Virginia Tech shooting

Cho was seen near the entrance to West Ambler Johnston Hall, a co-ed residence hall that houses 895 students,[1] at about 6:47 a.m. EDT.[3]^:25[4] Normally, the hall is accessible only to its residents via magnetic key cards before 10:00 a.m.; Cho's student mailbox was in the lobby of the building, so he had a pass card allowing access after 7:30 a.m., but it is unclear how he gained earlier entrance to the building.[9]^:77[19]^:13

At around 7:15 a.m., Cho entered the room that freshman Emily J. Hilscher shared with another student, and shot Hilscher, a 19-year-old from Woodville, Virginia, who was fatally wounded. After hearing the gunshots, a resident assistant, Ryan C. Clark, a 22-year-old senior from Martinez, Georgia, attempted to aid Hilscher. Cho shot and killed Clark. [20][21] Hilscher remained alive for three hours after being shot, but no one from the school, law enforcement, or hospital notified her family until after she had died.[22][23]

Cho left the scene and returned to his room in Harper Hall, a dormitory west of West Ambler Johnston Hall. While police and emergency medical services units were responding to the shootings in the dorm next door, Cho changed out of his bloodstained clothes, logged on to his computer to delete his e-mails, and then removed the hard drive. About an hour after the attack, Cho is believed to have been seen near the campus duck pond. Although authorities suspected Cho had thrown his hard drive and mobile phone into the water, a search by divers was unsuccessful.[24][25]

Almost two hours after the first killings, Cho appeared at a nearby post office and mailed a package of writings and video recordings in which Cho said "you made me do it", likened himself to Jesus Christ on the cross and ranted about "debauchery", "hedonism", "brats" and "snobs" to NBC News; these proved to be of little investigative value to authorities. The package was postmarked 9:01 a.m.[26]

Elementary French class students take cover in Holden Hall room 212.

About two hours after the initial shootings, Cho entered Norris Hall, which housed the Engineering Science and Mechanics program among others. In a backpack, he carried several chains, locks, a hammer, a knife, two handguns with nineteen 10- and 15-round magazines, and nearly 400 rounds of ammunition.[6]^:88 With the locks and chains, he chained the three main entrance doors shut and placed a note on one, saying that attempting to open the door would cause a bomb to explode. Shortly before the shooting began, a faculty member found the note and took it to the third floor to notify the school's administration. At about the same time, Cho had begun to shoot students and faculty on the second floor. The bomb threat was never called in.[6]^:89[27] The first call to 9-1-1 was received at 9:42 a.m.[28][29]

According to several students, Cho looked into several classrooms before the shooting began. Erin Sheehan, an eyewitness and survivor who had been in Room 207, told reporters that the shooter "peeked in twice" earlier in the lesson and that "it was strange that someone at this point in the semester would be lost, looking for a class".[30] At about 9:40 a.m., Cho began shooting.[6]^:90 His first attack after entering Norris occurred in an advanced hydrology engineering class taught by Professor G. V. Loganathan (from India) in Room 206. Cho first shot and killed the professor, then continued firing, killing nine of the thirteen students in the room and injuring two others in the classroom. He also shot at one male student, but missed him[6]^:90

Next, Cho went across the hall and into Room 207, where instructor Jamie Bishop was teaching Introductory German. Cho shot at a student, then Bishop, and the rest of the students, killing Bishop and four students; six other students were wounded.[6]^:90 Cho then moved on to Norris 211 and 204,[28] where he was initially prevented from entering due to barricades erected by instructors and students.

