‘There’s nothing to stop students packing heat’

IT is a college where guns are treasured as much as human life, according to a Co Monaghan professor working for the tragic Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

For 10 years Prof Gerard Toal, aged 44, built an internationally acclaimed career as a politics professor on the Blacksburg campus.

He continues to struggle with the intensely pro-gun culture but as yesterday’s death toll continued to rise his thoughts turned to his students.