KEY POINTS:
The views continue:
Ronniestar
It is stupid to lay blame on others over what has happened. It is also pointless to point fingers at what is responsible, cause three are pointing back at you. It is no longer the result of the world we live in because we have made it what it has become. It is a disaster that will hopefully make the world look at the situations that are presented to them, and also look at how to resolve the problems in society. There are more people nowadays suffering from mental disorders than there were 100 years ago, and it's directly linked to the way we now live.
HauaTron
I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion and for others to agree or not agree on those opinions is their right also. I have to say that blaming this heinous act on TV,music and or video games is a copout and nothing more than foolish. These violent forms of media are found all over the world yet the rest of the world does not seem to suffer the same fate of numerous school shootings such as the United States. Yes they have occurred in other countries but the number in the US alone outweighs the rest of the world And to say that if the other students had guns as well would of prevented such an act is again ignorant to the actual problem that exists in the USA. It is the American culture and their right to bear arms that allows anyone to own a gun with the ridiculous gun laws. Given the number of people in the US it is a matter of time before someone who isnt sane to get a gun easily and commit an act such as this. The sad fact is even after this incident the US will blame this on the media,school and parents etc but will probably do nothing about the gun laws, just like after Colombine, and this will most likely happen again because it is written in their constitution "the right to bear arms".
Christos Malaka
The problem is gun availability.200 million guns between 250 million people. Ignore the arms makers lobbying and ban them. Simple really.
Dean I Riesterer
There's an old saying that goes "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" and as such I believe it should be every citizen's right to bear arms so they can properly defend themselves against any possible danger.What would happen if granny was walking along the street one day and this mad dog appeared from out of nowhere with its jaws wide open ready to attack this dear little old lady? Shouldn't granny be allowed to defend herself and her life against this vicious beast? And what about if granny just happened to be wheeling the pram and baby along the footpath on what first seemed to be like a nice bright sunny day? It doesn't matter whether it be a handgun or AK47, there will still be consequences once the lead makes contact with its target. A leg shot is generally good for slowing the offender down but usually a head shot will work wonders for stopping the bad guy dead in his tracks! Yay for little old granny!
John Washburn
I lived in Blacksburg in 1997, before I decided to move from America to New Zealand. The campus at Virginia Tech is beautiful and my youngest daughter got her degree from there. We lived within walking distance. The Blacksburg area is saturated with guns and the notion that everyone has the right to have a gun or guns, and that having guns is associated with manhood. Indeed, the city parade of that year had a float with a religious theme in which all the participants brandished assault rifles. We were appalled. But it's not only Blacksburg, Virginia, but all over America that an angry or disturbed person can obtain a gun quite easily.
Tony
Kimberleys hit it on the button I think. But hey, why hasnt the bush administration linked this person with some 'terrorist' group yet ?
Dean
The most predictable thing to come out in the media of any tragedy such as this is the "blame game". Blame society, blame the government for not implementing policies, blame Marilyn Manson (parents tried that with the Columbine shootings) and blame the parents for not treating them well! Nonsense. When these things happen they seemed to get used as political ammunition for whatever purpose it fits and a major casualty becomes the truth. The truth that all of us at some point are victims. Victims of parental abuse, flawed social services and policies, abusive lyrics in music and social stereotypes. In spite of all this most of us make the deliberate - choice - to rise above it and become better people because of it. Anyone who makes a deliberate choice to use their personal experiences as a justification for murder, or any harmful act for that matter is the only one to blame. Period
Kate
Look, as an American, I wholeheartedly agree that the "right to bear arms" is taken way too far. I believe gun control should be stricter. For anyone who says that these 33 students died because they didn't have a weapon on them at the time, that's nonsense. Yes, that would have been so much better, with 30 confused people sending gunfire in every panicked direction! I don't blame the media, or video games - I blame the aloof and impersonal society that suburban America is becoming. Most people haven't met their neighbors, parents work doubletime to pay for kids they rarely see... I guess I'm hoping that New Zealand will learn from these examples and show more compassion.
