i don't know what manner of--

[slumber]

I thought that campus shootings had truly ended in the 90s, that we've heard the last of them and Virginia Tech was simply an aberration. But 7 people have now died in Northern Illinois University, just ten months since Virginia, apparently, and it's just. Short of doing bag checks at every entrance of a campus to ensure our own safety, this is really the kind of thing that no one can predict, let alone prevent. (Do you really think it's a matter of reaching out to the potential gunman in your class? Someone somewhere will tick in a way you would never see coming, I think, and we're all fucked up one way or another and it's just a matter of how we cope, and this is just where others' coping leads, sometimes.)

The thing with tragedies like this is that they should not be happening this frequently. I want to know what's going wrong but I'm inclined to think that these things remain senseless and that there are no answers.

Comments

[boho.livejournal.com]

i can see evy's points completely, i just don't think it's as... not 'unpredictable', but... 'strange' (?) as it's often made out to be? and like, after the massacres of 1996 (eg dunblane) our gun laws were restricted further, and i'm not saying that's solved the problems, but it did 'decrease' the shootings in places such as schools, etc. (although our school shootings are not quite like american ones, in that it's generally 'adult strangers'.) hm. gun crime is certainly all around us, and i'm not saying it's solved, or ever will be, but i live in one of the worst/deprived areas of the country apparently & i'm not 'scared' of gun crime, but i would be in certain parts of america.

[capitol-barbie.livejournal.com]

I don't really think that I specify in my mind what kind of crime I'm concerned about in certain parts of the US (to be honest, not that I frequent said parts, but when I'm there, I tend to be rather on-guard), haha. It would be weird if people were walking around going "I am worried about gun crime but I'm fine with just assault" but I know what you mean. I just totally am not thinking properly right now. Um, anyway though. I.... have nothing else to say that is productive in any sort of way, actually.

[boho.livejournal.com]

heh, see, i think it's a lot more likely to be assaulted/knifed where i am... :| but yes. it's 5am & i'm not making sense lol. i just think that the availability of guns is a serious factor in looking at tragedies like this?