun. You pass criminal checks, etc. you get to have it.

He bought the gun legally, but mentally he was not capable of having it. Are you suggesting that someone go thru a mental exam before they can purchase a gun? Let's take that a step further: mental exams to get married, have a kid, get a drivers license, eat at that bad chinese place near Dupont.

The owner of the gun shop had no suspecions of the kid and his mental state but it's pretty obvious that the school did.

What exactly are you recommending for proper "gun control"? Outlawing drugs didn't/isn't working which is pretty evident from the rampant use of it. Illegal or not, people will get what they can't have or they want bad enough.

It's sad that 33 people lost their lives on Monday, but making it harder to get a gun would NOT fix this issue. He was dead set on committing a crime and would go thru whatever steps that it took to do it.

No offense Steve but in Virginia the checks they do are more of a formality and don't really evaluate much of anything. Background checks aren't even required for private sales (aka the "gun show loophole") I posted the gun laws for VA on my blog. Nobody wants these bloodbaths to occur in hindsight but when it comes to people's "right" to bear arms nobody seems to care.

Speaking only from my own experience, most people who are quick to make sweeping statements about guns, gun laws, guns ownership, and gun owners are people who’ve usually never even shot a gun, let alone been a victim of a violent crime. Suddenly everyone becomes gun control expert and lobbyist (for a day or two) when tragedy strikes. You would think all of the “educated” people in the media and various blogospheres would be a little bit more educated about the 2nd Amendment. History has shown us what happens to people in countries where the government confiscates firearms, machetes, and other weapons from its citizens (e.g. Germany, Armenia, Russia, Rwanda, China, Uganda, etc.). This amendment is in place to protect us (regular citizens) from our own government should our government abandon the consititution. So many people cry about living under The Big Bad Bush Regime, but you’d think these same people would be embracing the 2nd Amendment in order to protect themselves and their loved ones when the storm troopers come kicking down their doors. I don’t have the answers though and I’d be wary of anyone who claims they do. I’m just your average thirty-something, advanced degree-holding, legally gun-owning, handgun trained & certified, Virginia CCW permit-carrying, voting-in-every-election lesbian. Most people would not consider me to be a knuckle-dragging proletariat, so maybe I should just stick to tofu and Indigo Girls concerts. But should the storm troopers of the Bush Regime start knocking on our doors and rounding up all of us sodomites, you all are more than welcome to come over to my house because this sodomite has got your back. For me, gun control is a steady hand.