I agree shmivv,
The killings at Virginia tech were absolutely tragic. To be terrorized in that way in a place which you would usually feel at home and safe would be horrible beyond description. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have that happen at flinders uni, a place I am been associated with for 5 years.

But the media are playing up racist, and xenophobic descriptions of the person suspected of committing the acts.  Beyond that they are also promoting negative stereotyping of those who have mental and cognitive issues. The media has acted in a way that is deplorable and makes me angry.

Like you I noticed that over the weekend 200 people died in Iraq, the average daily death toll has climbed past 90 a day. Yet the wounded, the dead, the victims in Iraq get treated in a markedly different way to those who died or survived Virginia tech.

The Virginia tech are also the tip of a much sadder story within the USA itself. Every year it is estimated that 30,000 people die as a result of 300,000 assaults in which guns are used as the primary assault weapon.  When you realise that we are talking about that number of people being slaughtered each year you realise that there was nothing unusual about people being killed at Virginia tech. What was unusual was that the person holding the gun managed to kill so many in one sitting. After all 82 people die in the USA every day because of guns, however they usually don’t die in the same building.

A lot of people in the pro-gun camp have come out and said ridiculous things about gun control. However I heard another thing on the radio on Monday that put their claims in perspective.

A Japanese politician was shot dead outside his campaign office, the news reporter mentioned that this killing was apart of a dramatic increase in gun crime across Japan and as a result the government was considering toughing the already tight gun laws. Now I know that Japan is not the same size as the USA but it has 120 million people and this puts it within a comparable magnitude, what the reporter said next blew me away. The amount of people killed using guns in Japan last year, a year in which gun crime has supposedly dramatically risen, is 55.

Draw your own conclusions .

It can’t all be just about gun control though. If people want to hurt each other they will do it with or without guns.

Yes, but as well as controlling the ability to hurt other people you also have to do something about the desire to hurt other people.

Are you talking about a greater emphasis on mental health in schools?