In Room 204, Professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor from Romania, forcibly prevented Cho from entering the room. Librescu was able to hold the door closed with his body until most of his students escaped through the windows; he died after being shot through the door. One graduate student, named Minal Panchal, was one of the 23 registered students who died in his classroom. Two others who were lying in a corner were injured, but survived. [31]

In Room 211 of Intermediate French, Instructor Jocelyne Couture-Nowak and student Henry Lee were killed as they attempted to barricade the door.[32] When Cho broke through the barricade and entered the room, a student named Matthew LaPorte, who was a trained Air Force ROTC Cadet, charged towards the gunman, but died after taking heavy fire in an attempt to save lives. (LaPorte was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for his actions in 2015, which was accepted by his family at his gravesite in Blacksburg.) [33] According to the Virginia Tech Review Panel's report, eleven of the sixteen students died in Room 211 and the six students who survived, all who suffered gunshot wounds, including Kristina Anderson and Colin Goddard, are both spokespeople and activists for less gun violence.[6]^:91 One survivor, Clay Violand, stated that he played dead and escaped without injury.[34]

Hearing the commotion from below, Professor Kevin Granata took twenty students from a classroom on the third floor into his office where the door could be locked. He then went downstairs to investigate along with another professor named Wally Grant until they both were shot by Cho on the stairwell. Professor Grant was wounded and survived, but Granata died of his injuries. None of the students locked in Granata's office were hurt or killed.[35]

Cho reloaded and re-entered several of the classrooms.[28] After Cho's first entry to Room 207, several students had barricaded the door and had begun tending to the wounded. When Cho returned minutes later, Katelyn Carney and spokesperson Derek O'Dell were injured while holding the door closed.[68][69][70] Cho also returned to Room 206, Loganathan's room. According to a student eyewitness the movements of student Waleed Shaalan, who was already wounded, distracted Cho from a nearby student after the shooter had returned to the room. Shaalan was shot a second time and died.[71] Also in Room 206, another student named Partahi Lumbantoruan may have shielded fellow student Guillermo Colman from more serious injury after being shot. (It was then stated that Colman pulled Lumbantouran's body over himself.) Colman's various accounts make it unclear whether this act was intentional or the involuntary result of Lumbantoruan being shot a second time.[72][73][74]

In Room 205, students barricaded the door with a large table after graduate assistant Haiyan Cheng (Chinese: 程海燕; pinyin: Chéng Hǎiyàn[75]), who was substituting for the professor, and a student saw Cho heading toward them. Cho shot through the door several times, but failed to force his way in. No one in the classroom was wounded or killed.[76][77][78]

Approximately nine and a half minutes after the second attack began, police started to enter the building. They broke down the chain locked doors and went up to the third floor, but heard from a girl named Emily Haas, who was wounded and survived in Room 211 (Professor Nowak's French class), that the gunman was in her classroom as she stayed on the line. As police started to descended the stairwell, Cho stood in the doorway of Room 211, shot himself in the temple with the Glock 19 and died instantly just as police reached the second floor. When police arrived at Room 211, they saw Cho lying on the ground right in the doorway, in which some students, who were either injured or playing dead, heard the officer's first words: "Gunman down!" During the investigation, State Police Superintendent William Flaherty told a state panel that police found 203 remaining rounds of ammunition in Norris Hall. "He was well prepared to continue on," Flaherty testified.[79]

During the two attacks, Cho killed five faculty members and twenty-seven students (two students in West Ambler Johnston and 30 at Norris Hall (five professors and 25 students) ) before he committed suicide.[80] The Virginia Tech Review Panel reported that Cho's gunshots wounded seventeen other people; six more were injured when they jumped from second-story windows to escape from Professor Librescu’s classroom.[6]^:92 Sydney J. Vail, the director of the trauma center at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, said that Cho's choice of 9 mm hollow-point ammunition increased the severity of the injuries.[81] 28 of the victims were shot in the head.[82]

Police arrived within three minutes after receiving the emergency call but took about five minutes to enter the barricaded building. When they could not break the chains, an officer shot out a deadbolt lock leading into a laboratory; they then moved to a nearby stairwell.[4] As police reached the second floor, they heard Cho fire his final shot;[4][80] Cho's body was discovered in Room 211, which was Jocelyne Couture-Nowak's classroom.[104]

In the aftermath, high winds related to the April 2007 nor'easter prevented emergency medical services from using helicopters for evacuation of the injured.[105] Victims injured in the shooting were treated at Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg, Carilion New River Valley Medical Center in Radford, Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Roanoke, Holston Valley Hospital in Kingsport, Tennessee, and Lewis-Gale Medical Center in Salem.[106]

The Hokies released 32 balloons before their 2007 football opener as part of a ceremony in the victims' memory.

