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The Misdirected Media Coverage of Virginia Massacre

Bhuwan Thapaliya - 5/8/2007

It has been a shaky few weeks for South Korea. Television news bulletins and newspapers were dominated by pictures of injured, dead or just fearful Virginia Tech students and teachers, after the shock massacre committed by a 23-year-old South Korean youth.

Cho Seung-hui had been residing in America for the last 15 years, making him more American than South Korean. The crime committed by this youth was brutal in modern history, but it was a barbaric act of homicide committed above all by a psychopath.

Yet there was too much focus on the killer without much attention to the other side of this barbaric coin: American gun laws and an American society totally enveloped by guns--there are an estimated 200 million guns in circulation in the U.S., a country with a population of about 300 million.

And another American reality is this: "The danger of being killed by a gun in the United States is very higher than in any other Western nation," according to a report by the BBC. "There are no recent statistics available but UN figures from 2000 showed for every 10,000 Americans, 0.3 were killed by firearms, compared with 0.01 in the U.K. where handgun ownership was banned in 1997."

The media coverage was grossly exaggerated after the Virginian Tech killing. Their reports were focused more on Cho, than on where it should be focused-- American gun laws and the American youth.

Why are shootings so common in the U.S. educational institutions?

Maybe because guns float in the American air, all you need to do is to pluck one out and pull the trigger. Or maybe because American youths are going astray, they are suffering from loneliness and depression, in their pursuit towards the great American dream. Or maybe because they want to run away from American life, the busy, hectic and individualistic American life.

The truth, however, is this: "The right to bear arms in America is seen as an important civil liberty and the debate concerns how far to impose restrictions on that right. Politically, most Democrats favor tighter gun laws whilst the majority of Republicans are opposed to any new legislation, saying the problem lies in the lax enforcement of existing laws," as reported by the BBC.

But the world media nevertheless managed to create an awkward alignment of views between two sorts of people who are otherwise at odds: those who oppose the American gun laws and the Virginia Tech killing altogether on the ground that it is wrong to kill innocent people, on the one hand, and those who favor American gun laws but yet condemned the killing on the other.

The media has been accusing a single person, but it has left relatively untouched the issue of American gun laws. For instance, for reasons of "personal freedom and safety," guns are easier to buy in America. According to sources one can buy an AK-47 online for $379.99. But why on Earth would an American civilian needs one for a legitimate purpose?

Nonetheless, the massacre at a university in Virginia has opened the American security loop holes, albeit not for the first time, and has sparked yet again a heated debate about gun control in the United States.

Most outsiders think America must change its gun laws because if it doesn't then it is certain to give birth to more and more Chos, as sources say that one in ten American students thinks about suicide. And furthermore, as reported by the Economist, some 14,000 routine killings committed in 2005 with guns, to which must be added 16,000 suicides by firearm and 650 fatal accidents (2004 figures).

Mentally disturbed people as Cho exists in every society, and, except in war zones, such people are more dangerous in American society than in any other society, because guns are so easily accessible in America. Cho killed his victims with two guns, two out of the estimated 240 million guns in America.

Had Cho lived in South Korea, or had automatic guns not been available to him so easily as in America, he would have not killed, or perhaps taken fewer lives, it could be argued. But the damage has been already done by this psychopath killer, and if prompt action is not taken, American will yet again wake up to such gruesome scenes.

Any right minded, American public is surely willing to change gun laws to prevent further atrocities. Not changing the gun laws, may be another matter, however. But this risk is going to have to be taken.

The task is hard though, but the determination to complete it is intact. The ultimate source of that determination, the opinion of the American public, remains resolute. The memory of Virginia Tech massacre is naturally strong, but is also kept fresh by the fear of other attacks. There is no cause there for impatience. And yet the case for urgency needs also to be taken seriously, for two related reasons.

The main one is the need for support for International Students who flood the American Universities to pursue to studies. They need safety net. The larger the college casualties and the slower the process of accumulating peace, the more domestic pressure will mount on American government.

If you had asked before the Virginia Tech massacre what the greatest threat to America was in the 21st century, the answer would have been the same: terrorist attacks. But now there seems a world of difference -- students with guns in their hands.

Nonetheless, everything is not lost. Shocked by the massacre, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has tightened the state's gun laws. Earlier today, Gov. Kaine issued an executive order banning people found to be dangerous and ordered to have involuntary mental health treatment from purchasing guns, according to media reports.

Finally in Virginia at least they seem to be marching in the right direction, but is it enough to wipe away the stains left by the naked dance of bullets in America. It is yet to be seen, but for now, it was wise of Gov. Kaine to introduce such a law. The scorecard of accumulated successes however is not going to be at all obvious for some time to come, as America's love of the gun continues even after the series of school shootouts.