Virginia Tech Survivor Becomes Anti's New Poster Child

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alohachris

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From the Brady Campaign website:

"Surviving near-death experiences often yields new perspectives in life. My eyes were opened after I was shot and almost killed at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.

No matter how hard it is to discuss that day, it is worth it if it brings greater awareness to some of the issues surrounding school shootings in this country.

With my story I try to convey the reality of the situation I faced in my classroom, as well as the reality that our nation's gun laws are woefully inadequate.

Did you know, in most states, people can walk into gun shows and purchase firearms from Glocks to AK-47s from unlicensed sellers without a Brady criminal background check? This is legal and a currently glaring loophole within America's background check system.

I've learned that the Columbine shooters obtained their guns through this same loophole in the law.

So now I ask you to help me deliver a petition to Congress of 100,000 signatures by April 16, 2010, the third anniversary of the shooting, demanding that this gun show loophole be closed.

Other fellow Virginia Tech survivors and families are working with me. Million Mom March and Brady Chapters have joined me in this ambitious effort, as well as students and other organizations in the gun violence prevention movement.

We have to increase public awareness on issues like these if we hope to move toward a safer America. Congress needs to hear a new perspective."

Sincerely,

Collin Goddard
 
I've learned that the Columbine shooters obtained their guns through this same loophole in the law.
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So you have to refer to Columbine because no laws would have stopped the Virginia Tech shooter.

Mr. Goddard is a college student. Can't he come up with something more original than "AK 47"? How about "BAR" or "Ruger Mini 14"?
 
Why do people always refer to this as a loophole? Dealers are the exception to the rule, in that THEY and they alone need to perform background checks on buyers. Maybe we should get rid of the dealer loophole.
 
Did you know, in most states, you can pay less than $50 and get a license to propel a 4,000lb piece of metal in any direction you please by simply taking a quick test?

Streets, sidewalks, parking lots, fairs, markets; almost any flat surface will never be safe again!

The people need to know!
 
As memory serves, the guns used in Columbine were stolen from one of the shooters' Grandfather.

But since when did they give a *darn* about facts ?
 
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Thanks for posting this alohachris. As a native Virginian I would like to know how closing this so called "loop hole" would have saved anyone at Tech that day. Sun Wi Cho (hope its spelled right) bought his weapons from a licensed dealer and passed the required checks. This is just one more step toward disarming the law abiding citzens of this country. The only thing that would have kept Cho from racking up the numbers he did would have been for someone else there to have their own gun and stop the killer early on. When are these idiots going to realize that criminals not only don't obey laws but also look for easy targets? You know 100 - 150 years ago criminals were called outlaws for a reason. Maybe we should start using the term again.
 
Facts? FACTS? My god man, since when have facts held any importance whatsoever in public opinion?

You may as well bring up "common sense" while you're at it...
 
Did you know, in most states, you can pay less than $50 and get a license to propel a 4,000lb piece of metal in any direction you please by simply taking a quick test?

Streets, sidewalks, parking lots, fairs, markets; almost any flat surface will never be safe again!

The people need to know!
Click to expand...

I agree, those things are danger, and nothing else!
 
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Has anyone taken any of the VT victims/survivors/witnesses shooting?

Anyone offered to help these folks come to grips with the realities of self defense in the real world?

That would be seriously interesting.

 
I watched the video he talks about in the message. I really feel for the guy. He was shot twice, Cho left the room and then came back and shot him two more times. He states that he 'tried to play dead'. You can see the pain & fear on his face.

He recites the usual Anti party lines, then he said something that struck me:
"I just want to live in an America that's safe".

I thought to myself, "Man, this guy is college educated, but just doesn't get it. 'An America that's safe' - There is no such thing".
 
Based on what alohachris says, it's a reasonable speculation that he is still working through ptsd issues--and that ongoing therapy may help to resolve them. If they're resolved, then he may begin to understand the fallacy in seeking safety.

Jim H.
 
"I just want to live in an America that's safe".

I thought to myself, "Man, this guy is college educated, but just doesn't get it. 'An America that's safe' - There is no such thing".
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Spot on. A free country is not, and cannot be guaranteed safe.
 
I'm sure Germany circa 1933 to 1942 was pretty safe, as long as you toed the National Socialist line. Around 1943 the bombs started to fall in earnest and things weren't so safe anymore.
 
Again, why the focus on guns. My Lord, if they had sense ammonium nitrate fertilizer would scare them. Five bags from the lumber yard and seven five gallon cans of fuel and you've got the equivalent of the warhead on a tomahawk missile. Hate to bring it up!
 
It is sad that the individual got shot, but his fears will not be put to rest by stricter gun laws. I would like to quote Debra Medina of Texas "No amount of militrary or police presence can protect us from an individual intent on doing harm Not even the greatest military can protect us. Everywhere, at all times, individuals must be prepared to defend themselves and their family. Do not be afraid, but be bold and courageous knowing that you have done all you can to protect yourself and your family. Take up arms, learn to use them and use them well. We will all be safer for it". She made this statement after the tragedy at Fort Hood. She's running for governor and she's got my vote. Now I took liberties in this quote but here is the link if any one is interested in reading it.

http://www.medinafortexas.com/
 
There is no such thing as the "gun show loop hole". It's all a ploy to scare people into giving money to a "cause." Then a bunch of crooks can make off with the loot. It's about like when they where saying one in three college women are raped.
 