The university first informed students via e-mail at 9:26 a.m. This was about two hours after the first shooting, which was thought at the time to be isolated and domestic in nature.[107] After the full extent of the shooting became evident, Virginia Tech canceled classes for the rest of the week and held an assembly and candlelight vigil the day after the shooting on April 17. Norris Hall was closed for the remainder of the semester.[108] The university offered counseling for students and faculty,[109] and the American Red Cross dispatched several dozen crisis counselors to Blacksburg to help students.[110] University officials also allowed students, if they chose, to abbreviate their semester coursework and still receive a grade.[111]

The day following the shooting, a memorial event was held at Cassell Coliseum. The event included a speech by then-President George W. Bush. The space reached capacity and overflow seating was accommodated at nearby Lane Stadium.

Within a day after the shootings, Virginia Tech, whose supporters call themselves "Hokies",[112] a nickname coined in a school cheer dating to 1896, formed the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund (HSMF) to help remember and honor the victims. The fund was used to cover expenses including, but not limited to: assistance to victims and their families, grief counseling, memorials, communications expenses, and comfort expenses.[113][114] Early in June 2007, the Virginia Tech Foundation announced that $3.2 million was moved from the HSMF into 32 separately-named endowment funds, each created in honor of a victim killed in the shooting. This transfer brought each fund to the level of full endowment, allowing them to operate in perpetuity. The naming and determination of how each fund would be directed was being developed with the victims' families. By early June 2007, donations to the HSMF had reached approximately $7 million.[115] In July 2007, Kenneth R. Feinberg, who served as Special Master of the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001, was named to administer the fund's distributions.[116] In October 2007, the families and surviving victims received payments from the fund ranging from $11,500 to $208,000 .[117]

Early in June 2007, the university announced that it would begin to reoccupy Norris Hall within a matter of weeks. The building is used for offices and laboratories for the Engineering Science and Mechanics and Civil and Environmental Engineering departments, its primary occupants before the shootings. Plans were to completely renovate the building and for it to no longer contain classrooms.[118] The southwest wing of Norris Hall, where the shootings took place, was closed in 2008 and completely renovated in 2008 and 2009. The building now houses the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, the Biomechanics Cluster Research Center, and the Global Technology Center, as well as other programs.[2]

Ambler Johnston Hall was also closed and renovated.[1] The east wing now houses the Honors Residential College,[119] which opened in fall 2011; in fall 2012, the west wing reopened as the Residential College at West Ambler Johnston.[120]

After the release of the Massengill Report, some parents of those killed called for Virginia's governor to relieve the university president, Charles Steger, and campus police chief, Wendell Flinchum, of their positions. However, Governor Tim Kaine refused to do so, saying that the school officials had "suffered enough".[121]

The Virginia Tech community mourns the victims at a candlelight vigil.

In the hours and days following the shooting, makeshift memorials to those killed or injured began appearing in several locations on the campus. Many people placed flowers and items of remembrance at the base of the Drillfield observation podium in front of Burruss Hall. Later, members of Hokies United, an alliance of student organizations on campus created to respond to tragedies[122] placed 32 pieces of Hokie Stone, each labeled with the name of a victim, in a semicircle in front of the Drillfield viewing stand.[123] What was originally termed an "intermediate memorial" was modeled after the makeshift memorial. Thirty-two upright blocks of Hokie Stone were engraved with the names of the victims and placed in a semicircle at the base of the reviewing stand. The original pieces of Hokie Stone placed by Hokies United were offered to the families of the victims. The engraved markers are embedded in a semicircle of crushed gravel with a brick walkway for viewing.[123] There is ground lighting for nighttime illumination[124] and two benches, one on either side of the memorial, in honor of the survivors.[125]

Permanent memorial on Virginia Tech's Drillfield

Tech students of South Korean descent initially feared they would be targeted for retribution.[126][127] While no official claims of harassment were made, anecdotal evidence suggests that some Korean students were affected.[128]

The shootings occurred as prospective students were deciding whether to accept offers of admission from colleges and universities. Despite this timing, Virginia Tech exceeded its recruiting goal of 5,000 students for the class of 2011.[129]

In the days following the shooting, the campus community received several thousand of pieces of artifacts and messages of condolence, arriving from over 80 countries and every state within the United States.[130] These included artwork, cards, poetry, original music. These items were later gathered and photographed by the University Library and are available online to share with the world: Condolence Archives of the University Libraries.

