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Virginia Tech report: Share mental health data »

Posted by: Alexia 2 years, 6 months ago

Archived 46 0 drops

Cowed by confusing privacy laws, authorities sometimes fail to raise red flags about potentially dangerous students, and peers keep quiet out of a false sense of duty, a federal report on the Virginia Tech shootings concluded Wednesday. On April 16, Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 fellow students and faculty members before killing himself on the Blacksburg, Virginia, campus in the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history.

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Alexia

Documentary filmmaker, interactive mediaist, with a background in theatre and writing. Avid non-fiction reader.

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Comments: 44

Avg rating: (+1/-5 -4)
evelyna
June 13, 2007, 10:33 p.m.
Orientals seldom go off the deep end. I think they did not expect this.
Avg rating: (+2/-0 2)
coreyspring
June 13, 2007, 10:51 p.m.
I agree with the report, but hindsight is always 20/20 - even if you do everything right, it's hard to stop a whacko who doesn't care about self-preservation
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
eddie107
June 14, 2007, 12:47 a.m.
But that order was not entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check.
So everyone who is sad or depressed and expresses thoughts of suicide, should now be considered a criminal, and reported as such.
How appropriate. We should not allow any "Freedoms" to be compromised in defense of thousands of people who have wanted to murder us all of their lives, but we will readily give up rights and freedoms in protection of our own people. We will also be happy to label as many people as necessary as dangerous criminals without them ever committing a crime.
How typically Liberally pathetic. And what a shame this nation has become. Radicals kill a human, and the Liberals scream "damn the Christians".
Avg rating: (+4/-3 1)
Theridgerunner
June 14, 2007, 5:24 a.m.
Great, a nutball acts like one and we lose more rights..now anyone who has ever had suicidal thoughts and discusses them with a health professional will lose their right to bear arms...wonderfull
Heres a better idea, lets have better trained campus cops, and extend the CCW to collage students and professors...if they had, this guy would not have made it past the front door.
RR
http://ridgerunnersurvival.tripod.com
Avg rating: (+7/-1 6)
HMMace
June 14, 2007, 6:02 a.m.
If this country is going to fall--I would prefer it be to the Chinese, rather than the Muslims-
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
tkyrchncs
June 14, 2007, 6:58 a.m.
You can only be ordered into treatment by a judge who determines you to be an imminent threat to yourself or others, and this was already required to be reported to the background check, but was not. Simple enforcement of the existing laws would have prevented Cho from obtaining firearms legally.
I remain dubious as to the effectiveness of this to have prevented tragedy in this man's case. Perhaps we lucked out that he was not forced into bomb production or biohazard release by being unable to buy a gun. The ease with which either of these activities could be carried out at almost any university is truly frightening.
For all you civil libertarians, nothing has been done yet at VT. There are much more pressing issues in this area, like illegal spying, illegal arrest, detention, custody transfer of prisoners, and torture being carried out by our elected nutjobs that can occupy your attention until something IS done in this case.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
MongoKahn
June 14, 2007, 7:16 a.m.
Even the National Rifle Association (NRA)is behind this one. This is the first time that I know of that this organization has ever supported anything that might impede someone the right to bear arms. I mean, they think owning a machine gun is A-Okay. What gets my goat, is that supposedly national gun checks were already in place to see if a future pistol packer had/has a mental health history before "they" can pick-up their new piece at the local gun mart. I bought a handgun in Florida in 1995 and my stats were run through a Federal computer before I could pick up the weapon a week later. And two years ago in Montana I bought a .22 pistol that was delayed by 3 days while my stats were run again through Washington. I don't get it, was that just a joke? I guess so. It seems like "they" are pushing for something that I've been led to believe already existed, until tragedy struck.
Avg rating: (+3/-4 -1)
evelyna
June 14, 2007, 8:33 a.m.
Political correctness caused hopeful players lives to be ruined. Political correctness causes the immigration problem,terrorists to live in the country, reverse discrimination.
I do not wish to take political correctness 101 or read a book so I can get my terms righ.
Mental illness may stirke anyone but "asians" do not appear to be in the headlines often. Like it or not profiliers go by sterotypes.
When was the last time an asian was a pediphile in the news?
Avg rating: (+4/-2 2)
HMMace
June 14, 2007, 10:44 a.m.
How about the shrinks educating the public about mental illness..???
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
eddie107
June 14, 2007, 6:57 p.m.
You go Boy!
Avg rating: (+4/-0 4)
hamy
June 14, 2007, 3:22 p.m.
You are all arguing semantics when the real question raised by this story is the idea that rights of the many will be infringed upon just because of a single incident.
Look at the size of our population.
Yes, this was a horrible crime. No one denies that. But to say that the police should be notified if you make an irrational statement infringes on everyone. And because of one man's actions.
Knee jerk reactions seldom produce good results.
Avg rating: (+1/-0 1)
crotalus
June 14, 2007, 3:57 p.m.
Some of you have hit on what I think is a key issue here (and with screening for terrorists). The quote below from the story states it well. His mental problems weren't made public because mental health workers either couldn't or were afraid (because they may get sued or some other form of retribution) to reveal private issues to the proper authorities. He was able to buy guns then went on a shooting spree. Some personal freedoms have to be given up for the safety of society as a whole. If we were all good well-meaning people it wouldn't be an issue. But that's not the case...some people want to kill us. And as someone's pointed out he would've probably made a bomb or something anyway. But, maybe it would've been more difficult.
"....the report unearthed the deep complexities of the issues facing college campuses today. We believe that this will further inform the national and our state discussion on the nexus between societal safety and personal freedoms."
Avg rating: (+0/-4 -4)
WCFIELDS
June 14, 2007, 4:20 p.m.
"...educating educators, [the] mental health community and law enforcement that they can, in fact, share information when a person's safety or a community's safety is in fact potentially endangered..."
OH, B.S. I worked in the Mental Health system for years before Ronald Reagan did his best to destroy it. We all knew that we were legally bound to notify potential victims of dangerous crimes on their person. The problem is that there isn't enough of a "Mental Health System" left following EIGHT years of Reagan, EIGHT years of Bush, EIGHT years of Clinton and now the present failed attempt at running the White House.
Avg rating: (+5/-3 2)
Codi6934
June 14, 2007, 9:26 p.m.
Can anyone explain to me how this does not violate the HIPPA laws?