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The Virginia Tech University killings have yet again sparked a heated debate about students turning killers of fellow students in American schools and colleges, and the related gun control laws of United States. Watching one person after another picking up guns and their targets is having a paralyzing effect.Reactions from all quarters have poured in and here we have assorted them to accommodate diverse view on the gruesome incident.
Lexis of sympathy as well as frenzy rang out from Washington to Seoul as the world absorbed yet another lethal gunfire extravaganza in the United States.
Although all have expressed sadness, many around the world see a direct correlation laws in the United States and the shootings on Monday.
US president George Bush urged those angered by the killings not to be overcome by evil. Mr. Bush prayed for comfort of the victims of a day that turned 'dark'.
To all of you who are OK, I'm happy for that. For those of you who are in pain or who have lost someone close to you, I'm sure you can call on any one of us and have help anytime you need it.
We have to look at what happened here, but it doesn't change my views on the Second Amendment, except to make sure that these kinds of weapons don't fall into the hands of bad people.
Yuan Peng, an American studies expert, was quoted by state-run China Daily as saying the shooting illustrated America's problems with gun control and a lack of security at American universities.
Many Virginia Tech students remained in a state of shock. Some watched as their classmates were gunned down one-by-one, and wondered if they will ever make sense of what happened.
A student said:
A threat is one thing, but this is real and it makes me a little scared to go back on campus for my classes for the rest of the semester.
British Home Office Minister, Tony McNulty, who earned a masters degree in political science at Virginia Tech in 1982, said:
I think if this does prompt a serious and reflective debate on gun issues and gun law in the states then some good may come from this woeful tragedy.
A comment posted on the popular Internet portal Sohu.com. said:
Why there were so many shooting incidents in American schools and universities? People should think why an American-educated student would take revenge against America?
Maybe it has something to do with a culture that teaches its students to hate their civilization for all the terrible wrongs it supposedly did in the past.
A well-known host of the popular American psychology TV show Dr. Phil, speaking on Larry King Live yesterday blame video games for Virginia Tech Shootings. Dr. Phil said:
The problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me - common sense tells you - that if these people are playing video games where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath, or someone suffering from mental illness, add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is just too high. And we're going to have to start dealing with that. We're going to have to start addressing those issues and recognizing that the mass murderers of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose.
Countries including England and Australia expressed their sorrow for the tremendous loss, but also pointed fingers at the U.S. gun culture as a contributing factor.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, who are scheduled to visit Virginia in May, criticized American gun control laws. A statement from Buckingham Palace in London read:
The Queen was shocked and saddened to hear of the news of the shooting in Virginia.
That sentiment was echoed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, also a close U.S. ally over Iraq and Afghanistan.
We had a terrible incident at Port Arthur, but it is the case that 11 years ago we took action to limit the availability of guns and we showed a national resolve that the gun culture that is such a negative in the United States would never become a negative in our country.
Britain's Independent newspaper said in a commentary:
It would be vain to hope that even so destructive a crime as this will cool the American ardor for guns.
Interestingly Iran at loggerheads with Washington over its nuclear program too came up with the sympathetic words. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said:
Iran condemns (the killings) and expresses its condolences to the families of victims and the American nation.
James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University in Boston said:
What motivates most mass murderers is the desire for revenge. They see themselves as victims. They see injustice around them and that they've been dealt a raw deal. They blame others for their own failures and feel that life is just not worth living. Before they take leave of this life, usually by their own hand, they need to get some satisfaction by taking others with them, punishing those they hold responsible.
Some conservatives in the United States said that the answer to gun violence was more guns. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul suggested Tuesday that the tragedy might have been averted if there were more guns in the classroom.
One 'gun rights' advocate told ABC:
The latest school shooting demands an immediate end to the gun-free zone law which leaves the nation's schools at the mercy of madmen.
Italian daily, Corriere, wrote in its front-page story:
The latest attack on a U.S. campus will shake up America, maybe it will provoke more vigorous reactions than in the past, but it won't change the culture of a country that has the notion of self-defense imprinted on its DNA and which considers the right of having guns inalienable
Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General said:
I feel very much sorry and troubled, and any such rampant killing of innocent citizens and children is totally not acceptable.
The gun shop which sold two handguns and the bullets used in the Virginia Tech shootings had actually sold weapons to five other murderers in the past because it was so easy to legally obtain weapons there. News reports indicate that it is surprisingly simple to walk into a Virginia store and walk out with a handgun as Cho Seung-Hui did twice in the past two months, because VA has more slipshod gun regulations than most other places around the US.
Putting it straight, it's time to bring in strict gun laws and beef up efforts to bridge the differences in perception of lawmakers which has actually put the matter on the backburner. America expects prompt and sane decision this time before the barrel heats up again.
