Resources

• "Privacy Laws Slow Efforts on Gun-Buyer Data" New York Times, NY. May 2, 2007.
  
  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/us/02guns.html
  
  

  Momentum is building in Congress to require states to report mental health records to the federal database used to conduct background checks on gun buyers. State privacy laws have thwarted these efforts in the past.

• "Student expelled over Va. Tech comment at Omaha" WDBJ7 Roanoke. May 2, 2007.
  http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=6454906&nav=S6aK
  
  An Arkansas school board has voted to expel a student who said he wished there would be a Virginia Tech-like attack in Omaha schools.

• "Ban on Sale Of Guns to Mentally Ill Is Expanded" Washington Post, DC. April 30, 2007.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043000556.html
  
  Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine signed an executive order Monday closing a loophole that allowed Virginia Tech shooter Seung Hui Cho to purchase firearms even though he had been declared dangerously mentally ill. Kaine instructed state agencies to block gun sales to people involuntarily committed to inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment.

• "Media Criticized for Airing Virginia Tech Gunman Video" PBS News Hour. April 25, 2007.
  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june07/vatechmedia_4-25.html
  
  

  News executives have to make quick and often difficult editorial decisions about airing graphic or disturbing video. NBC has been criticized by some for its decision to broadcast photos and video it received in a “manifesto” from the killer.

• "Virginia Tech Shooting Cited in Mistrial" ABC News.com. April 24, 2007.
  http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3071340
  
  

  A judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a Korean-American man accused of pulling a gun on two golfers, saying the Virginia Tech massacre could affect the man’s rights to a fair trial. Trial by an impartial jury is guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment.

Critical Thinking Questions

First Amendment–

• Freedom of Speech
  • Can a public school suspend or expel a student for making inflammatory comments about the shootings?
    
• Freedom of the Press
  • Does the media have the right to publicize manifestos of infamous individuals?
  • Does the media have the responsibility to publicize such statements?
  • Does the responsibility of the media to report the news outweigh negative consequences of such publicity?

Second Amendment –

• Should states prevent the mentally ill from purchasing firearms?
• Should the federal government prevent mentally ill individuals from purchasing firearms?
  

First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth Amendments –

• Right to Privacy
  • Does the government have the right to access the mental health records of individuals as part of a criminal investigation?
  • Do individuals have a right to privacy as it pertains to their mental health records? Should there be any limits to that right?

Tenth Amendment –

• To what extent does the federal government have the power to influence state gun laws?

Extensions

• Discuss the responsibility of the media in relation to the public's right to know when major news events are occurring. For more resources on this topic, see our lesson on Ethics and the Media from our curriculum, Media & American Democracy, as well as the Society for Professional Journalist's Code of Ethics.
• Ethics and the Media Activity
• Society for Professional Journalist's Code of Ethics