Shooting

We have all been following in disbelief and horror the news of the shooting at Virginia Tech. 33 lives have been lost and it is difficult not to ponder whether such gruesome act could have been prevented. A man who committed the violent crime was a South Korean student majoring in English. His profile fits the bill of someone who was capable of planing and executing this vile act. He was a loner whose disturbing writing landed him in the counselor’s office.

It is the chain of events from this point that is completely incomprehensible to me. How can a person who was already pegged as potentially disturbed simply walk in the gun shop and buy any weapon he chooses? Shouldn’t there at least be a black list of people who, in psychologists opinion, should not posses guns? Why aren’t there requirements to undergo a psychological evaluation before buying a gun?

With stricter gun laws, the tragedy like this one should never happen. People who use guns in their work, for sport or hunting would still be able to procure guns under stricter licencing laws. 19 year old students on a whim of a moment would not.

In the U.S.A. Cho Seung-Hui would have had more difficulty buying a bottle of wine at the local liquor store than a weapon. There is something disturbingly wrong with that scenario.

I believe that there are loner, disturbed types everywhere in the World. However, the mass shooting seems to be a U.S. phenomenon. Perhaps those in power need to admit what is the key contributing factor and reexamine the laws.