The shootings at Virginia Tech are appalling and make one wonder: Why is that kind of tragedy not uncommon in the U.S.?
The media tend to focus on the availability of military-style weapons. However, as far as I am concerned, a mentally disturbed teenager bent on committing murder will find a way to do it, whether a legal gun is easily available or not.
I ask myself whether anything like that could happen here in Ukraine. I would not insist that it could not. Psychological disorders and a propensity for violence are not nation- or state-specific.
But then, why are such occurrences not reported in Ukraine? The crime level in our country is rather high, despite the fact that it is much more difficult to purchase a gun here than in the U.S. However, you don’t find cases in Ukraine of students threatening their peers or teachers at school.
Perhaps a contributing reason for the tragedy is that American teenagers are less intolerant toward people of another race or social status than teenagers elsewhere in the world.
The murderer at Virginia Tech was an Asian American who reportedly felt he had been picked on – and this supposedly contributed to his psychological state. To students prone to violence, humiliation may make violence seems to be the only possible solution.
Another factor could be the amount of violent behavior young people in America see on their TV screens and computers. I’ve heard that the average American spends more time watching TV or playing computer games than residents of any other country.
It is hard to single out the factors that influence the behavior of U.S. students, be they computers, television, easy access to guns or something else.
A more challenging question is, what steps can the U.S. government take to stop gun-related violence? And is it any wonder American teenagers are using guns to solve their problems if their government considers war to be an acceptable strategy to solve its foreign policy problems?
Maria Kirsanova, 19, is a journalism student at Mariupol State University of Humanities in Ukraine. She recently attended a workshop taught by VCU Associate Professor Jeff South, who is on a research leave in Ukraine.