Students dead in shooting at Virginia Tech: Will campus security get better?

Being an alum of Virginia Tech this is definitely some shocking and saddening news.

As you noted in your article, the dorms on campus do have security features in place which can be easily sidetracked. At least until now that is. I suppose students will start to think twice about letting strangers into their buildings, but the real problem would be, how can you tell who is going to be the next person to flip out and start on a shooting spree? Obviously no one would think that their friend would be capable of performing such an act until after it had already been committed.

Adding locks or security to classroom building would be a nice touch.. but how feasible is this? Maybe at some smaller universities this could be done, but on a campus as large as Virginia Tech it would be impossible. Maybe classrooms could start to be locked once the class has started, but there is no feasible way to lock the buildings as a whole. there are just too many students that have to have the access to these areas.

My heart goes out to all the students and families that are effected by this tragedy.

Michael Fowlkes

sorry to hear for all those died and hurt this is horrible in any educational institute. hope this never happen ever, my full sympathy to all those involve in this sad incident

any info about the killer and his motive?

This is unbelievable and yet we make comparisions to all the other school shootings. Terrifyingly we are becoming immune to this kind of terror. There is no excuse for the VA Tech not being evacuated immediately after the first incident. No assumptions should have been made! Mark my words the officials at all universities don't want to upset their businesses. There should have been cops all over that campus. They do it for lesser matters. It nauseates me that the officials were relying on E-MAIL to notify people who were sitting ducks in Classes????? People who saw the shooter describe him as the same person and yet the officials are ducking the call that this was the same person. I am so sick about this. Our culture is becoming extremely violent and complacent.

This part is insane (quoted from TIME):

Students bitterly complained that there were no public-address announcements on campus after the first burst of gunfire. Many said the first word they received from the university was an e-mail more than two hours into the rampage — around the time the gunman struck again.

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said authorities believed that the shooting at the dorm was a domestic dispute and mistakenly thought the gunman had fled the campus. "We had no reason to suspect any other incident was going to occur," he said.

My heart is breaking for all the victims, families, and students. What a terrifying nightmare to go through. This is grossly unfair and incredibly sad. The evil behind this terror is unimaginable. Tonight I will tuck my little girl in and pray she never sees the likes of that evil. I will pray for all the victims and families.

Check out this youtube video of the shooting

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qsZmiGKkSLU

I think that the events that took place at virginia tech are sickening, yet sadly we can hope for little to change. It is really hrrible to say but nothing we can do will stop these rampages. The best thing to do is move on as quickly as we can and try to learn a little bit from this tragedy.
Perhaps the pro-gun groups are right. I heard something interesting today..."outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns."
I'm sure that many of you will argue that the shooter had legally purchased the gun but it had recently been mad illegal to carry that or any weapon on campus. I cannot speak for the students who had to live through this ordeal but I my self would have felt much safer had I had a gun of my own in possesion. Now, there are obvious problems with letting everyone carry a gun in school, most notably the spontinuity that plagues the human race, but it is something that needs and fortunatly is being considered.

We unfortunately have to protect ourselves against the wars in or streets where EVER that may be. Putting up walkthrough metal detectors must be done everywhere.We must accept this as part of our keeping up with the democratic oathes we make to protect those under our care whereever it may be.Especially in a educational environment. Must they all be masked to get our attention.WAKE UP AMERICA!!Take back your FREEDOM.Do you lock your doors at night or leave them open for everyone?Lets not make it an entitlement we have loss.We don't need guns~~just a little knowledge!!Orherwise stay home and plug in to the cyberconnection.What are your thoughts on this?