Wayne has a cool sight- too bad he wasn't in the classroom at the time he could have saved alot of students.

Give us a break Brian!! Are you SERIOUSLY suggesting college kids be allowed to carry concealed firearms on campus? Surely not. Maybe, there is a very slight possibility that this particular killer could have been stopped sooner but not likely. But, I can guarantee you, 100%, that if college kids across this country were carrying guns at school, there would be a WHOLE lot more people killed in a year than in this incident. I can't think of a worse group of people to have walking around armed with guns than teenagers in college, many of whom are very immature to begin with, many of whom are under enormous stress from college demands, many of whom are emotional wrecks as a result of their love life problems. Geesh. I can't believe anyone would seriously suggest what you suggested.

I dont think any students should carry any fire arms on campus thats how alot of problems get started anyway people of all races or sex should just learn how to get along we all live in the world together why not make the best of it.

It *is* a great site! He's got some neat toys.

The thing is, he really couldn't save anybody even if he was in the classroom, Brian. VA Tech prohibits the otherwise lawful concealed carry of firearms for defensive purposes on their campus - which would unfortunately include our friend Wayne. It's a policy that would have been forcefully changed LAST YEAR, but the assembly bill died in committee - much to the relief of at least one VA Tech administrator who felt that students would feel safer with a gun ban in place on campus.

I guess our shooter didn't think very highly of the law, or school policy. Students did however, and their noble obedience to it made a gunman's life much easier. You never hear of mass shootings at gun stores, or police stations. Funny, that.

The gun free zone just played into the criminals plans. Nobody could defend themself, just what that spineless creep wanted. Too bad the powers that be put all the students at risk. Please let everyone defend themselves. The criminals will not attack if they know their victims might fight back. The police can not be everywhere to protect us, we need to protect ourselves. Criminals are afraid of citizens who can protect themselves. Criminals are emboldened when they think they have the upper hand. Innocent people are hurt by our knee-jerk laws.

Funny how a policy or a sign "Gun Free Zone" is not obeyed by the bad guys.

The idea that more gun laws would have prevented this is pure ignorance. It's ashamed that if some of those students and teachers, (most of them adults, not teenagers) could have defended themselves a lot of lives could have been saved today.

Remarkable how many people believe more gun laws are somehow going to be obeyed by the bad guys in the future.

If only the news would report the result of gun bans in England and Australia

"Give us a break Brian!! Are you SERIOUSLY suggesting college kids be allowed to carry concealed firearms on campus?" -David

They're NOT kids, they're adults. With the right to self protection!

Todays awful tragedy is the result of people like yourself imposing your fears upon others who possess more personal responsibility than you will ever attain.

You are right David. Better to be sheep to the slaughter. By the way, aren't guns already banned on campus? And yet somehow murderers and criminals somehow seem to get them on there.

if 18 and 20 somethings can't be trusted with firearms than they shouldn't be allowed to purchase explosive materials like gasoline

according to some a car tank full of gas is the equiv of three stick of dynamite

ban compulsory government schools
keep the guns

If you mention to someone that you are thinking of carrying a gun, you are likely to be told that it will make you less safe because the attacker will simply take it away and use it against you.

If that's so easy to do, why didn't any of the students do that to the attacker -- i.e., take his gun away and use it against him????

I'm going to have to agree with David on this. I'm currently a college student myself and I've seen enough drunk brawls that could have ended so much worse than they did if firearms were involved. Personally, I don't want to live in a world where people are encouraged to carry guns for their own safety, I don't think I would even have the courage to shoot someone if I had to. It would make a very frightening dog-eat-dog world. Giving everyone a gun would just make it that much more tempting for those cracking under the pressure to use it.

This kind of behavior is what gives the internet a bad name. "Hey, he's Asian! He went to VA Tech! He has guns! That's the guy! Lets send him death threats!" Never mind that it was reported very early-on that the shooter was dead at the scene. Some people need to pull their heads out and get a grip on reality.

Oh, and it generally takes extra work to get a concealed carry license beyond just buying a gun. Where I live, it is already legal for a licensed person to carry on ALL public school property. And yet, very few people do. Claims by anti-gun people that every argument will turn into a shootout have always failed. CCW license holders are the most law abiding people in society and take their responsibility very seriously.

The comments suggesting there would be a blood bath after the implementation of liberalized concealed carry policies on college grounds are no different than the fears expressed by many leading up to the liberalization of state concealed carry laws nation-wide. No such blood bath materialized. Increasing access to firearms for law abiding gun owners simply does not increase gun crime. Perhaps, tho, it could have prevented some today.

Funny, that other's not in favor of the CC on campus are considering ADULTS, children...

Looking at the Utah mall shooting, a CC holder could have easily put a quick stop to this horrific event.

In the wild west, in the time of the shoot 'em ups and outlaws, and posse lynch 'em justice, the first thing a town did to quell the lawlessless was make the men hang up their guns. Took strong, brave lawmen to make them do it, but they did.

As soon as that happened, towns became cities and civilization flourished.

Now the solution to all our problem is to regress back to those days of unsafety? Geniuses.

David,
Unfortunately it is exactly this type of belief system that enable criminals to commit their criminal acts without fear of response. If you are afraid to be resonsible for your own safety that is your decision, do not pass judgement on over 128,000 CCW holders in the State of VA, who by the way are not criminals but citizens who realize that Police are not capable nor responsible of protecting us on an individual basis.

Sarina - you are absolutely correct.

Mr. Silbermann, while I understand your concern it is absolutely unsubstantiated. Over 128,000 Virginians have conceal carry permits and they are all law abiding citizens. I dont imagine that you will find that CCW holders are the same people getting into "drunkin brawls" as drinking while carry a firearm is expressly forbidden, and as we have already addressed CCW holders are law abiding citizens and go out of their way to adhere to the law rather than break it.

Anyone ever think that it wouldn't be a bad idea for teachers/professors be allowed to have concealed weapons? Granted they had some sort of training of course. I had a teacher in high school who was a black belt who also had his classroom setup in a way to hopefully defend against something similar to Columbine. At the time I thought it a bit weird, but shouldn't all schools and teachers do whatever they can to make the classroom as safe as possible? Just a lock on the door at VT could have saved numerous lives

Eric,

Unfortunately, I dont believe it is that simple. A lock on the door might have helped individuals in the classroom, but like the majority of universities, there are any number of public areas (including quad's and such) where students not currently in class congregate. In addition, University professors are not responsible for the safety of each individual student.

aquart you ought to crack up some books in the subject of the old west instead of relying on recent Hollywood films