KEY POINTS:
A look at what global media are saying after a gunman shot at least 33 people at the Virginia Tech campus, in the United States.
Security Experts: University shootings like Virginia Tech massacre aren't preventable
Such attacks can never be completely prevented, and college campuses are especially
vulnerable, says Catherine Donaldson-Evans on Fox News. People intent on committing a crime will do so and universities have safety precautions and policies in place to minimise the effect of incidents like these.
>> Fox News
Questions swiftly raised on effectiveness of shootings response
Associated Press writer Hank Kurz Jr asks: Why the two hour delay before an alarm was e-mailed out? Why didn't they lock down the entire campus? Were their crisis planning and emergency communications up to the task? And are the university's security measures stringent enough - or will they be increased?
>> AP story on the Virginian Pilot
Will 'Virginia Tech' soon be a tragic buzz word?
Violence, and the destruction it wreaks, respects no class. Michael Paul Williams on TriCities.com compares the Virginia massacre with Columbine, Kent State and other shootings, and finds it disturbing that this violence is occurring at our institutes of higher learning - where we send our "best and brightest to pursue their promise".
>> TriCities.com
Virginia Tech's lesson: No place is safe
Bill Sammon of The Examiner has two children at Virginia Tech. After these events, he says, the class of 2007 will be remembered simply for the tragedy - the largest mass killing on a campus. Even at a seemingly placid site, nothing is safe nowadays.
>> The Examiner
Will this terrible day in Virginia be enough to dent America's love affair with guns?
Non-Americans may be amazed, but a state law in the 1990s limiting handgun purchases to one per person per month was seen as a step towards curbing Virginia's reputation as a source of easily acquired weapons. Here, the Independent's Rupert Cornwell discusses the unlikelihood of changing the American attitude to gun ownership.
>> The Independent
Leading article: Multiple shootings and permissive gun laws
Shootings at schools, colleges and workplaces take place in the United States with what seems to be appalling regularity. Now only the multiple shootings attract national headlines, writes the Independent. Social pressure and tolerance for firearms create a dangerous combination; the "right to carry" however remains sacred in many parts of the United States
>> The Independent
Virginia Tech looks for identity, finds death, tragedy
This tragedy comes as a huge blow to Virginia Tech just as it has been steadily increasing its intellectual and athletics standing, writes the Examiner. It has always struggled to gain a national profile, overshadowed by older sibling the University of Virginia.
>> The Examiner
The Legacy of Columbine? - Comment on Virginia Tech shooting
An open blog on Reuters.
>> Reuters