Will Banning Guns End Tragedy

Yet another frosty chocolate nut bar has decided that the best way to deal with his problems is to kill himself and take as many others down with him. I'm sure everyone is now aware of the events that transpired at the Virginia Polytechnical Institute today. A foreign student from Korea,, Cho Seung-hui, shot 32 people before turning the gun on himself. 32 innocent people died needlessly today because some crazy person couldn't deal with his problems in a civilized manner. Police don't know the motive, but it's looking like it could be a case of domestic dispute.

Once again, this has raised the issue of gun control. The issue is already being raised on internet forums and I'm sure both the US congress and the Canadian Parliament will be discussing it in the next few days. I discussed this already back in October of 2006.

Perhaps it is time to ban handguns, as they seem to be more trouble than they're worth. I don't buy the all armed avoids tragedy that some pro gun advocates are making since this would likely have caused even more chaos and perhaps more death. However, I don't believe banning guns all together is the solution either. After all, if we ban guns, what's to stop a crazy person from strapping a home made bomb to themselves and detonating. Most of the people who have died from terror attacks in Iraq have been killed in that manner, not with guns. If a crazed person really wants to kill as many people as possible, they will find a way.

It seems Cho was indeed a very disturbed individual and should have been given psychiatric help before this could take place. Though, it is possible that nobody knew he was capable of this. This incident in Virginia raises many questions such as foreign students and safety on college campuses. I believe our institutions of higher education are as safe as we can possibly make them. These events, while tragic, are unlikely to happen and they cannot be planned for. Unfortunately, I cannot make recommendations at this point.