Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't had personal experience with a shooting, but a family friend was killed in the VA Tech shootings. It was unbearably painful to see the family grieve, but they have channeled their pain into working tirelessly (and unfortunately, fruitlessly because of the gun lobbies) for greater gun restrictions.

They are wasting their time; VA tech was the result of severe mental illness just as was the attack on sen. Creigh Deeds. We need to address mental illness because it is the root cause.

Further, mental illness is emerging as a huge factor in so many other societal ills such as domestic abuse, alcoholism\drug abuse, divorce, etc. They should put their effort into areas where they can make meaningful change for the better of all.

I need to step in and clarify that the shooter at Virginia Tech was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice and was court ordered to seek outpatient treatment. Outpatient treatment was not, at the time, required to be reported to the Virginia database that background checks are ran through. Cho was able to legally buy all of his guns, and bought ammo off of eBay, which was also legal at the time. The shooting at Virginia Tech was directly a result of this disconnect between mental health and easy access to guns.

Yes, we need to address mental health in the US, but it is equally, if not more important, to ensure that mentally ill people don't have easy access to guns. Obviously it's possible (and happens every day) to obtain guns via other means, but this still troubles me to this day.

-Hokie alum

[quote=youngblackdude]Never been in a situation where the shooting was inside classrooms or hallways...gang shooting happened in front of school during dismissal .everybody scattered until cops came & had the dudes from both crews lined up[/quote]

There was a shooting (amongst gang members) at the Popeye's across the street from the school that I taught at. One of my friends was shot and killed in crossfire between two gangs while riding his bike home from work.

Anonymous wrote:My husband was attending Virginia Tech during the massacre. He was supposed to be in the building next door but accidentally slept through his alarm. He knew 4 or 5 of the victims. April 16th is a sad day in this house.

I am so happy for him. I was in the building and it still haunts me. I know some friends who were in the building next door and it haunts them too.

My husband was attending Virginia Tech during the massacre. He was supposed to be in the building next door but accidentally slept through his alarm. He knew 4 or 5 of the victims. April 16th is a sad day in this house.

When I was eight a guy ran into Drug Emporium shooting at his girlfriend. It was a pretty large store, and I was on a different aisle than my mother. I remember all of the adults nearly trampling me as they ran toward the back of the store. It's really eerie now that I think about how I walked around the empty store looking for my mother, but not knowing what everyone was running from. Eventually someone grabbed me from behind, covered my mouth with their hand, and carried me to the stockroom in back. Everyone was huddled by the emergency exit that had been chained shut. After about twenty minutes, the cops showed up. I was scared to leave the house for about two weeks after that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a school shooting per say, but a preschool shooting. Off duty police officer shot and killed his wife on the front steps as she dropped their preschooler off. It's been 11 years. I can still see the way her body jerked as the first bullet hit. I have never been the same since.

OMG, where?

Florida

I was at Penn State when there was a shooting in 1996. Happened on the lawn right next to my dorm. I was running late that day or I would have been in the middle of it.

I still remember that my clock radio came on to "heart and soul" by T'pau that morning. Such a random thing to have burned into my memory.