Gunman identified

Cho Seung-Hui, a 23 year old senior at Virginia Tech, has been identified as the gunman behind the thirty-three person massacre on Monday, April 16th 2007. Seung-Hui immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 1992, and resided with his family in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. The family's neighbors described the gunman as very quiet, and unresponsive when greeted. Such was the case at his university as he had been labeled a loner by fellow peers, and even faculty.

“He was a loner, and we’re having difficulty finding information about him,” said Larry Hincker, the university’s associate vice president for community relations. [msnbc.com article]

Concern had also been described as being troubled by a director of the creative writing department. Cho had also been referred to counselling services, the results of which are unknown.

After taking some time to think about this, I believe there are two possible consequences as an outcome of this event. Firstly, the issue of gun control may go under greater scrutiny. Presidential hopefuls will need to analyze their view points more carefully at this point, because although gun violence occurs everyday, it rarely occurs in such mass proportions to raise national concern. Just as I am writing this, I have already found an article depicting world outcry and condemnation toward the United States "lax gun controls".

As one editorial expressed, “[w]hy, we ask, do Americans continue to tolerate gun laws and a culture that seems to condemn thousands of innocents to death every year, when presumably, tougher restrictions, such as those in force in European countries, could at least reduce the number?”

How much an effect the world condemnation has on our gun control policy, we shall find out.

Secondly, I feel (and cross my fingers that it does not occur) that discrimination toward those of asian descent, especially those who are immigrants to this country, may rise. We've seen it happen as part of the aftermath of 9/11. Those were of similar race or religion to those terrorists were themselves depicted as such. Many innocent people were accussed and discriminated against because of the mass and disturbing actions of few who only look similar. I sincerely hope that the same does not occur as a result of this event. It doesn't look to good based on the fact that the handful of articles I have read about the gunman depicted him as a prototype of a sterotypical Asian (very Asian name, Asian look, quiet, and to himself).