Nepali students at Virginia Tech shocked but safe NepalNews "I spent a lot of time yesterday (within hours of the two incidents) to be in touch with Nepalese (students, staff, and families). Based on my conversation and meetings with Nepalese here, it is my understanding that no Nepali individual has been injured or dead," Gnyawali told Nepalnews. ....... Dr. Gnyawali, who is the only Nepali faculty at Virginia Tech, has been teaching there for the past 10 years. "It is a wonderful university and used to be a very peaceful one," he said.I have been to the campus. My high school classmate Tirtha who was a Ph.D student there showed me around. I still have a friend there. And so I had to shoot a quick email her way, ccing it to her husband in Chicago, also a friend: Please confirm you are okay. She is Russian, he is Albanian, college friends. I have been to the town many times. It is a big fancy university in a small hilly town by a very busy interstate.
Americans are fat. That is the first thing I think about whenever I get into thinking about health care as a policy. And, no, it is not genetics. It is to do with unhealthy eating and exercise habits. There is a need for a culture shift. Obesity is the source of most diseases.
Similarly, there is another obvious, glaring truth. The gun laws in this country are insane. I understand hunting. Although I prefer people shot with their camera and not their gun. But if they do have to shoot with their gun, the gun must be limited to the sport of hunting. That part I understand. And this is supposed to be a country of rule of law. Citizens are not supposed to take law into their hands. Law enforcement is a state function. And I totally understand why police officers have to carry guns. That I understand.
What I don't understand is why it is legal to manufacture and sell and carry all sorts of firearms which have no purpose other than to kill people. Most are designed to kill many people all at once. If these are not meant to kill but are only meant to be toys, maybe only non-lethal bullets should be sold. But what does it mean to sell lethal bullets?
If the right to bear arms is mentioned somewhere in the constitution, it should be scrapped. 1776 you were worried about wild animals in your backyard. Back then slavery was also protected by the constitution. There is a right to free speech, and a right to peaceful assembly, but no right to bear arms. I don't read that anywhere in the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, which supercedes all constitutions of all countries all over the world.
Hunting should be a regulated sport. Police officers should be the only ones allowed to carry guns. And the right to bear arms has to be scrapped from the constitution.
People will get depressed, sure. People will get angry. People will get mad at each other. But they should not have the option to go buy a handgun for a few hundred dollars and go on a killing spree.
Va. Tech Gunman Writings Raised Concerns San Francisco Chronicle, CA whose creative writing was so disturbing that he was referred to the school's counseling service ...... he may have been taking medication for depression, that he was becoming increasingly violent and erratic, and that he left a note in his dorm in which he railed against "rich kids,""debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus. ....... the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history .... "He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him" ....... he left a note in his dorm room that included a rambling list of grievances ...... he had recently shown troubling signs, including setting a fire in a dorm room and stalking some women. ...... the note, several pages long, explains Cho's actions and says, "You caused me to do this." ....... two guns were found ..... Cho's backpack contained a receipt for a March purchase of a Glock 9 mm pistol. Cho held a green card ....... he was eligible to buy a handgun unless he had been convicted of a felony. ..... one gun was used in both ....... "He was very quiet, always by himself," neighbor Abdul Shash said. Shash said Cho spent a lot of his free time playing basketball and would not respond if someone greeted him. He described the family as quiet. ........ Virginia Tech Police issued a speeding ticket to Cho on April 7 for going 44 mph in a 25 mph zone, and he had a court date set for May 23. ....... South Korea expressed its condolences, and said it hoped that the tragedy would not "stir up racial prejudice or confrontation." ....... Gov. Tim Kaine was flying back to Virginia from Tokyo ....... Jessie Ferguson, 19, a freshman from Arlington, left Newman Hall and headed for her car with tears streaming down her red cheeks. ......... Although she wanted to be with friends, she wanted her family more. "I just don't want to be on campus," she said. ....... The victims in Norris Hall were found in four classrooms and a stairwell ...... a shooter who fired away in "eerily silence" with "no specific target — just taking out anybody he could." ...... Until Monday, the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard plowed his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself. ...... Previously, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history was a rampage that took place in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin, where Charles Whitman climbed the clock tower and opened fire with a rifle from the 28th-floor observation deck. He killed 16 people before he was shot to death by police.
