USA and Guns (Ohio State campus shoot out)

Today at 3.30am there was a shooting incident in our university. (Ohio State). Withing 3 hours after the incident took place students received 3 mail notifications about the incident. You can look here for the CNN's report about the same http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/09/ohio.state.shooting/index.html?hpt=T2

The first one:
At approximately 3:30 a.m. today Ohio State's emergency dispatch received a 911 call indicating that a shooting had occurred at the OSU Maintenance Building, 2000 Tuttle Park Place.
Upon arrival, officers confirmed a shooting involving three University employees, none of which were students. One employee is dead. The other two have been transported to the hospital. The investigation is continuing and no names have been released pending notification of family.
The site location has been secured and there are some traffic restrictions around the building. The suspect is in custody.
The university continues normal operations. Classes will be held and normal work schedules are in effect. 

The second one:
Update on Campus Shooting

The safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff is our highest priority. University officials remain diligent in maintaining a secure environment for all campus visitors.
Today’s shooting on campus involved an employee in the Facilities, Operations, and Development department in a campus maintenance building. Campus police responded to the 911 call immediately and secured the area. At no time were any students in danger, and no students were involved in the incident.
The suspect and the two victims were all Ohio State employees. Counselors are available for the affected staff. The investigation is continuing and no names have been released pending notification of family.

The third one :  (there were two other mails. One from Gordon Gee expressing his condolences to the families)
University police continue to investigate campus shooting

University Police continue to investigate this morning’s shooting and do not plan any further statements today. Public officials want to restate that the safety and well-being of students, faculty, and staff are their highest priorities, and ask for your continued support. Counselors are available to provide counseling and consultation to currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students and those related to the incident. Contact 292-5766 or visit: http://www.ccs.ohio-state.edu/

If we put the incident aside for a moment, the above mail had me in splits. Having counselors for the affected employees and their families is perfectly understandable. But why would they have counselors for undergrad and grad students who in no way were affected. It made no sense to me. I am no expert at US laws but here I guess I can sue the university that this particular shooting incident induced fear in me which in turn affected my performance in finals (have finals from 15th Mar) due to which my GPA plummeted and because of which I could not get a job in US. (I know its crazy. Don't come to any conclusion about me reading this).

Back to main topic, I do not understand the gun culture of USA. I like this country, well as a matter of fact I love this country. This country values human life. We can see that everywhere. They don't let buses overcrowd, buildings will have to adhere to strict regulations, police and para medics are very swift in their response. Everything is so good but this country lets every tom dick and harry carry a gun. Today OSU would not have lost two of its employees if only procuring a gun would not have been that easy for the shooter. Last month in a similar incident at U of Alabama, 3 faculty paid the price. There the suspect was denied tenure. (worse she was Harvard graduate). Here the shooter had poor performance evaluation.

There have been string of shooting incidents across US universities over the last two years. Virginia Tech, LSU where couple of Indian students died. Another incident in New York where one south east Asian started firing at people in immigration office, last week one at Pentagon, Fort Hood shootout (atleast here the shooter was in army, so nothing can be done there).

People talk of second amendment and about rights to carry a gun. But who has given them the right to take a life. During the 2008 presidential election, I saw ads by National Rifle Association of America that Obama would be banning the guns once he becomes the President. There was this site called GunBanObama where people can vote against it. I thought atleast there is one reason to vote Obama to presidency. Even after one year of his presidency he hasn't taken any steps or it doesn't look like there would be any bill soon in US congress. Well even with majority in Congress he could not pass the health care reform bill. Now that democrats are no longer in majority I doubt either of the bills getting passed.