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A Whakatane farmer, who lived for 15 years in Virginia - including one year on the Virginia Tech campus - before moving to New Zealand, says the town of Blacksburg is "saturated with guns".
John Washburn, whose daughter graduated from Virginia Tech, said guns were "ridiculously easy" to
obtain, didn't need to be locked up and didn't require a licence.
Even by US standards, gun culture in Blacksburg was an obsession, he told the Herald from his home on a farm in Whakatane.
"That was graphically illustrated by the city parade in 1997 when we were there, which included a float full of passengers brandishing assault rifles," Mr Washburn said.
The 59-year-old American worked as a child psychologist and lived for a year on the university campus. He said the town was a mix of "rednecks and more sophisticated university types".
"There was a mentality there that you need a gun to defend yourself and it's manly to own one. It is a beautiful university but a terrible tragedy."
Mr Washburn, who moved here in 1997, said he had never owned a gun in the US, but had applied for one here to control rabbits on his farm.
"I've been interviewed, my proposed gun cabinet inspected, my wife has been interviewed and four months on I still don't have a licence. That is what I love about this country, and New Zealanders should not take that for granted."
Professor Rien Visser, who works at Virginia Tech University and is on a three-month Erskine Fellow visit to Canterbury University, said the gun control debate in the US was divided between those who wanted stricter control and a vocal number who believed everyone should carry a weapon to defend themselves against the kind of attack that took place at the US university.
"Virginia is still a southern state and has a southern state mentality. There are many Americans who believe that if they were more liberal and there were more guns then these incidents wouldn't get out of control.
"A lot of people believe that the terrorist hijackings of 9/11 [September 11] could have been prevented if passengers were carrying firearms. That's their logic."
Virginia Tech is located in the small town of Blacksburg, Virginia, with a resident population of about 20,000, plus another 26,000 students during term time.
Professor Visser said it was the kind of place where people left their doors unlocked and their keys in the car.
He and his wife, Anne, planned to return soon with their 9-month-old son, Noa, when he would resume his teaching position as associate professor of forestry.
* Unitec in Auckland and Victoria University in Wellington have exchange programmes in place and though they do not have students currently in Virginia, two Virginia students are on exchange at Unitec and three are at Victoria.
Auckland University of Technology also has an arrangement, but no students from either institution are currently on exchange.
Military brass
Virginia Tech is one of the better-known universities in the United States with an excellent reputation - particularly for producing engineering graduates.
It ranks ninth in the US in this subject in university league tables (it is ranked 34th overall in the country) and has 28,470 students - including 21,997 undergraduates and 6473 postgraduate students.
The campus sprawls across 2600 acres of land in the town of Blacksburg in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia (part of the Appalachian mountains).
Founded in 1872, it has a distinguished record for producing US military top brass and is one of only two civilian universities with a corps of cadets who undergo military training on campus. Up until 1966, it was a requirement for all male students to have undergone military training and the Tech also pioneered the training of women for the Army.
Yesterday's shooting was the second such incident involving the university in 12 months. On August 26, a convict shot a deputy sheriff close by.
- additional reporting INDEPENDENT / AGENCIES
