Tragedy at Virginia Tech I am a grad student at Virginia Tech and spent April 16 locked down in a campus building just opposite the killer’s dorm (“Making of a Massacre,” April 30). For the first few days after the tragedy, I, like almost everyone I know here, focused on getting through the day, on grieving and on connecting with friends and family. As I contemplate what happened and try to make sense of it, I am heartsick at my conclusion: this was inevitable. The world will always contain people who are trapped in states of alienation, despair and insanity. Equally, our culture seems to love its guns and glorified images of violence. In a country so awash in weapons as ours, it is delusional to think that we could reliably keep them out of the hands of madmen. What happened to my beautiful community is thus a horrifying, but quite natural, consequence. Few would admit it aloud, but to the majority of Americans, the cost of the lives lost to this kind of tragedy is considered a perfectly reasonable price to pay for the right to shoot a gun. I guess we had better get used to it because it does not seem as if we are headed for change any time soon. Lisa Poley Blacksburg, Va.
The best way to detect and, possibly, deter another Virginia Tech massacre is a good offense. Just as we have learned on airplanes to band together and keep our eyes open, we should teach our children and be cognizant ourselves to observe odd behavior, spoken threats and anything else bordering on the unusual. There’s enough blame to go around (such as, where are Seung-Hui Cho’s parents in all this?). But certainly university officials and even secondary-school staff should constantly be alert to anyone behaving out of the ordinary. We need proactive measures on all campuses; the loss of kids with such bright futures and the professors who taught them is almost unbearable. Some of our enemies are easily identified. It’s the ones who walk among us that cause the most concern. Courtenay Rudzinski Sugar Land, Texas
“Story of a Gun” places an inordinate amount of attention on an inanimate object. There is no evil or good inherent in an object, only in the way it is used or misused. I find absolutely no significance in the fact that the pistol was a Glock, of 9mm caliber, or in any other specific trait of the firearm. The tragedy of Virginia Tech lies in the terrible loss of life and the incomprehensible actions of a disturbed person who left a trail of warnings prior to his rampage. Your article uses unrelated incidents to try to demonstrate that the 9mm handgun is a threat to law and order. Why was there no mention of the 70 million other gun owners who didn’t go on a shooting rampage that day? Why not point out that just one armed citizen on campus could have protected innocent people from the rampage? David Bartczak Huntington Woods, Mich.
We have shot presidents, political candidates and public leaders. Our children are shot on college campuses, in high schools and even in grade schools. We shoot our enemies, our neighbors, our friends and our families. Our politicians retreat in fear of the gun lobby. As they say, “Guns do not kill, people do.” So let’s tax the bullets to support mental-health services and let the people who buy the ammunition pay to help people who believe they have to kill. Roberta Fruth Oak Park, Ill.
You articulated the plethora of factors that contributed to Seung-Hui Cho’s choice to kill 32 people and himself. However, the alienation Cho is said to have experienced cannot be ignored. It is abominable that he was mocked and laughed at in a high-school class and told to “go back to China.” While his actions are inexcusable, we also need to hold parents accountable for the values that they instill in their children. We live in a multicultural and diverse society where tolerance, empathy and compassion are some of the first and necessary steps to eradicate this type of violence. If we don’t teach our children the simple virtue of kindness, we can’t expect the world to become a better place any time soon. Lena Aburdene Washington,D.C.
Are there lessons to be learned from the Virginia Tech tragedy? No. Was there a message? Yes. The world can be an unpredictable and terribly hostile place. There will always be certain people who will commit horrible acts against humanity. Unfortunately, I don’t believe this is something that can be prevented. My heart goes out to the victims and their families. Bruce Gustafson Marquette, Mich.
I cannot comprehend your thinking in devoting more than 20 pages to this horrible event, along with a cover headline screaming massacre in Virginia. Yes, this truly sickening and newsworthy event deserves due coverage. But let us put it into perspective. Suicide bombings with casualties greater than those at Virginia Tech are an almost daily occurrence in Iraq. American military deaths in Iraq in April totaled 104 (more than three times the Virginia Tech deaths) and total over 3,350 since the start of the war. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed. NEWSWEEK should publish photos and short profiles (similar to those of the Virginia Tech casualties) of American military dead every week. Public indifference to the terrible cost of this war is due in large part to the failure of the news media to give the war the attention it deserves. Joe Hackett Goleta, Calif.
