We cannot control actions of everyone in this country

When news spread of the massacre that claimed 33 lives at Virginia Tech, the first reaction by many was overreaction.

Lock the doors at every university, run students through metal detectors, post campus security at every building to check bags. Protect our students from the next mass killer.

Yet even as the nation mourns those slaughtered at the whim of a young man who was obviously insane, we must be cautious about turning our academic institutions into security mazes.

Indeed, a free society is inherently dangerous because we can’t control the movement and thoughts of every person. Based on what we’ve found out about 23-year-old Cho Seun-Hui in the aftermath of the massacre, he showed all sorts of warning signs that he was unstable, yet he had never gone over the edge, until Monday.

In hindsight, especially considering the deluded videos he sent to NBC between the first and second deadly bursts on campus, he probably belonged in a mental institution. But, as Americans, living in the freest country in the world, we cannot lock people away for exhibiting bizarre behavior.

Likewise, making changes that would threaten the ability of people to move on and off college campuses could transform them into islands of tyranny where our collegians would be placed into a prison-type atmosphere that could stifle the learning process.

Safety should always be high priority on our campuses, and that includes protecting students and visitors from sexual assaults, robberies and other attacks. But if universities across the nation are to reflect the free thought and movement our forefathers envisioned in the Constitution we cannot confine or control the actions and thoughts at work there.

This is a time for mourning a senseless act, not creating a system of academic gulags across our country.