Collegiate Times

This is why the experts keep saying: in an emergency, YOU are your own best bet. Prepare yourself for the worst.

Yea, and those text messages help. "Stay put." "Get out of the building." The last one might as well say "You're dead."

Brandishing a hunting knife and puppy haha that is funny. good thing nothing bad happened with those mixed messages. if they thought lawsuits were bad for not having an alert system, I can't wait to see the lawsuits dealing with alert systems that put out conflicting messages during a crisis

Sadly, all I can say, is that VT is not alone in the insane world in which we live. The murder of a Yale Graduate Student, the USF incident, incidents at Temple, U of Penn, Princeton, NJ...you have to keep your wits about you and have a PLAN in place should you need to seek refuge. Which begs the question...just why are people so crazy? Oh - on a separate note, check out the NYTimes yesterday to read about the completely illegal sales of guns at gun shows across the country. Supposedly 'legal' dealers selling guns to known criminals and those who admit they would never pass background checks. Proof, once again that gun shows are a haven for criminal activity through, by and for the use of firearms. Kind of shoots a hole in that issue, 100%

"Legal" dealers must register their FFL with the company running the gun show. If they are selling guns illegally while holding an FFL, they face federal charges. Private sellers never need to do a background check, at least in VA. So if there is a loophole, it is a private sales loophole, not a gun show loophole. In the NYC case, the sellers did break the law since they had reason to believe that the buyers were ineligible. You don't expose a loophole by showing people who are breaking the law, you just expose the lack of enforcement. Also, with regard to the article, remember that USF, Temple, and UPenn are all in major cities. The fact that we don't hear about more incidents on urban campuses is surprising to me.

Well guess what Jason T - it isn't a NYC case...it is a case of multiple sellers across multiple state lines - TN, TX, AZ, VA, NC and others. And yes, the DO face federal charges, and that's the loophole - 'Private Sellers' - that's your loophole, that's the point. No consistency or protection for owner, seller, buyer, or innocent bystander who take a bullet. And your 'enforcement' comment is foolish because this abuse via loopholes WAS discovered through enforcement. You gun lovers will lie your way out of anything. There aren't any more violent offenses on urban campuses than there are on suburban campuses, actually. Those just happen to be the most recent events to transpire.

The facts remain that these 'legal' gun sellers were selling guns at 'legal' organized gun shows and they showed absolutely no morality or conscience in selling guns to individuals who they knew would not pass background checks. You need a license to drive...and fly an airplane...and be a physician...so why wouldn't you expect the average joe to be trained, licensed and fully investigate to buy a gun? It makes no sense. It never has made any sense. And finally, people are getting furious and fed-up with being bullied by morons with guns.

Bloomberg was the one that arranged the sting, according to the AP, even though it took place in other states. By definition, a loophole is a circumvention of the law by technicality. These people didn't go around the law; they broke it. That is not a loophole. That would be like saying that there is a drug dealing loophole because not every dealer gets caught every time he sells. I'm not sure what I lied about, either. Could you enlighten me? Also, use of the term loophole assumes that the intent of the law is for every purchaser to undergo a background check. If that is so, then there is a private sales loophole, but it is presumptuous to assume that legislators intended for every transaction, private or through a dealer, to be regulated. The whole problem with regulating private transactions is the inability to enforce.

Be Careful What You Wish For...it seems these gun fanatics break their own rules and create the end which they fear the most. FROM CNN: Gun-toting soccer mom, husband shot dead. Soccer mom Melanie Hain, who made national headlines last year by having a loaded, holstered handgun at her 5-year-old daughter's soccer game, has been found shot dead in her home along with her husband, police said Thursday. Information from 911 calls shows that it took a SWAT team nearly an hour and a half to gain entry to the Lebanon, Pennsylvania, home Wednesday evening. Inside, they found the bodies of Hain, 31, and her husband, Scott, 33, police Capt. Daniel Wright said. Police have avoided labeling the incident a murder-suicide. However, they do not believe that another person was involved, Wright said. A full investigation is under way, he added. Melanie Hain's attorney, Matthew B. Weisberg, said she told him a few months ago that she and her husband were separating. GO TO CNN for full story.

One can not argue the virtues of gun ownership hard enough when 'these people' seem to have no problem killing themselves off. Foolish pride? Stupidity? Ignorance? All of the above? It is basically fact that the majority of gun owners have absolutely no business owning a gun. They all wind up the same. Shot either by themselves, a loved one, or someone they know.

Jason T - go to NYTimes.com and you'll have the several thousand word factual definition of the loophole explained FOR you. The CT has a character limit and I clearly can't provide you the level of detailed information you so desperately want to deny. Again, go to NYTimes.com (P.S. when you talk in circles you serve no one, particularly yourself.) That's the old tactic favored by gun-kissing-lovers. NYTimes.com. Peace.

Ok, read the NYTimes article, and went to the study website. I'll try this one more time. According to gunshowundercover.org (the site with the details of the Bloomberg operation), 16 of 17 federally licensed sellers were willing to complete an illegal straw purchase. 19 of 30 private sellers were willing to illegally sell to someone who couldn't pass a background check. These statistics don't pertain to the loophole at all. The "loophole" is that private sellers don't legally need to file paperwork or do a background check. This sting uncovered illegal activity that goes unchecked. That speaks nothing of the loophole, just that the law isn't enforced. Also interesting that the loophole deals with sales between private sellers, yet the study suggests that licensed dealers are more of a problem than private sellers.