2 Things I WANT to Know about the Virginia Tech Massacre

On a related note, when I was at U of Delaware (00-04), there was a giant debate on campus about the cops having firearms. They walked around with empty holsters, with a pistol stored in an electronic [AlGore]"lockbox"[/AlGore] in each patrol car. They would call dispatch to get the code to unlock the "lockbox" if the weapon was needed.

Kharn

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Well, you know that made them FEEL safe.

Yeah, I'm wondering about the resistance as well.

If you think you're only a hostage, I can see laying low and not rocking the boat. But once that first or second person gets killed, you know you are next.

I don't know. I told my wife last night that would have rushed, even if it meant certain death. I just can't imagine sitting there waiting to die.

What really got to me was that professor barring the door so his students could escape through the window. Details aren't in, but I'm pretty sure he's one of the dead.

I guess the cynical side of me thinks this is a product of people being indoctrinated with "the police will save you" mentality. It keeps people in a mindset to first try and escape, then try to buy time. Only in this case, there were very few avenues of escape, and the killer was not letting anyone buy time. In the end, the police failed, the students failed, and the killer won. Makes me sick to think about it.

I hope we can make some sense of this and start healing, but I'm afraid the only sense to it is that there are Monsters out there and all we can do is either be prepared to confront them, or hope to avoid them.

My prayers go out to the VT students, faculty, and parents.

JH

I just can't imagine sitting there waiting to die.

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+1 There are even some reports of the shooter lining people up against the wall and just shooting them execution style. I mean come on! What were they waiting for. Still, I wasn't there but I can only hope that I would have reacted differently. In the end we may find out that there were some that tried to fight back. It seems as though this guy knew what he was doing and their attempts, if there were any, were futile. You'd have to be pretty lucky to get away with charging a man who has a gun in each hand.

...both guns had the serial numbers filed off...

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Would that point to both firearms being stolen and having been acquired on the black market? If so, they were well beyond the reach of "gun control" legislation.

If you think you're only a hostage, I can see laying low and not rocking the boat. But once that first or second person gets killed, you know you are next.

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The problem with this, of course, is this simple question: What if you're the first in line?

What I meant was: when everyone is alive and you don't know the gunman's intentions, then I can understand not resisting. Many hostage standoffs end well (most actually). But once the shooting starts, it's fight or flight (and flight didn't seem to be an option).

It's analagous to 9/11. The first three planes, I imagine the passengers thought back to the 70's and 80's when hijackings usually meant everyone got off okay (not all, but the crises usually ended with very few casualties). The fourth plane, though, they knew what had happened earlier and knew they had to fight back.

I would bet several people fought back here. It's going to take forensics a long time to sort it out. Between shell casings, blood, turned over furniture, and witness testimony -- it will be a while before we know the whole story. I'd like to think a lot of those Hokies went down swinging, even if it was a vain attempt.

But back to your original point: see my post and my sig. Sometimes you just have to be lucky.

Jahroose...

Is sharpshooter on that site serious? Since black-rifles.com seems to be down at the moment, here's the gist. According to sharpshooter on that site:

Perp is one Mr. Cho.
Shooter used a Walther P22 and Glock 19.
Glock 19 purchased at sharpshooter's shop in March (March 12 +- a day).
Receipt was found in Mr. Cho's pocket.
Serial number was filed off of the Glock 19.

Jacka L Ope:

Would that point to both firearms being stolen and having been acquired on the black market? If so, they were well beyond the reach of "gun control" legislation.

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A post on another blog site states that the shooter had a reciept for the Glock in his backpack, the ATF met with the FFL last night and they found his 4473 and the store's digital video (archived for 35 days, his purchase was 35 days ago as well, so they found it just in time) from the day showing him buying the Glock.

Kharn

The media is going to town on this tragedy, sadly even though most of the idle speculation they are doing is just that, what they are saying is going to stick even though much is it is just said for shock value and ratings. I sense some more restrictive gun control laws being passed in the next few months, mainly in the blue states(and I'm in Minnesota :banghead: ). Though I bet some states will see that fewer people would have died if someone with a gun would have fought back and will pass legislation to allow CCW permit carriers to have a weapon on campus. Politicians just have to get their heads out of the sand and see that criminals don't care, tacking on a gun charge on to a life sentence doesn't do anything. As for a person on a suicidal rampage, it's just stupid to think that a law is going to stop them. The only thing more restrictive gun laws are going to accomplish is to foster a multi-million dollar underground market over which we have absolutely no control, and to disarm honest law-abiding citizens who could otherwise defend themselves.

+1 Mannix Welcome to THR.

I read the posts on black-rifles last night before the site went down. Imagine my surprise this morning to hear the name given by the poster matched up. Next, I heard the shooter had a receipt in his backpack.... then the purchase date.

Seems the OP on black-rifles is either really, really well connected to the investigation or was in fact the seller of at least one of the pistols (as claimed).

If I were in his shoes, I'd release the video to the highest bidder and exit the gun business. Even if he didn't do anything wrong, it's just a matter of time before his name and face ends up on TV... at which point he'll get run out of business by the media.

Steve

I believe this is the shooter's house.

http://www.google.com/lochp?hl=en&q...38.836434,-77.458221&spn=0.001314,0.00294&t=k

Since the opening questions have pretty much been answered, and this thread is wandering about a bit in speculations that have been answered, please go to whatever pertinent thread is still going on.

Art