Yesterday the biggest killing spree ever that has ever taken place on an American school or University happened. And while everyone is sorry, no one is sorry enough to look at the giant elephant in the room, certainly not George Bush, but not the good Governor Tim Kaine either. Senator Jim Webb was silent about this elephant yesterday as well. Senator Warner? Not a word. Mark Warner? Forget about it. Only the BBC’s Justin Webb nailed it.

The elephant in the room is easy gun access. Virginia has the distinction of having some of the most lax gun laws in the South, where gun laws are all lax. In Virginia, guns are easy to obtain and readily available anywhere in the state without much of a background check required. Don’t believe me? Take this quiz regarding Virginia gun laws: http://crime.about.com/library/blgunquiz_v...

When you buy a home in Virginia a lawyer is required to look over the legal paperwork with a fine tooth comb. In fact, Virginia has one of the toughest real estate titling processes in the United States, but obtaining a gun, a device for killing, requires hardly any scrutiny. Any crazy can do it. And this is unlikely to change, for the NRA (as Justin Webb so rightly pointed out), resides in Virginia and the NRA’s propaganda resides in the minds of Virginia’s residents.

I have no hope that any tightening of gun laws will come from this tragedy. But I can see the elephant in the room, and I will be surprised to see any politician owning up to this fact. If they did, they would earn new respect from me. As for my fellow Virginians, I suggest you write a letter to the governor and state legislature about gun control, and remove your children from Virginia schools until sanity reigns regarding Virginia’s gun laws.