Is it no wonder that we have more violence in the United States than in any other culture. I am so disappointed with MSNBC and Keith Oberman, who I listen to nightly. Jumping to conclusions, questioning the two hour gap, releasing information that has not been sourced and backed up is not responsible journalism. It is sensationalism.

It is time for Americans to wake up and realize that we do not live a fairy tale. We can be attacted in a miraid of ways by terriorists, by lonely gunman, by our husband or wife.

Common sense tells us that all the guns, bullets and bombs will not keep us safe. Please stop this riduculous banter because you have nothing else to say and discuss the more important issues of why did this happen. Bring people peace and comfort and truth.

There is no place in this world, that we can call safe, but at least there should be an warning!
it sadden me so much, these kids are innocent and trying to make an decent living for themself, going to college doing things right, getting their education, minding their own business an along comes an disllusionated person, mad at himelf or hurt by an person and just walks up and kill, people for no apparent reason, people who have nothing to do with his personal problem!
What does it takes, to protect our school & colleges?
There should be some kind of warning to the students that soemthing is going on, so, they can protect themselfs, some kind of alert or shut down, like an prison incase of an emergency!
Perhaps, and intercom, with speakers out over the campus, sirens, red alerts lights! letting them know, there is an emergency and to take immediate shelter for their saftetT
What esle is it going to take, how much worst do it have to get, before, they realize more safety precautions have to be taken?

maybe the casualties would have been less if the authorities reacted fast. it looks like there wasn't a system set up for situations like this inside the campus. also, what took the authorities so long to decide to go in the building once they have sorrounded it? even a couple of armed cops could go in and assess the situation inside the building and maybe try to stop the active shooter or distract him.

How could two students be murdered and the rest of the campus not shut down immediatly? The unversity I attended would have screeched to a hault were two students murdered in a dorm and the gunman not caught--wouldn't have mattered if he was still on campus or not. How could they know? HE HADN'T BEEN CAUGHT! Most colleges would have screeched to a hault had a student had an fatal accident. Why are the biggest trajedies in this country a result of authorities not being honest with us? Not being forthcoming with information? We can handle it. We can take action and be more aware. They need to trust us and have faith in their own people. Who stopped the shoe-bomber on the plan? Not authorities. Lay-people who were informed of this tactic. This "on a need to know basis" has only ended in greater trajedies throughout history. Had the students had a warning--whether through local media outlets or just the police setting up a baracade around the campus this would have ended differently. Why were two people murdered and a gunman on the loose not set off more alerts????

Oh yes, now everyone is boarding the band wagon of Gun Laws and more Restraints. Look who had the gun, a criminal, a foreigner, not a law abiding US CITIZEN. There are law abiding citizens in the USA that own guns to protect themselves that are not committing these terrible acts. Also look on the news sites who else had or have guns (policeman) but they were there after the fact. The policeman need guns to protect but also law abiding citizens do also. Had one of the students had a gun maybe this act could have been minimized. It surely could not have been any worse. What the USA needs us to limit all of the immigrates from these other countries coming in. Once in a while we have one of our own go off the wall but mostly it is some of these people that are criticing our US laws and customs that come in from other countries. The USA is the most envyed and desirable country in the world yet the other countries that the people are wanting to leave that are telling the US how to make laws and live. Come on America, we are going to make mistakes, as perfect as this country may seem, and we can not prepare for every incident or act that life brings our way. We just need to be strong and move on and not let the critics bring us down.

it thorougly amazes me that within hours of this horrendous act there were those in the media raising questions about the "gap" in time from the two offenses, the actions (or lack thereof) of law enforcement, the "failure" to properly notify the entire campus and all on site, and the list goes on and on. certainly there will come a time where a review of all these actions will take place, and then the "media" can raise whatever questions they may have, but a "feeding frenzy" within hours of the incident? come on now!

This terrible mass killing and suicide should definitely be a sign to the American people that this country needs to turn back to God,not wait until something so terrible happens and then pray about it.
What else but continual daily prayer and repentance will cover our children, in a world filled with such loose morals.
We need to get back to the basics.
We parents can raise our children in the way should go ( In reverence of God )But because so many laws are being passed that breeds immorality, and selfishness, people are suffering and want to make others suffer with them.
Dont let these professors and these young peoples lives be in vain.

How about.... allowing honest citizens the means to defend themselves with... *gasp* guns? Sorry guys, the real world isn't all teletubbies and barney, sometimes you have to do unpleasant things to defend what is right when faced with someone who has already decided to do wrong.

You people cowering in fear and talking about how the police should have done this or that, make me sick. Take responsibility for your own lives for once.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - it's a shame that people who can lawfully carry a concealed pistol everywhere else were not allowed to carry concealed on that campus.

Police will never be there for you right away; they can't be, no matter how heroic they are. Only you can take responsibility to defend yourself - and if others also take that responsibility for you then good for them.

The words on everyone's lips today are 'gun control, gun control!', but I submit that perhaps instead of thinking that, we realize that such things are mere laws, and I'm pretty sure that the perpetrator of this tragic act broke quite a few laws by murdering people.

I hope that more people can see why it's important to support ALL of your freedoms... not just the ones that you personally take advantage of.

Warnings to feel safe? That's it, people just want to feeeeeeeeel safe, but they don't want to even think about acting in any way that will actually MAKE them safe.

