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In her article, “Ignoring Virginia Tech,” Amanda Ripley expresses her feelings of contempt towards the actions taken to prevent another incident like the one on the campus of Virginia Tech that led to the death of 33 people. She believes tighter control of gun sales should be implemented to prevent the sale of guns to mentally unstable people in order to prevent shootings in the future. She is also disillusioned by the slowness of congress to pass laws to have mental records of those receiving care be given to the federal database in order to make the acquisition of weapons harder. She says that Virginia “should have” reported Seung-Hui Cho’s mental conditions to the government which would have made it harder for him to buy the two guns he used. About congress’s attempts to have legislation passed, Ripley says they are pointless because no money has been appropriated for it and “which in this case, could happen this summer or fall or… never,” which shows her opinion that nothing will ever be done to help the situation. Also, it has not been made into law that checking mental records be a requirement in regards to gun sales and Ripley says the situation is like “the federal government decided you only need a license to practice surgery if you do it professionally; if you are more of a surgical hobbyist, well, then, by all means, give it a try.” Ripley’s opinion of the aftermath of Virginia Tech has been that actions have only been taken in the “locale of the incident…in a way that applies to the specific shooting and not to the gun problem generally.”
It is easy to agree with Ripley’s opinion fully because the issue addressed is very important in today’s society. Guns have never been easier to acquire and it is necessary to have the sales of such weapons be more tightly regulated, especially when it comes to the mentally unstable. Background checks should be made mandatory before a gun is sold to someone and it is Congress’s job to have legislation passed...