Virginia Tech Shooting

Perhaps this is an example of how well the current system actually works:

A Virginia district court found Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho to be "mentally ill" and an imminent danger to others," according to a 2005 temporary detention order obtained by ABC News.

Virginia Tech police say Cho was taken to a nearby psychiatric hospital for evaluation in December 2005, after two female schoolmates said they received threatening messages from him and police and school officials became concerned that he might be suicidal.

So a court found Cho "mentally ill" and an imminent danger to other's, yet less than a year and a half later the same state allowed him to own a gun? Don't write a book critical of Bush or you won't be able to fly, but become a danger to other citizens and you can own a gun!

This new revelation has just really put the gun control argument into a new light. The laws need to change and need changed NOW! We have perfect reason fresh in our memory to make the changes and can not afford another tragedy like this. We always talk about change when something happens, but no change ever occurs. Any politician (Republican or Democrat) who refuses to address this situation and spark life into the debate on Capital Hill does not deserve support in 2008.

While the gun debate is at the top of the list, another debate is not far behind - violence in movies, TV and music. As people struggle to figure out what happened at Virginia Tech, they now have a source of frustration, one Cho Seung-Hui, a 23 year old South Korean national. Luckily we have more evidence to go by with a note found in Cho's dorm, but the details of that note are still shady.

So what pushed Cho to this extreme? Could it be related to an increase in violence in our media? To clarify - I say media because we can not only blame Hollywood, but must also include other media, such as cable news, in this group.

Watchdog groups have said violence in television has raised by astonishing numbers over the past several years. The same is true for movies and songs. True those are all fiction and our greatest source of violence comes from the not so obvious source.

Within hours of the massacre yesterday, CNN was playing a cell phone video of the scene. While the video was shot outside the building, you could still hear 27 distinctive shots. Of course all news outlets rushed to get this same footage on their airwaves. What good does that do the people in this country? Even more importantly - what good does it do to the loved ones of those who perished? Not a single thing, but in a world of 24 hour news cycles we now see CNN, MSNBC, FOX, as well as network news rushing to get that shock value.

My blood boiled yesterday as I started reading right-wing blogs immediately jump on the "give everyone guns" mentality following the shooting at Virginia Tech. Details will still emerging on the deadliest mass shooting in our country's history, yet the wingnuts figured they had a political card to play here. Michelle Malkin had a post immediately following the breaking news, which linked to another post and said this:

Just imagine if students were armed. We no longer need to imag[in]e what will happen when they are not armed.

Ok - I'll play along. Let me imagine that. If we had students armed, there is a chance so many would not have died on April 16, 2007 on Virginia Tech, but how many would die on other days? How may boyfriends would get pissed at their girlfriends, or find them cheating and decide to use that "justice maker" they have under their coat?

Let's look at that another way. The descriptions show the gunman barging into classes and opening fire. If students had guns, chances are they wouldn't have time to react. Who says they even know how to shoot the damn thing or a good aim? Instead we could see a higher fatality rate yesterday. Another question remains unanswered - did the shooter use all his ammo? Did he take his life when he had only 1 bullet left to do so? If the students had guns, that could have given the shooter much more ammo to continue his rampage and we might be looking at a higher number of fatalities today.

As typical for the right, history teaches nothing. Sure there were no mass shootings like this back in the 1800's, but there was a lot more killings. Why? Everyone had guns. They were very easy to come by and people needed them just to hunt so they could eat.

Shortly after the news of this tragedy, White House spokesperson, Dana Perino, also took to the podium. At that time she offered the President's deepest sympathy's, but also this little line:

The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed

But that doesn't stop the venomous Michelle Malkin from starting a campaign against firearm bans.

Families are just now finding out that they have lost a loved one in this tragedy. The mourning process has not even started yet, but that doesn't stop the right from trying to find a way to politicize something so horrible.

There are arguments that can be made on the right and left over today's tragedy, but can we please give it at least a day before we start politicizing it? Anyone that jumps on these situations to make a point appear to be the ones who love such situations. It is sick. Stop and think about what happened today and air your arguments tomorrow. The victims deserve this little bit of compassion from their country men (and women).

UPDATE:

Within a couple of hours of this news, the White House coudln't resist the need to politicize it:

"He was horrified and his immediate reaction was one of deep concern for the families of the victims, the victims themselves, the students, the professors and all the people of Virginia who have dealt with this shocking incident," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. "His thoughts and prayers are with them."

"The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed," Perino said, noting that Bush and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings held a conference on school gun violence last October. "Certainly, bringing a gun into a school domitory and shooting ... is against the law and something someone should be held accountable for," Perino said.

And now we got CNN playing audio of the gun shooting. I am sure the family and students really wants to hear that right now.