Trust Al Jazeera

Trust Al Jazeera to have the photos and report the news of massacre at Virgina Tech earlier than most US news sources. Something bad, and they hear it first.... How do they do that? Anyway, some photos first:

A nice college kid. mugging for the camera. 9mm Glock, baleful glare. Yup just the sort of kid you let run around your campus.

This is the romantic revolutionary pose. Very '70s Sandinista. Disturbed. Really whacked. So this person shoots a female freshman in her dorm, then goes back to his own dorm room and films video for distribution to NBC and shoots some stills. He also wrote some really crazy manifesto-like stuff to set us all straight.

Now he is dead (and because he is/was adult) his medical records are sealed, although in the lawsuits to come we will find a some of the contents. Probably. But why was a character like this walking around a campus? It is not as if the university had not had ample warnings ... for weeks bomb threats had been phoned in. I'd have thought that as soon as anything went down, they'd have locked that place down tighter than a drum. But instead, Mr. Cho went back to his room to film his sayonaras. Someone had been murdered and the killer was running loose in what should already have been a high threat context. And students were "alerted" by e-mail? Are they joking? The plaintiff's lawyers should have a field day with this one.

And the guns ... a mentally deranged weirdo is able to walk in and buy a Glock 9mm with what is obviously a lot of ammo. 5 minutes and he is out of there. Seriously, we have got to get a grip on this. And the solution is simple. No handguns. They need to go. If you belong to a pistol club and keep current with target practice -- maybe -- you should be allowed to keep a handgun, and even then only at the club. Otherwise, only registered security professionals should be allowed. They should be trained, vetted, investigated, grilled and psych examined before getting to carry. And that is it. Don't abridge the right to bear arms ... we, the people, can carry rifles and shotguns ... but only if registered, and with a thorough background check.

And if we catch you with an illegal handgun -- you go straight to prison. Your type of incarceration would depend on your prior history. Anything criminal (as in felony) you go to do hard time. If you are an old timer with an old pistol in the attic, then 90 days at a low security pen, with community service. But the handguns have got to go. Anything violent and we look at 7-10 upstate for mere possession. If a violent prior and caught in the commission of a crime with a handgun ... let's start with 25 years of building roads. Goodness knows our roads need the help.

Would this have prevented Mr. Cho? Yes. He would NEVER have been able to buy a gun in the first place. And what is with a non-citizen ever being allowed to buy ANY firearm?

My prayers go out to the families.