President George W. Bush and his wife Laura attended the convocation at Virginia Tech the day after the shootings.[131] The Internal Revenue Service and Virginia Department of Taxation granted six-month extensions to individuals affected by the shootings.[132] Virginia Governor Tim Kaine returned early from a trade mission to Tokyo, Japan,[107] and declared a state of emergency in Virginia, enabling him to immediately deploy state personnel, equipment, and other resources in the aftermath of the shootings.[133]

President George W. Bush comforts Virginia Tech Student Government Association President James Tyger after giving his speech at the school's convocation. Laura Bush looks on.

Governor Kaine later created an eight-member panel, including former United States Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, to review all aspects of the Virginia Tech shooting, from Cho's medical history to the school's delay in warning students of danger and locking down the campus after the bodies of Cho's first two victims were discovered.[134] In August 2007, the panel concluded, among more than twenty major findings, that the Virginia Tech Police Department "did not take sufficient action to deal with what might happen if the initial lead proved erroneous".[18]^:2 The panel made more than seventy preventive recommendations, directed to colleges, universities, mental health providers, law enforcement officials, emergency service providers, law makers and other public officials in Virginia and elsewhere. While the panel did find errors in judgment and procedure, the ultimate conclusion was that Cho himself was responsible for his own actions, and to imply that anyone else was accountable "would be wrong". The Review Panel validated public criticisms that Virginia Tech police erred in "prematurely concluding that their initial lead in the double homicide was a good one," and in delaying a campus-wide notification for almost two hours.[18]^:2 The report analyzed the feasibility of a campus lockdown and essentially agreed with police testimony that such an action was not feasible. The report concluded that the toll could have been reduced if the university had made an immediate decision to cancel classes and a stronger, clearer initial alert of the presence of a gunman.[9]^{:82, 84}

The incident caused Virginia Commonwealth elected officials to re-examine gaps between federal and state gun purchase laws. Within two weeks, Governor Kaine had issued an executive order designed to close those gaps (see Effects on gun politics below). Prompted by the incident, the federal government passed the first gun control law in more than a decade.[135] The bill, H.R. 2640, mandates improvements in state reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in order to halt gun purchases by criminals, those declared mentally ill, and other people prohibited from possessing firearms, and authorizes up to $1.3 billion in federal grants for such improvements.[136] Both the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the National Rifle Association supported the legislation.[137] The measure passed the United States House of Representatives on a voice vote on June 13, 2007. The Senate passed the measure on December 19, 2007. President Bush signed the measure on January 5, 2008.[136] On March 24, 2008, the U.S. Department of Education announced proposed changes in the regulations governing education records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Certain of the changes address issues raised by the Virginia Tech incident and are intended to clarify for schools the appropriate balance to strike between concerns of individual privacy and public safety.[138]

When the citizenship of the shooter became known, South Koreans expressed shock and a sense of public shame,[139] while the government of South Korea convened an emergency meeting to consider possible ramifications.[140] A candlelight vigil was held outside the Embassy of the United States in Seoul. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun expressed condolences, saying that he hoped that the U.S. would recover quickly from the incident.[141] Although Cho came to the U.S. as a third-grader and was a permanent resident of the U.S., many South Koreans felt guilt and mourned because they considered him a South Korean by "blood". One South Korean commentator opined that South Korean fears of xenophobic reprisals from Americans against them were from a South Korean-centric perspective not applicable to U.S. culture.[142] South Korea's ambassador to the U.S. and several Korean American religious leaders called on Korean Americans to participate in a 32-day fast, one day for each victim, for repentance.[143][144] The foreign minister, Song Minsoon, announced that safety measures had been established for South Korean citizens living in the U.S., in an apparent reference to fears of possible reprisal attacks.[145] A ministry official expressed hope that the shooting would not "stir up racial prejudice or confrontation".[126]

