What We Will Learn from the Virginia Tech Shootings?

What will this country learn from the Virginia Tech shootings that occurred on April 16, 2007? What did we learn from the othr workplace or school shootings? Probably not much. I say this because U.S. citizens not only have a short-term memory, but like other people in the world, eventually go on living their lives with a clear understanding that the world is not safe, no matter where you live. It amazes me that these news and media correspondents will spend countless hours discussing what could have been done to prevent this from happening, what we can do to prevent it from happening again, and why did this happen.

It astonishes me that some people want to blame school officials or the police for not responding better. The bottom line is that we all are human, when things happen like this it catches everyone off guard, including the officials. Anyone can sit back and second guess someone, but put yourself in their shoes. Everyone wants to say what should have been done, but would or could they do any different. It's easy to sit back a Monday morning quarterback. The two-hour delay? Who knows why it happened or if things could have been done better.

We are not talking about an elementary or high school with a couple of hundred, if that, students, and one building. We are talking about thousands of students, coming and going, some living on campus, most living off campus, multiple buildings, in essence, a small city. There is absolutely no way to control or lockdown a university. I attend college, and I don't live on campus. I drive to school, actually this semester all my classes are online; however, if I needed to go to school for anything, I would be totally unaware of what is going on, and there would be very little the school could do to protect me. Sending out an email is really not effective; I rarely check my school email.

What can we do to prevent this from happening again? Not much. Some would say have tougher gun laws. Well, let me enlighten you. Drugs are illegal and people still manage to get drugs. People with criminal records, who are not able to get guns legally, obtain them illegally or purchase them from someone or steal them. We will not totally keep guns out of the hands of criminals or those who want to do harm. We can't even keep minors from purchasing or obtaining alcohol. I'm not in favor of tougher gun laws because that only prevents law-abiding citizens who want to protect themselves from getting guns; it doesn't keep the criminals from obtaining guns. My next point is that if someone wants to harm someone, they will do it. Of course, without a gun he/she couldn't shoot and kill a large number of people, but they could stab a few or prepare a bomb.

Why did this happen? Because that is the society and world we live in today. There is violence all over, on the movie screen, videos, and TV. Mix that in with someone who is upset about feeling mistreated or actually being mistreated and that spells danger. There are signs, but we can't prevent everyone from doing anything. I'm sick and tired of hearing people say how can they protect us from this or that. Reality check - You can't protect yourself from everything. The police or government can't protect you. There are no safe places.