Can School Shootings Be Stopped?

It seems that the Post—along with its gazillion other blogs—now loves event blogging (for the new Nats stadium, for the Pope’s upcoming visit). Now we get to read its Virginia Tech blog marking the one year anniversary of the school shootings. The blog is being written—or at least this entry—by Tech student Austin W.G. Morton. So what’s Morton’s relevance? He was Seung-Hui Cho’s R.A.

After reading his serious, reflective post, I hope his entry doesn’t get too lost in the Post’s massive Web site. He begins his entry with a set of startling facts:

Forty. That’s the death tally for 10 months’ worth of shootings at universities. Arguably, three more - the number of student shooters - could be added to the total; although, whether they are included depends on whom you ask.

Since the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech, three fatal shootings occurred on various college campuses around the United States: Delaware State University, Louisiana Technical College and Northern Illinois University. The cost in human lives is equivalent to that of one person per week.

And then Morton goes on to wonder if school shootings are preventable—he doesn’t think so. (Though he does endorse one prevention measure—serious at-risk assessment by campus medical staffers). It’s a conclusion, we made last year as well with this story.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Virginia Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.