Some South Koreans criticized the fasting proposal, saying that it directed undue attention on Cho's ethnicity and not other reasons behind the shooting. News reports noted that South Koreans seemed relieved that American news coverage of Cho primarily focused the blame on his psychological problems rather than his race or ethnicity.[139] The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) pulled its "Sparkling Korea" television advertisements, saying it would be inappropriate to air the ads featuring images of South Korea's culture and natural beauty in between the news reports of the rampage.[146]

Penn State fans pay tribute to the fallen Hokies at the Nittany Lions spring football game.

Hundreds of other colleges and universities throughout North America responded to the incident with official condolences and by conducting their own vigils, memorial services, and by other gestures of support.[147] Virginia Tech's traditional sports rival, the University of Virginia, held a candlelight vigil the night of April 17, at which UVA president John T. Casteen spoke. He urged the crowd of students, which overflowed the campus's McIntire Amphitheatre, to continue to move forward to change the world.[148]

Some schools also offered or provided cash donations, housing for officers, and additional counseling support for Virginia Tech.[149][150][151] Both inside the U.S. and abroad, the incident caused many universities to re-examine their own campus safety and security procedures as well as their mental health support services.[152][153]

The International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) convened a Special Review Task Force, which issued its report on April 18, 2008, titled, "The IACLEA Blueprint for Safer Campuses". The report was "a synthesis of the reports written following the tragedy at Virginia Tech and related recommendations for campus safety by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators". It included IACLEA's Key Recommendations, a Summary of 10 Key Findings of Virginia Governor's Review Panel, a listing of Fatal Shootings on U.S. Campuses, and the IACLEA Position Statement on Concealed-Carry Initiatives. The Task Force made twenty specific recommendations, representing "the Association's priorities for the betterment of campus safety" and reinforcing "key goals and objectives in mitigating and responding to threats at institutions of higher learning."[154] The report states, "IACLEA does not support the carry and concealment of weapons on a college campus, with the exception of sworn police officers in the conduct of their professional duties". The subsequent Position Statement goes into greater detail. Additionally, the report includes an acknowledgement of the "professionalism and well coordinated response" of all the law enforcement agencies and first responders, and ends its conclusion with "Securing the safety of our campuses is an iterative process that requires an institutional and personal commitment from every member of our educational communities. Let these recommendations strengthen that resolve."[154]

EQUITAS, a Canada-based "Strategic Rule of law Think Tank" governed by international law, published a report pertaining to the Virginia Tech shooting which includes a review of measures for counter-terrorism and campus security adopted between 1993 and April 16, 2007.[155] The report criticizes Virginia Tech's institutional decision-making process and summarizes the lethal effects of failing to "implement and administer valid procedural and substantive safeguards aimed at securing the broad Va Tech and Blacksburg community against Level II type incidents involving acts of terrorism and mass casualties".[155] The report does not comment on gun control or mental health issues.

Some of Cho's family members expressed sympathy for the victims' families and described his history of mental and behavioral problems. Cho's maternal grandfather was quoted in the Daily Mirror referring to Cho as a person who deserved to die with the victims.[88] On Friday, April 20, Cho's family issued a statement of grief and apology, written by his sister, Sun-Kyung Cho, a 2004 graduate of Princeton University who was employed as a contractor for a State Department office. In it, she stated:

He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare. Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us. We pray for their families and loved ones who are experiencing so much excruciating grief. And we pray for those who were injured and for those whose lives are changed forever because of what they witnessed and experienced. Each of these people had so much love, talent and gifts to offer, and their lives were cut short by a horrible and senseless act.[156]