Mme D
Well are we surprised? It is tragic but expected. Young people are growing up in a desensitized world. They see killing and violence everyday in movies, on TV on the internet and even get to "play video games", where they get points for kicking someone to death, or running over someone with their car. This becomes their norm . So without strong role models at home school and society, there is little to stop young people from accepting this and taking on this behaviour. Then with the availability of knives (as seen in the UK ) and guns ( as seen in the US ) and fists ( as seen in New Zealand and Australia . s this any surprise? Unfortunately this can not be legislated against as some governments believe. It comes down to society, good parenting and personal responsibility.Only investment in the beginning will work . Help for parents , assistance to raise a child , early childhood education , limits and standards in our schools. This will all contribute to personal responsibility which is at the centre of this behaviour. Surely it is easier to do this, than it is to bury 33 promising young people ?
Jay
I feel sorry for the innocent students and the families of those who passed. Just like columbine high school the guns are too easily acquired and fall in the wrong hands too easily.
Tamati Blundell
I am sure a lot of people will post mundane views such as the music this nutbar was listening too (in the same way Marilyn Manson was blamed for Columbine) or video games (which have become a scapegoat for any number of crimes in the U.S) but in reality the blame can be pinned on America's stupid lax gun laws, demented government and ignorant society. If they spent some time working out their own problems rather than playing dirty cop with the world, these things wouldnt happen every few decades. Its about time they learned to learn from their mistakes. Who's to blame? the gunman of course, after that the society that allowed this retarded psycho to carry a firearm.
Kimberley Hodson
To blame for U.S school shootings would have to be a society that does not teach its young people to deal with its anger, a society that does not encourage people to ask for help. A society without a support system for those struggling will pay the cost dearly. Unfortunately today America did, again. With the break up of families throughout the western world, it is the innocent that pay the cost. There are many single parent homes that are supportive. However there is a void with the lack of male role models. Boys need to see their fathers deal with anger and stress in appropriate ways. If the father isnt there. uncles, grandfathers and teachers can fill that void. We need to be vigilant in ensuring our society is raising young people who are supported, encouraged and also appropriately punished when necessary. A society with no consequences and with no support system will always pay.
Ross Nixon
It is too early to say who or what is to blame. We need to find out more about the gunman.Was he an islamist? Was he a satanist? Was he a methamphetamine addict?
Kanny
How many people have been killed by suicide bombers in Iraq? (is this part of Iraq culture?)
Jenny
Who's to blame? The person who did the shooting! Everyone else at the scene did what most of us would do, and yes, mistakes were made. We're human. But the guy with the gun was the one solely to blame for the rampage. Yes, he shouldn't have had such easy access to guns, and yes, we have numbed up through television and movies the horror of this kind of thing, but ultimately it comes down to the individual who is responsible.
NeillR
Could Michael Earley perhaps describe another Western country where massacres occur on this scale with this frequency? Law abiding citizens don't see the need to arm themselves in the first place. Take the guns from the criminals and those "law-abiding citizens" have no need of the weapons. Keep allowing criminals easy access to guns and you keep getting massacres of the kind seen today.
Chris Brown
I've been given the good old "It's my constitutional right to have a weapon" spiel in the past by Americans I know. Now I'd wager to say that most countries would sacrifice the ability to buy a weapon with ease in order to quell tragedies such as this. But in all honesty, I believe that the American people would rather endure these events than give up their constitutional right. Sad, really.
Sophia
It is the price America pays for having such lax gun laws and the culture they have created. Ask Charlton Heston, it's part of their constitution, they don't feel like true Americans without a gun. I guess they think this kind of massacre is just a downside to their wonderful 'freedom'. When NZ starts selling guns at K-mart or the Warehouse, you know we're headed in the same direction.
Ben
Who cares, people die everyday. 30 die in USA, oh Boo Hoo!!
Attila
America is not the only country with deadly massacres. But most other places people only target their enemies, or are trying to achieve a cause. In America, people kill total strangers without trying to achieve anything. We've had the Colombine story where kids were just trying to express their 'power' through carnage. That sort of thing is infectious. As long as cynical industry interests dominate American politics, they will never come to their minds and ban public access to weapons.
Tim
Any would blame movies, many would blame TV, music, and video games. They are all incorrect of course. I personally blame the ability, in America, for people with unstable minds to easily get access to guns, along with some American people's believe that "I'm the best, the rest can die" mindset. The fix, well there isn't an easy one, gun control wouldn't solve the problem, but make it tricker to acquire the weapons.