Why don't we just require that murderers wear bells so we can hear them coming and scatter like good little sheep?

how many times does something like this have to happen before something is done. i just became a father a few month,s back and it scare,s me that this society we live is running out of control.i don,t remember thing,s like this happening when iwas a kid.we here someone in the news every other day talk about homeland security when we can,t even feel secure in our own home, school,s or playground,s.how many gun,s will be on the street,s and how many more times will this happen before goverment,s quit serving there special interest.i have special interest too, he,s my son.to all of the families involved MAY GOD BLESS YOU & COMFORT YOU.

does anyone know if there were surveillance camera's in the buildings, i believe in the news conference last night the chief of police said no. that could have been a major preventive tool, it was actually how my campus was able to identify and apprehend a rapist

I'm an avid gun owner. I fear that this issue will be used as an excuse to attempt to violate my consitutional rights. The reason those rights exist is because of all of our God-given rights to self defense. After the Luby's massacre, Texas authorized concealed weapons. I think, unfortunately, the Virginia Tech massacre is an example of what happens when people are denied their right to self defense, or are not protected by competent authorities. College kids under the age of 21 are not allowed to own guns. They had to rely on their campus police force for protection, who failed to act promptly enough following a multiple homicide on campus. In the post 9-11 world, any large group of unprotected Americans is a potential target.

Paradoxically, one component of the solution to this problem is for people to arm themselves for self protection. The evildoer in this case chose defenseless people to attack. If he couldn't have counted on them being unarmed, he would have gone somewhere else.

Arm yourselves. Sic Semper Tyrannis

This event is certainly tragic and I believe all decent human beings offer our condolences to the victims and their families. It is sad that so many innocent people we killed. But a rush to blame anyone (other than the shooter) is nonsense. It would have been IMPOSSIBLE for authorities to foresee or prevent the events as they unfolded. Anyone who believes otherwise is being unreasonable.

The university (if not just the president and local police chief) should have to answer to the outcome of this ordeal. Everyone on and around the campus should have been notified of this from the beginning. There is no excuse. I'm sure they would expect the same from anyone who was in charge of their safety and well-being. I could go on about all of the should haves, but that isn't going to take away what has happened. No one expects something like this can happen in their "small town" until it does. This just proves that no one, no matter how good, bad, charitable, smart, dumb, etc. you are is immune. Things like this are going to unfortunately keep on happening as long as human beings have emotions and guns.

I know some people have advocated laws allowing concealed weapons on campus and more gun ownership, but more guns is NOT the answer. Over 30,000 people are killed by guns each year in the U.S. and Americans own more guns than almost all of our European counterparts. In contrast, gun deaths in the UK are fewer than 100. What's wrong with us? This isn't an isolated incident and contrary to what some people believe these kinds of incidents don't happen nearly as often in other countries.

The area in Illinois, where I am from, puts local schools on lockdown whenever there is any sort of an armed standoff or situation. Most obviously, and why it takes this sort of occurrence to take place before we act on it, there will likely be new procedures put in place at educational institutions to place lock downs immediately, until a full 'all-clear' is established. This extremely tragic loss of life event has to be a lesson learned, but unfortunately at the hands of some very brilliant individuals. When will we learn that guns serve no real use in the private sector in our society? When will we ever learn?

I find it interesting that rarely, if ever, do you read or hear of this kind of carnage except in the United States...perhaps we should learn from our European neighbors and others why this is so.

It is unfair to hammer the administration for not shutting down campus after the first shooting. It would have been tough to do logistically, and there is nothing to say that Cho, a student, would not have walked into the building where people were locked down and started shooting anyway. Also, the administration had no precedent to have that as part of their SOP.

Well, I think you are way off the base. There is no way to shut down a city. Never would they imagine this would have happened. I think they handled it the best the could. and if they would have locked down the campus where would they have went? The classrooms! And where was the killer already in the building. So quit blaming the school and blame the person that really did it.

It is very sad to see so many young lives snatched away...People in other parts of the world experience this on a daily basis. This is a shame that this had happened here....My sympathy goes out to the families of the victims.....

Perhaps the university could have done more as far as security is concerned, but the real problem stems from how easy it is to get a gun in this country. The killer was not even an American citizen but was able to walk in and buy a glock from a gun dealer. This is not how the 2nd Amendment was meant to be used. Stop blaming the university and others and deal with the real problem.

The gun control zealots that just see this as an opportunity to score points for their holy cause should be ashamed. Beyond ashamed.

I place no judgements upon anyone because it is what it is. I have two children college age and so my thoughts are with the families of the slain children and the wounded children. My thoughts are also with the students that survived and attend the school. I have a heavy heart for those left to survive this tragic crime. I wish for the survivers the thousands of them to find peace within themselves and try and find someway to cope. Please know that people from everywhere are saying prayers for your recovery. For the children that endured this crime upclose and personal know that you are heros and that you did all you could do to stay alive and to help protect the students that couldn't protect themselves. All of you are true American Heros and all of us are proud of your efforts. Lean on whomever you need too and if you're a student/faculty member and fell you have no one to lean on turn to a stranger for help. I believe every person in America would be willing to be your shoulder to help you bear the pain you are in. I would gladly talk to anyone at anytime night or day to help you in anyway I can. My msn instant messenger contact name is Dinah. I will be there for you.

I defy anyone to bring a university of 28,000 students and thousands of faculty and staff to a screeching halt at what seemed to be an isolated incident. I graduated from VT and a search with twice the manpower that was present would not have found this guy if he didn't want to be found. The second incident occured a half mile away, still on campus, perhaps that gives you insight as to how large the campus is. There is NO ONE to blame for this tragedy but Cho Seung-Hui.