Many heads of state and international figures offered condolences and sympathy, including Pope Benedict XVI,[157] the Presidents of Chile, France, Mexico, Peru and South Korea, the President-elect of Mauritania, the Prime Ministers of Greece and Japan, and the King of Morocco. Statements of condolence were issued by officials and diplomats from Canada, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia, Suriname, Thailand, and Venezuela. A State Department spokesman said, "We haven't seen this kind of sympathy and support since Hurricane Katrina and 9/11."[158] South Korean UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killings.[159]

On May 3, 2007, Queen Elizabeth II addressed the Virginia legislature, extending her sympathy on behalf of the United Kingdom. She then met privately with some faculty and survivors, including three who were wounded. One of the survivors of the shooting, Katelyn Carney, who was shot in the hand, presented the Queen with a bracelet of thirty-two jewels in the Virginia Tech colors—maroon and orange. The Queen subsequently visited Jamestown, Virginia, to mark the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in the United States, which was the primary purpose of her trip.[160][161]

Sporting teams and leagues at both the college[162] and professional[163] levels, as well as sports figures from football,[164] baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer,[165] and NASCAR racing, paid their respects and joined fundraising efforts to honor the victims, most notably the Washington Nationals, who wore Virginia Tech hats in a game,[166] and D.C. United, who wore special Virginia Tech jerseys during a game;[167] NASCAR put Virginia Tech decals on all its cars for three weeks.[168] East Carolina University made a $100,000 donation, raised at the behest of its Athletics Director, Terry Holland.[169] East Carolina was the opponent for Virginia Tech's opening home football game at Lane Stadium on September 1, 2007, with more than 60,000 in attendance. Prior to the kickoff, thirty-two orange balloons were released in memory of the victims.[170][171]

It came to light that Seung-Hui Cho used eBay to purchase two 10-round magazines for one of the guns used in the shootings. On July 30, 2007, the online auctioneer prohibited the sale of firearms magazines, firearms parts, and ammunition on its site.[172][173]

In May 2010, the American band Exodus released an album titled, Exhibit B: The Human Condition, which included the track "Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer)". Band member Gary Holt stated, "The song was primarily inspired by the massacre at Virginia Tech, as well as Columbine and the many other instances of unhinged individuals who decided to take out their wrath on their classmates, going all the way back to Charles J. Whitman."[174]

Two students at Pennsylvania State University dressed as Virginia Tech shooting victims for Halloween in 2007, posting their photos on Facebook, which generated outrage at both Penn State and Virginia Tech.[175] Penn State sent a statement to Virginia Tech, stating, "We're appalled that these individuals would display this level of insensitivity and lack of common decency by dressing up in this manner. The fact that one of the individuals is actually from Virginia makes it even more difficult to understand."[176]

An amateur computer video game that re-creates the shooting, V-Tech Rampage, also sparked outrage.[177] The creator, Ryan Lambourn, a resident of Sydney, Australia, who grew up in the United States,[177] posted a message on his website stating that he would remove the game in exchange for payment, but later posted that the statement was a joke.[178] New York State Senator Andrew Lanza called for a boycott of the game, stating, "There are certain things in life you don't make light of and should not be turning into a game. It's not a game, it's a tremendous loss of life."[179] The Australian Minister of Communications, Senator Helen Coonan, said that she would launch an official investigation, stating, "The individual responsible for the game is using a terrible tragedy to draw attention to himself and his work. It is in very poor taste and the person concerned may want to consider getting some professional help."[179] Lambourn also created a video game based on the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which drew criticism and sparked outrage.[180]

Bench in honor of the survivors of the shooting. It is slightly south of the main memorial.

A Northern Virginia chapter of the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, founded in November 2008 by Aaron Adler and Ethan Blonder, took on the name Liviu Librescu AZA, in honor of the Holocaust survivor who used his body to barricade Cho from entering his room.[181]

On September 4, 2009, the Marching Virginians, one of Virginia Tech's marching bands, took a 140-mile (230 km) side trip on their way to the season opening football game against the University of Alabama at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The 350-member band, 20 cheerleaders, and members of the Corps of Cadets color guard performed at Lakeside High School, alma mater of Ryan Clark, along with the Lakeside Marching Band and visiting Evans High's band. The event was organized by the Central Savannah River Area Virginia Tech alumni chapter to honor Clark's memory and as a fundraiser for a scholarship in his name.[182]

