Updated:At Least 33 Dead in Va. Tech Shooting

I agree on the cancelling classes bit.

But what are you going to do to ramp up security? Put armed guards everywhere? Attack dogs? Metal detectors with guards there to operate them?

How would you feel if your tuition went up $5000 a year because of new security measures? A lot of people can't afford college education as it is. Do you start jacking up the cost on everyone because one extremely tragic incident took place?

Unfortunately, that is what this world is coming to. There are already heightened security measures in high schools and elementary schools, it is only a matter of time that the same will happen in colleges.

good to hear that you are fine big C.

What is scary is that it could have been anyone there. It was so random, just in a class. Anyone could have been in that class. I don't know many people at VT but there is one that is good friends with one of my good friends. I am pretty sure she was an engineer major. I'm about to call up my friend and ask up about her. Lets pray that the 31 numbers are wrong and the numbers go down a bit. This is absolutely horrible.

I agree on the cancelling classes bit.

But what are you going to do to ramp up security? Put armed guards everywhere? Attack dogs? Metal detectors with guards there to operate them?

How would you feel if your tuition went up $5000 a year because of new security measures? A lot of people can't afford college education as it is. Do you start jacking up the cost on everyone because one extremely tragic incident took place?

Those are some good questions. And I can't say I could give an honest answer that would solve everything. I think I'll reserve judgement until all the details come out.

@724: Well, if they had at least put the classes in session on lockdown then perhaps that would've saved some lives. That said, they might've put the classes on lockdown but I don't know at this moment. What i do know is that security measures do have to be stepped up, because if there were two seperate shootings two hours apart then something's wrong.

The news is making it look really chaotic. How is the campus coping right now big C? I've heard people are just sitting in their dorms and not really going anywhere.

WE CAN"T MANAGE OUR LIVES AROUND THE 1%.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. And the 0.0000001% is probably more accurate.

It seems REALLY cold to say given that it JUST happened this morning, but this is a freak thing. The odds of you sitting in class minding your own beezewax and getting shot by someone who's gone off the deep end are infinitesimally small. The fact that this rampage JUST happened does not change those odds.

Your odds of hitting the powerball, of getting struck by lightning, or of getting attacked by dogs on your way to lunch are probably similar in size.

I wouldn't make any policy decisions. Over the coming days, emotions will run high and people will point fingers, but nobody will be able to agree on who is to blame for this. And that's because there is nobody to blame except the guy who did it, and he's already dead. It's an unfortunate reality, you can't be everywhere at all times to stop evil every time it rears it's ugly head.

Unless you want to hand over a huge portion of your paycheck for total security.

This is sad and my heart goes out to all who's life has been changed from this tragic event.

Tragic news... glad to hear you're ok Big C... i hope everyone you know is ok too...

good to hear that you are fine big C.

What is scary is that it could have been anyone there. It was so random, just in a class. Anyone could have been in that class. I don't know many people at VT but there is one that is good friends with one of my good friends. I am pretty sure she was an engineer major. I'm about to call up my friend and ask up about her. Lets pray that the 31 numbers are wrong and the numbers go down a bit. This is absolutely horrible.

26,000 enrolled students

Big C.

Did you know Ryan Clark? That is the first name they have released who passed away in the shootings this morning.

Wow. Big C, glad you're alright, man.

As for gun laws, this is a sticky one. You could loosen gun laws so that chances would increase that the public would have the wherewithal to stop a douchebag like this. But the tradeoff is an increase in accidental deaths due to more guns in the hands of the public.

You could tighten gun laws and make it impossible for a douchebag like this to obtain a gun in the first place. But we all know that if he really wanted a gun to do this, he'd buy it on the black market.

I don't think there's a policy answer for something like this. It just sucks, not really sure what you can do, unless you want to post an armed guard outside of every high school and college classroom in the country (which would cost way too much money).

I do agree with you though Big C, they should have cancelled classes for crying out loud. I've got no idea what administration was thinking, maybe they needed more time to process what happened; who knows. My first reaction would have been to cancel class though.

Yeah but stuff like this doesn't really seem to happen in countries with strict gun laws. Sure doesn't happen over here