Verginia Shooting Spree Underlines Gun Control Necessity

While reading about the shooting spree in Virginia Tech, in which more than 20 innocent and bright people died shocked me to the roots. The real shock comes from the fact that this incident is not an isolated event. Earlier, there were similar incidents across USA and which happened on some campuses. Being from India, where there are is a strict gun control regime, the US liberty for owning the guns intrigues me. As I flipped through Wikipedia, I came to know that the right to own arms in US stems from the American Civil War. The forces which fought with British troops owned their arms. Thus, today's right is based on the assumption that owning arms is the last line of defence against the tyranny of the government. The government is nothing but some persons, in whom there can't be ultimate trust by the citizens. But from today's realities, doesn't this seem ridiculous? In a democracy, people elect their own government. Citizens invest in the government, the authority to regulate their lives. In this situation, is it assumed that the people will fight with their revolvers and shotguns with the government, which in case of US is sitting on piles of nuclear weapons? On ground what the gun liberty regime means is senseless and tragic deaths of innocents frequently (and hunting of deers and bears?). Or am I missing something here?
Another two issues here are - Why such incidents are happening on university campuses? Does this mean a lack of support system in US for the youngsters? Again, here the shooter was a Korean student. The immigrant students again have separate issues of their own and the Universities will have to strive harder to ensure a rich and beautiful experience to the immigrant students.

Update: MSN India has added a post today [23rd April] about Gun Control Debate sparked off by Virginia Tech incident -
Virginia shooting revives debate on gun control