Safe?

. . . and America that's safe.
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A free country is not, and cannot be guaranteed safe.
Click to expand...
Wait . . . where have I hear that before? It sounds so familiar.

Maybe in a sig line somewhere . . .
"Look at it this way. If America frightens you, feel free to live somewhere else. There are plenty of other countries that don't suffer from excessive liberty. America is where the Liberty is. Liberty is not certified safe."
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Eric Harris' Weapons: Hi-Point model 995 carbine rifle, Sawed-off pump-action Savage-Springfield 67H shotgun

Dylan Klebold's Weapons: TEC-DC9 9-mm semi-automatic handgun, Double-barrel Savage 311-D sawed-off shotgun

A rifle and the two shotguns were bought by Klebold's girlfriend, Robyn Anderson, who had just turned 18, at the Tanner Gun Show in December, 1998. Harris and Klebold later bought a handgun from another friend, Mark Manes, for $500. Manes was jailed after the massacre for selling a handgun to a minor, as was Philip Duran, who had introduced the duo to Manes.

Over a year before the Columbine tragedy, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold pled guilty to felony theft, but their records were cleared after successfully completing a diversionary program. Klebold also had an alcohol problem. The guns from the gun show were bought in a straw purchase, a federal offense. (Robyn Anderson was questioned by police but it was determined she really did not know what Harris and Klebold intended to do with the guns and no charges were filed.) But a background check would not have done any good because Harris and Klebold didn't make the actual gun show purchase, Ms. Anderson did. Harris and Kleborn cut the shotguns down below legal length, making them unregistered NFA weapons, a federal offense. Harris also boasted of completing pipe bombs (another federal offense) on his website. Incidentally, an investigator with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department found the entries on Harris' website and had prepared a draft of an affidavit for a search warrant for Harris' home but he never filed it. The JCSD had received several complaints about Harris but never acted on them.

Let's see, Harris and Klebold had been planning the Columbine Massacre for months and had made extensive preparations, breaking several federal and state laws in the process. The so-called "gun show loophole" was not a factor because Harris and Klebold never bought any guns at a gun show.

So Mr. Goddard thinks the thing we need to address is the one thing that didn't make any difference?
 
Let's see, Harris and Klebold had been planning the Columbine Massacre for months and had made extensive preparations, breaking several federal and state laws in the process. The so-called "gun show loophole" was not a factor because Harris and Klebold never bought any guns at a gun show.

So Mr. Goddard thinks the thing we need to address is the one thing that didn't make any difference?
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It certainly would not have made a difference in his shooting either. Cho's were purchased from a gun store.
 
I'm only a hop-skip-and a jump away from VA Tech, located around 70 miles North of my house. Whenever that horrific event took place, it really hit home. I have many friends attending Tech, and I have made a few casual visits up there since the shooting. I did not feel unsafe at any point and was packing my Dan Wesson .357 during my visits.

Believe it or not, whenever a scare or whatever happens up at VA Tech or at other universities, I have a few female friends whom I graduated with that get in contact with me. I have offered to come up and sit with them until the event calms down or whatever, but at no point have they been scared enough for me to drive up there and sit with them. My male friends tend to not understand the full impact of events until after they happen. They have not once felt for the immediate safety as the females do. They all know I'm the "gun-guy" and *would* go out of my way to make another person feel safe. If me being armed sitting on their couch will comfort them in a time of panic, then I'm going to do it.

They understand enough that it's not guns that cause violence...they're just a tool. I could smack someone in the face with a 20 oz. claw-hammer and it will probably dispatch them with the same outcome as a 9mm bullet to the stomach. Thankfully, most of the people I know that attend VA Tech, if not all of them, grew up in my rather rural area where firearms are quite popular among citizens. We like our guns, they help feed families and offer us protection whenever the nearest police officer is 20 minutes away. Guns are, slightly, a way of life here. In Blacksburg, where the VA Tech campus is located, not so much. But after the violence that happened on that April day, maybe it should be.

My thinking, FWIW, if *ONE* person was carrying concealed that day, *ONE* shot could have saved *ONE* life. Even if one life is small compared to the numbers killed that day, it's still a difference. During this time of the year, one more family could be having another Thanksgiving and Christmas with their lost loved one. But no, the administrations mindset of every gun in possession on their campus will cause someone to bleed out might be the wrong choice.

I have since started taking all of my college classes online, finding faults in the buildings as in lack of windows, doors, and sound proofing that makes me paranoid. I think I have a right to be observant, speaking that college strips me of my 2A rights to bear arms within their facilities.

But hey, I'm just a simple-minded civilian that admires his rights to bear arms and to protect myself and others when needed. So keeping firearms out of colleges is safe, because no one so simple-minded will ever think about bringing one inside of a school and start shooting into crowds of scared students. Never...right?

My $.02 on the situation. :mad:
 
I am very sad that those students had to suffer the violent horror inflicted upon them by that lunatic. No one should have to experience that...well, maybe Somali pirates, but that's a different post.

I am willing to bet a gojillion dollars that had I, or many countless others in this fine country, been given the opportunity to teach, coach, and mentor Mr. Goddard in the use of firearms for self defense, he would have the opposite position on this matter.


My condolences to the gentleman anyway, despite his position.
 
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