Sorry, this is pretty long, but besides my diary and ranting to friends, I haven't had a real public outlet for this.
Everyone is correct! We all win the big juicy logical thinking prize!
1. It is not the gun's fault, it can not shoot itself. However, with a gun you are more able to kill several dozen people in a short period of time than you would be with a knife, rock or your own bare hands. Though, if you were working within the logic our current judicial system, the people who should be put in jail are the people who sold the guns. Much in the same way drug dealers are put in prison when they sell drugs to a person who then overdoses, or who gives drugs to a 3rd party, who then overdoses.
2. It is not the fault of the school or the police. The initial crime appeared to be a simple domestic dispute gone horribly awry. While many mass shootings have started with the shooter killing those close to them, most domestic shootings do not end up with the person going on a rampage. If the same thing happened in any neighborhood of 26,000 people, there is no way on earth the police would, should or could lock down the entire community. Nor should any public university campus be expeced or required to impliment costly precautions (sirens, guards, automatic lockdown systems) for something that rarely happens.
3. Its not the fault of the parents. I'm sure they raised their distant, cold, loner child in the best way they could. In most ethnic or cultural groups (whites included) mental illness is considered a failure or weakness to be hidden. The non-profit mental health system is pretty much nonexistant execept in the most extreme of cases. He was 23, out of the house, and living on his own. I can tell you for certian that my parents had no idea as to the extent of my own personal mental health hell at the same age, until they got a call from the hospital that I was in the emergency room after a failed suicide attempt. I'd felt that way for years and never told anyone. Eventually it was just too much to go on living that way. If you seriously want to die, you won't tell anyone for fear of being forced to live.
The person to blame for the shooting is....The Shooter. Each time he pulled the trigger, he was making a conscious choice to do it. Yes, even crazy people can make decisions, right or wrong. Unfortunately, since american culture seems to be based on public punishment, most people feel the need to see some living entity apoligise, and face some sort of punishment. Since the shooter is dead, someone else will have to submit.
Some other bullshit we've all probably heard:
"Everyone on campus should have the right to carry a gun". Um, no. Until you can have a large gathering of drunken college students NOT end up in a riot when it's time to go home, I think that's pretty much the worst idea I've ever heard. I live in Wisconsin where we have large groups of drunken college students turning up on the news due to drunken rioting at least 2-5 times a year, these are people who should not be trusted with guns.
"Why didn't they fight back? Where were the Men?" Seriously, when someone is pointing a gun at you, are you going to run at them? And what help will your dead corpse provide, exactly? Statements like this make me think that everyone should have a gun pulled on them at least once. Trust me, it's a life changing experience.