Following the 2007 shootings, Virginia Tech began employing an alert system on their website and text messages to warn students of danger. The alert system was first activated in 2008 when an exploded cartridge from a nail gun produced sounds similar to gunfire near a campus dormitory. It was again activated on August 4, 2011, when children attending a summer class reported a man carrying a handgun; police were unable to find anyone matching the children's description.[183] Later in 2011, on December 8, the system was activated again after a police officer was shot and killed on campus. This turned out to be a random act by a part-time Radford University student. He had carjacked a Mercedes SUV earlier in the day in nearby Radford and had parked it in the general area of a Virginia Tech parking lot where the victim officer was conducting a routine traffic stop on a third party. The shooter turned the gun on himself a half-hour later.[184]

Beginning with the first anniversary of the attack and continuing since, the Queens' Guard of The College of William & Mary, another public university in Virginia, has memorialized the victims with an honor guard at the head of the College's Sunken Garden. The honor guard is modeled after the honor guard posted at the Tomb of the Unknowns by soldiers of the U.S. Army's Old Guard.[185][186][187]

Several organizations have hosted annual blood drives on or near the anniversary date of the shooting as a tribute to the victims. The Virginia Tech Alumni Association National Capital Region Chapter (the "DC Hokies") has held a yearly blood drive in remembrance of the victims of the shooting,[188][189] as well as sponsoring a local 3.2-mile (5.1 km) "3.2 for 32" run on or near the anniversary.[190] The Shenandoah Chapter of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association also hosts an annual blood drive.[191][192][193] Other blood drives are held by the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets[194] and other chapters of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association, under the name "Virginia Tech for life".[195][196][197][198]

Virginia Tech holds a yearly Day of Remembrance for the attack, with events such as a candle lighting ceremony, a wreath laying, a moment of silence at 9:43 A.M., and a Cadet Guard at the Memorial for 32 minutes.[199]

Law enforcement officials found a purchase receipt for one of the guns used in the assault among Cho's belongings.[206] The shooter waited one month after buying a Walther P22 pistol before he bought a second pistol, a Glock 19.[3]^:24 Cho used a 15-round magazine in the Glock and a 10-round magazine in the Walther. The serial numbers on the weapons were filed off, but the ATF National Laboratory was able to reveal them and performed a firearms trace.[207]

The sale of firearms by licensed dealers in Virginia is restricted to residents who successfully pass a background check;[208] legal permanent resident aliens may purchase firearms.[209] At the time of the shooting, Virginia law also limited purchases of handguns to one every 30 days.[208] That limit was repealed on April 3, 2013 until it was brought back into law on July 1, 2020.[210] Federal law[211] requires a criminal background check for all firearm purchases from licensed firearms dealers, and Virginia checks other databases in addition to the federally mandated NICS. A 1968 federal law passed in response to the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.[137] prohibits those "adjudicated as a mental defective" from buying guns. This exclusion applied to Cho after a Virginia court declared him to be a danger to himself in late 2005 and sent him for psychiatric treatment.[15][212]^:71 Because of gaps between federal and Virginia state laws, the state did not report Cho's legal status to the NICS.[15] Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine addressed this problem on April 30, 2007, by issuing an executive order intended to close those reporting gaps.[213] In August 2007, the Massengill Report called for a permanent change in the Code of Virginia to clarify and strengthen the state's background check requirements.[212]^:76 The federal government later passed a law to improve state reporting to the NICS nationwide.[136]

The shootings also renewed debate surrounding Virginia Tech's firearms ban. The university has a general ban on possession or storage of firearms on campus by employees, students, and volunteers, or any visitor or other third parties, even if they are concealed handgun permit holders.[214] In April 2005, a student permitted by the state to carry concealed handguns was discovered in possession of a concealed firearm while in class. While no criminal charges were filed, a university spokesman said the University had "the right to adhere to and enforce that policy as a common-sense protection of students, staff and faculty as well as guests and visitors".[215]