Roger Begg
Television supplies us with an endless diet of death, morbidity and an unhealthy fascination with crime scene investigation, all masquerading as "entertainment". So I would accuse two of the main culprits, TV2 and TV3, for implanting a sordid obsession with murder in our nation's collective consciousness. "Grand Theft Auto" and other rampant video games featuring an all powerful entity who can kill, rape, and torture as he/she likes, is another integral culprit of today's society which encourages any susceptible or disaffected person to act out their wildest and angriest fantasies. We need, as a society, to find healthier outlets for the release of aggression for at risk people, outlets which will not impinge on the rights of others in the immediate environment.
Harold
American society has always had a tendency towards violence that contrasts starkly with its founding principles and enduring values. On the one hand we often see citizens of the USA as almost obsessed with human rights, and it is a cliché that Americans are the most litigious people in the world. On the other hand, violence often random and extreme has always been part of US society, from its birth in revolution to the present day, where the US is actively or covertly involved in every major conflict on the planet. Violence is an integral part of a lot of American popular culture, the central fetish of which is often the gun, an emblem of power that has become ingrained in mass consciousness. The people who commit these schoolyard massacres in the US are almost invariably loners, disconnected in some way or other from the wider social groupings of school or campus life, which appear to have a lot more meaning in the US than in this country as evinced by the graduate student of Virginia Tech quoted in the article - "I love my school with all my heart and soul." Feeling angry and powerless, the disconnected loners attempt to wield ultimate power over those they perceive as the enemy. Unfortunately America's dogmatic insistence on every citizen's right to own a gun makes the acquisition of murder weapons all too easy. So a society that oscillates between the utmost respect for human rights and dark and violent deeds, a mass culture that glorifies the gun, a tendency for some social groups to exclude others, and the irrational behaviour of the socially disconnected these might what's to blame for these horrific massacres.
Michael Earley
So 32 people have been killed in Virginia due to a school shooting. Of course again it happened in a gun free zone, where students and staff would have been breaking the law had they had the means to defend themselves. So far everyone I've spoken to thinks that the answer is more gun control. Which of course is completely divorced from reason.Gun control took away these 32 victims right to defend themselves against a crazed attacker. How many more people have to die before society realises that penalising law abiding people due to the actions of criminals with gun control just doesn't work. Think about this for a minute. All it would have taken was one student or teacher who could have legally owned a firearm to stop this. One bullet. And 32 students would still be alive today. Gun control, and gun free zone laws denied 32 people a right to life.
Steve
Make weapons harder to buy and stop selling bullets at supermarkets. People's right to carry arms should to withdrawn in America and elsewhere. In a civilised society people should not be walking around the streets with guns - the days of the Wild West are long gone.Peace to all.
Paul
Their ridiculous policy towards personal firearms in everyday society.
Heather
Easy access to guns and the chance for their 15 minutes of fame in the media.
John
America is a huge country. More people, more criminals, more psychos. Matter of time before somthing like this happened again in the states.
Makes you happy that you live in New Zealand, where the chance of someone doing this is so slim.
Jess
What's to blame?? Uh..maybe the student with the gun shooting everyone. He obviously couldn't handle what ever happened to him. I heard that he was looking for his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. I'd say he has a screw loosed to do that. Anyone who thinks the music this guy listened to or some computer game he played or violent movie he watched is to blame are idiots. You can only ever blame the person who did it.
Carolyn
It is a shame that majority of American people hold so dearly to their right to bear arms. If their obsession with firearms was not so great, maybe, just maybe they would not have so many psychologically unfit people able to gain easy access to serious armoury.
Tom
Whos to blame? Who cares. All the US are so brain washed they only care about themselves and no one else outside there country so why should we care?
Catherine
Seriously you really have to wonder how Americans can continue to tolerate the gun culture that contributes to these kind of tragedies. I read comments this morning on American boards, 'we have to give students guns to keep themselves safe', and that is the mentality they are dealing with. I just can't help but notice that in countries with stricter gun laws there are very few school shootings (in New Zealand, Australia, France, Holland etc). This will be nearly impossible to change in America since the "right to bear arms" is so embedded in the national culture.
Ollie
We cant lump all shootings together as one; what motivates one killer may not be the same as the next. The only person who can tell us lies dead with his victims. But the saturation of accessible firearms to the public in America makes acting out on whatever frustrations these individuals have a much easier option for them to take.
PaulS
The person to blame is the mongrel who did the shooting! Like duh!