Editorial Bear

Even as I learned of the horrible news, I knew what people would be saying: "Only in America."

It upset me quite a bit. I was astounded that an event like this would not be followed up by shock or sympathy - but instead a smug tut from people living in a more 'civilised' country.

I wasn't proven wrong. While the victims are still being counted, the British news reports have already begun questioning what failings in American society led to this terrible event - just the latest in what seems like a long list of school and college shootings.

Was it a breakdown in society? Too much violent television and too many video games? Was this just more evidence that the 2nd Amendment's right to bear arms was outdated and dangerous?

But all these questions originated from an assumption - that tragedies like this only occur in the United States. But is that true?

Of course it isn't.

In fact, in recent British history, two horrific events mirrored yesterday's shootings - and marked the end of private gun ownership in the UK.

In 1987, in Hungerford, Micheal Robert Ryan calmly strode the streets of the peaceful country town with an AK47 and Beretta handgun, executing 16 people, including his mother.

In 1996, Scout leader Thomas Hamilton walked into a school in Dunblane, Scotland, with two 9mm Browning semi-automatics and two Smith and Wesson revolvers. He fatally shot 16 students and a teacher, before turning the gun on himself.

Two men who 'snapped' just like gunman at Virginia tech.

Over the border, in Montreal, two school massacres occurred within just three years of each other, at the Ecole Polytechnique and Concordia University. 18 people were killed in total, not including the gunmen (one of whom is eligible for parole in 2014.) A further shooting in 2006 at Dawson College, Montreal, led to many injuries and two fatalities.

There are similar stories from Japan, Germany, Russia and China. While the majority of school shootings occur in the United States, they are by no means an American problem. They occur all over the world. When guns aren't available, knives are used, as seen in massacres in China and Horrett Campbell's brutal nursery school attack in Wolverhampton.

Madness recognizes no borders. The problem is not with one particular country or society, but with people themselves. To all those people who think last night's tragedy could "only happen in America" - I think it's rather telling that the gunman is supposedly a South Korean exchange student.

So stop trying to analyse the problem and pin the blame on American society. Let's all give our thoughts and wishes to the victims of this tragedy instead.