In January 2006, prior to the shootings, legislator Todd Gilbert had introduced a related bill into the Virginia House of Delegates. The bill, HB 1572, was intended to forbid public universities in Virginia from preventing students from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun on campus.[216] The university opposed the bill, which quickly died in subcommittee. Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker praised the defeat of the bill, stating, "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus."[217]

In August 2007, the Massengill Report recommended that the state's General Assembly adopt legislation "establishing the right of every institution of higher education to regulate the possession of firearms on campus if it so desires" and went on to recommend campus gun bans, "unless mandated by law." The report also recommended gun control measures unrelated to the circumstances of the shooting, such as requiring background checks for all private firearms sales, including those at gun shows.[212]^:76 Governor Kaine made it a priority to enact a private sale background check law in the 2008 Virginia General Assembly, but the bill was defeated in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.[218] Opponents of gun control viewed this larger move as an unwarranted expansion and as a possible prelude waypoint akin to full gun registration for all gun sales.[219]

The incident and its aftermath energized student activist efforts seeking to overturn bans that prevent gun holders (both "open carry" and "concealed carry permit" holders) from carrying their weapons on college campuses. Thirty-eight states throughout the U.S. ban weapons at schools; sixteen of those specifically ban guns on college campuses.[220] A new group, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, formed after the shooting; as of March 2008, it claimed to have 16,000 members at 500 campuses nationwide.[221][222] Several states considered legislation to allow gun permit holders to carry concealed firearms on university campuses.[223] They cited cases of actual successful neutralization of active campus shooters by armed students to advance their cause. Another attempt by Delegate Gilbert to pass a law to allow concealed weapons on college campuses in Virginia was defeated in March 2008. This law was for the sake of students and faculty members only since the Attorney General ruled that it did not apply to non-students and non-faculty on campus who could carry concealed without restriction on campus. This law would have largely affected students 21 years or older since younger people are not allowed to purchase handguns.[224]

Woman with sign honoring her slain nephew - March for our Lives Washington, DC, 2018

The response to how gun laws affected the shooting was divided. According to a White House statement, "The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed".[225] The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said that it was too easy for an individual to get powerful weapons and called for increased gun control measures.[226]

National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent, commenting on CNN, called for an end to gun-free zones and contrasted the Virginia Tech shooting with other incidents in which mass shootings have been ended by law-abiding gun owners.[227] Texas Governor Rick Perry proposed that licensed gun owners be allowed to carry their weapons anywhere in Texas.[228]

Some government officials in other countries joined in the criticism of U.S. gun laws and policies.[10] For example, then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard said that stringent legislation introduced after a 1996 mass shooting in Tasmania had prevented a problematic gun culture in Australia.[229]

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine condemned the gun politics debate following the shooting, saying, "To those who want to make this into some sort of crusade, I say take this elsewhere."[230] Advocates opposed to gun control argued that they were merely responding to the crusade by some to use this tragedy as a basis for an expansion of gun control for issues beyond the shootings as perceived to be presented by the Virginia Tech Review Panel. The Review Panel members were:[231]^:vii–viii

• Col. Gerald Massengill, Panel Chair, a retired Virginia State Police Superintendent
• Dr. Marcus L. Martin, Panel Vice Chair, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Assistant Dean of the School of Medicine, and Associate Vice President for Diversity and Equity at the University of Virginia
• Gordon Davies, former Director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and President of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education
• Dr. Roger L. Depue, an FBI veteran and the founder, past president, and CEO of The Academy Group, Inc., a forensic behavioral sciences services company
• Carroll Ann Ellis, MS, Director of the Fairfax County Police Department's Victim Services Division, a faculty member at the National Victim Academy, and a member of the American Society of Victimology
• Tom Ridge, former Governor of Pennsylvania, former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
• Dr. Aradhana A. "Bela" Sood, Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Medical Director of the Virginia Treatment Center for Children at VCU Medical Center
• Diane Strickland, former judge of the 23rd Judicial Circuit Court in Roanoke County and co-chair of the Boyd-Graves Conference on issues surrounding involuntary mental commitment