Only in America could a deranged young man walk into a gun shop and purchase a 9mm Glock 19 that can fire five rounds a second with a magazine that holds up to 33 hollow-point bullets to tear up internal organs and that can be reloaded in under two seconds. The NRA’s obsession with citing the constitutional right to bear firearms apparently overlooks the fact that at the time the Constitution was written it took more time to load a rifle than it takes a present-day gun to fire off 50 rounds. Such a gun has one purpose only: to kill people—as many and as quickly as possible. Gerry Neiderhiser Marion, Ind.
Predictably, America’s most recent gun massacre has set off still another chorus of “guns don’t kill people—people kill people.” I never cease to be amazed at white, middle-class conservatives’ capacity to congratulate themselves for not spraying innocent students with 9mm-weapons fire, and not giving in to a whole range of impulses that, if the truth be told, the vast majority of us never have. Americans vastly underestimate the otherness of others. We can blast the Dylan Klebolds and Seung-Hui Chos out there posthumously for failing to control rages we don’t share or remotely understand. Or we can get real, stand up to the NRA kooks and their GOP partners in lunacy, and finally enact common-sense gun laws. David A. Scott Columbus, Ohio
I grieve with the world for the innocent loss of life at Virginia Tech. As a graduate of nearby Radford University, I have always had a special place in my heart for Tech. Placing blame for this horror really does little good unless laws can be changed or people can be changed to be more responsible. The Tech administration is not to blame for Cho’s crime. They reacted reasonably given what they knew at the time. Cho was sick long before he decided to attend Tech, and many knew it—his pastor, his teachers, his high-school classmates and, certainly, his parents. If he had been diagnosed with cancer, would his parents have done nothing? I think not. He was sick. We must begin to see mental illness as an illness and not an embarrassment. He needed help and his parents did nothing about it. Their obvious neglect has resulted in 33 deaths. As a native Virginian, I have always been embarrassed by the Neanderthal gun laws and attitudes toward guns in this state. I pray that this tragedy will prompt enlightenment of our elected officials. Martha N. Miller Newport News, Va.
Thank you for sparing us a photo of Seung-Hui Cho on the cover of your magazine, and for using only one photo of him (holding a hammer rather than a gun) on the inside story. The only thing more disturbing than what he did was what most of the media did: adopt his self-created images from his self-promoting video and give them top billing for days. Robert Maccini Henniker, N.H.
The tragedy at Virginia Tech most probably would not have happened in France, Germany or Spain. Most European countries limit the possession of concealable weapons to law-enforcement officers. Guns are designed to kill. Handguns have only one purpose: to kill people. Until or unless our political leaders have the courage to dispute special-interest groups like the NRA, protecting our citizens from crazies like Seung-Hui Cho will be impossible, and this carnage will continue to haunt us. Harold L. Stevens Portland, Ore.
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s article “The Changing Gun Debate” does not tell the entire story. Several mayors, including Mary K. Wolf of Williamsport, Pa., have resigned from Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization. Bloomberg’s methods have drawn scrutiny as bordering on being unlawful. One of the more prominent members of his organization, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans, iscurrently being held in contempt for failing to return seized firearms in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Having Bloomberg spearhead a gun-control organization is like the proverbial fox guarding the chicken house. New York City already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Mayor Bloom-berg should concentrate on prosecuting and convicting the criminals who use illegal guns. Peter Hemmerich Dolgeville, N.Y.
Appreciation for a Stepfather I was deeply touched by Melissa Maynard’s thoughtful my turn essay “Making Room for Dad’s New Girlfriend” (April 30). I also lost a parent, my dad, when I was 14. Maynard brought up a lot of memories and feelings I had when my mother came home with her new guy, who is now my stepfather. I also took mental notes of the vast differences between my dad and this new man—and there were many. To be honest, at first I was very uncomfortable about the whole thing and angry with my mom for what I saw as adding insult to in-jury in the wake of my dad’s death. How selfish I was. Now, 17 years after their wedding, I have grown to love my stepfather and appreciate him as an incredibly smart, stabilizing influence in my life as well as my mom’s. When-ever I need sound, wise advice he’s the man I turn to. I do believe my now long-departed father would be so glad to know that my stepdad has picked up the reins through life’s many big moments—college, the first car, career choices and the search for the right mate. I know Maynard will feel the same way years from now. David Johnson South Boston, Mass.
Correction In the April 30 periscope item “Clubbing for Kids,” the musician Brady Rymer’s surname was misspelled. NEWSWEEK regrets the error.
