Welcome to the new and improved OnMilwaukee.com Sunday Sound-off, now featuring a question, two different perspectives -- then opening up the topic to our readers' responses. Please use the Talkback feature below to contribute your thoughts on the issue.
In this week's Sound-off, OnMilwaukee.com travels beyond Brew City to pose the question whether or not the Virginia Tech tragedy could have been prevented, or at least minimized.
The shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, had a history of mental health issues, yet he was able to buy a gun. His professors knew -- through his creative writing assignments -- that he was deeply disturbed. Plus, the school itself waited two hours to notify students that the first round of shootings had occurred.
Does any of this matter in the scheme of things, or was Cho on a mission that, someway somehow, would have happened? Could anything have been done to stop this tragedy? Is anyone responsible?
Virginia Tech could have done more. The university should have sent out the email earlier, warning students of the dorm room shooting. That way, students could have decided for themselves if they wanted to attend classes that day or not. Because some students may have decided not to attend class, fewer students may have died in the second round of shootings.
The tragedy was unavoidable. The shooter was planning this for a long time, which is proved by the fact he purchased guns more than a month before the massacre. His video recordings, letters and photos sent to NBC between the two bloodbaths further prove that this guy schemed this for a long time, and was disturbed enough to carry out the plan in a variety of scenarios even if his original plan was foiled.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