Va. Tech Gunman Writings Raised Concerns Forbes, NY
Campus Gunman Lived In Us 14 Years Guardian Unlimited, UK
Gunman's Writings Were Disturbing Guardian Unlimited, UK
Sources: Gunman left rambling note Baltimore Sun, MD
Gunman in Virginia Tech massacre had raised concerns with his ... Boston Herald, MA
Campus Gunman Lived in US 14 Years Newsday, NY
Gunman ID'd as student; tests tie same gun to both attacks Newsday, NY
Campus gunman lived in US since 1992 Reuters.uk, UK
The English major who shot his way into history Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Shooter Identified as Cho Seung-Hui, 23 ABC News
Gunman came to US at age 8 from South Korea SI.com
Gunman in Virginia Tech massacre had raised concerns with his ... San Diego Union Tribune, CA
The Shooter: Cho Seung Hui Wall Street Journal
Virginia killings: South Korean immigrant was the shooter Times of India, India
Asians fear backlash after Virginia school shooting Malaysia Star, Malaysia Virginia Tech student Jiyoun Yoo was terrified when she heard a gunman had rampaged through her campus, killing 32 of her classmates. When news broke on Tuesday that the gunman was a South Korean student, her fear took a new direction. "I'm from South Korea, so I am a little bit scared," said Yoo, 24, as she walked on campus. "The shooting was just one person, but maybe it will affect all South Korean students." ....... Yoo, a petite graduate student with long black hair, said she didn't know the gunman and none of her Korean friends had heard of him either. ... "If he speaks Korean, we'd maybe know him, but none of us does," she said. She said her family in Seoul had called overnight, very concerned Yoo might be a target if there was a backlash against Asian students at Virginia Tech. ..... The South Korean government also expressed fears of a backlash. ..... South Korea has the largest number of foreign students in the United States, with nearly 15 percent, according to the U.S. Customs and Enforcement Web site. ..... Some 1,655 students at Virginia Tech, or 6.2 percent, are Asian, the university's Web site says. ..... Foreign-born residents in Blacksburg said the town, nestled in the mountains of southwest Virginia, has been a welcoming place to live and work.
Classes canceled for rest of the week after deadly shooting ABC2 News, MD
Va. Tech Shooter "A Loner" 13wmaz, GA
Virginia Tech Gunman Note Lashed Out at Students My Fox Boston, MA
US Gun Control Laws Criticized Abroad San Francisco Chronicle, CA
Gun Control Is Tough Sell In Congress Guardian Unlimited, UK while Democrats now control the Congress, many of its new members are gun rights supporters from rural states.
Powerful US gun lobby has no comment about shooting Reuters
Rampage likely to stir debate on gun control Cincinnati Post, OH
Massacre sparks foreign criticism of US gun culture Reuters India, India European newspapers saw a grim inevitability about the shootings, given the right to bear arms which is enshrined in America's constitution. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch U.S. political ally, cited the tough gun laws in his country as a solution. Australia banned almost all types of semi-automatic weapons after a mass shooting in Tasmania in 1996. ...... Media commentators in Europe were quick to blame the permissive U.S. gun laws for the massacre. In Italy, the Leftist Il Manifesto newspaper said the shooting was "as American as apple pie". ..... More than 30,000 people die from firearms in the United States every year and there are more guns in private hands than in any other country. By comparison, there were 163 gun deaths in the United Kingdom in 2003 ..... Some U.S. gun advocates in fact argued it was time to lift a ban on carrying arms in American schools. ...... Gun ownership is commonplace in the Philippines and shootings over trivial incidents are routine. A few years ago several fatal karaoke bar shootouts were sparked by poor renditions of Frank Sinatra's "My Way".
Bush defends the right to bear arms The Age, Australia As renewed calls for tighter gun controls spread, the White House was quick to cut them off. A spokeswoman for Mr Bush said his policy was to vigorously enforce the right to bear arms. ..... Virginia has some of the most lax gun laws in the country. ...... John McCain said the rampage did not change his view that the constitution guaranteed the right to carry a weapon. ..... Few politicians were prepared to take up the challenge of Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign, America's premier gun control lobby group, which called on Congress to hold a debate on the gun control issue. ....... Virginia does not require licensing of gun owners or registration of weapons. You can walk into a shop and just buy a gun. There is no cooling-off period to prevent crimes of passion. ...... Virginia's governor, Timothy Kaine, cut short a visit to Japan and said: "It is difficult to comprehend senseless violence on this scale." ......... "There are lots of guns around on campus because there is a corps of cadets." Virginia Tech is one of a few universities with a military training program..... "We still live in a society where gun violence is an overriding concern,"
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