Lots Of Blame To Go Around

Monday's tragic shooting at VA Tech was shocking and horrifying. Many components of the system broke down, and they deserve to be scrutinized.

But a quick check on any New York Times message board will reveal who our top 10% liberal citizens wish to blame: guns and more specifically the National Rifle Association. They claim that the NRA has "blood on its hands." I am a proud member of the NRA and resent these comments. There is no blood on my hands nor guilt on my conscience. Both of these items belong solely on the nutjob who killed all these people.

However, there were times at which the system failed to adequately address this issue. Besides the 2-3 hour police delay in alerting the students, a judge had ruled that Cho was at the very least a danger to himself and sentenced him to some type of residential mental treatment which most likely included some kind of medication.

Whatever happened to the proverbial rubber rooms? People said that was not civilized, but is letting these types of people go to an outpatient psychiatrist and pop some Prozacs a viable option? Maybe we need to lock some people up when they are mentally ill.

Everyone saw it: fellow students, teachers, the state police, but nobody did anything. All it would have taken is for someone in authority to say that this person is crazy and may do crazy things. This warning never came out.

Some issues have been floating around on talk radio today. I don't necessarily support all these opinions but I think they are worth considering:

1. Does the fact that he was Korean have anything to do with this? He might not have learned English until he 10 years old and had trouble socializing with others. In their culture mental illness might be stigmatized as it is in many parts of the world. They might have been reluctant to seek treatment if these problems had appeared in high school (former classmates indicate that they had) out of fear of losing face. Lastly, are his rants against "rich kids" part of a North Korean mindset?

2. Should his roommates/classmates have brought him to the attention of some type of authority before this happened? Can we lock someone up for writing crazy plays? Or should we at least evaluate them?

3. Why did the judge rule him a danger to himself but not to others? A month before the incident he had been accused of stalking.

There's lots of blame to go around. I think we need to re-evaluate the way schools and the courts handle mental illness and what people in the community can do to bring these bad eggs to the attention of authorities.

Just remember: Gun's didn't kill people, Cho Seung-Hui did.