Madam, - NBC News should be ashamed of itself after releasing a video in which the sadistic Cho Seung-Hui attempted to justify his mass murder last Monday.
Giving such a deranged and violent creature a platform is only glorifying what he has done. Other disturbed teenagers may see this video and think that perhaps this is their way of getting five minutes of fame.
These events are a tragedy, which should be mourned with respect for the families of the dead and injured, not a novelty item for news corporations to compete with one another. To use this catastrophe for profit is disgusting.
Has the world lost its sense of sympathy, and replaced it with a mindset driven by money? I fear it has. - Yours etc,
CONOR DOWLING, Blackrock College, Co Dublin.
Madam, - A large round of applause for William Montgomery (Opinion, April 19th), who highlighted what is becoming an issue for us Irish citizens as much as it is for our American peers. It is our responsibility to protect ourselves, and this should be becoming more and more apparent as gun crime in Ireland grows in frequency each day.
When will Irish citizens realise that wanting to own a gun is not synonymous with wanting to inflict violence? In our country, it is becoming clear who has the power, and who has the guns: the criminals. In a country where not even the gardaí are sufficiently armed, it is blatantly obvious that it is easy to get a gun, if you are a criminal. Furthermore, it is easy to get away with using it.
For the rest of us, we'll have to sit at home waiting for them to come to our doors brandishing their weapons while we cower in the corner. For those who see this as a fanatic's point of view, murder is always going to be classed as murder. But making things illegal - be they drugs or guns - serves only to force them underground so that the only people without them are the good guys. - Yours, etc,
ROSEMARY MAC CABE, Dun na Coiribe, Headford Road, Co Galway.
Madam, - I am dismayed that such an august journal as The Irish Times could report the Virginia college shooting as "the worst mass killing in US history". On December 29th, 1890, more than 300 men, women and children of the Lakota Sioux were massacred by the US Cavalry at Wounded Knee. To airbrush this out of history is a gross insult to those who died on that day. - Yours, etc,
SIOBHÁN MURPHY, Captain's Road, Kimmage, Dublin 12.