 An unidentified man grieves at a memorial of 32 granite blocks representing each of the people killed by Cho Seung-Hui at Virginia Tech in April, 2008 in Blacksburg, Virginia. The man said he knew two of the students and one of the teachers killed in the massacre. Goddard: Because we haven't taken the steps to change laws since the last shooting, a 'Virginia Tech' WILL happen againONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s OFF-SET questions is Colin Goddard, a former international studies major who was shot four times by Seung-Hui Cho in a Virginia Tech classroom, four years ago on April 16, 2007. Cho killed 32 people, injured at least 17 others, and then took his own life.  Goddard, one of only seven survivors from 211 Norris Hall, is featured in a new HBO documentary, “Gun Fight,” directed by two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple (“Harlan County, U.S.A” “Shut Up and Sing,” and “American Dream”). Kopple’s new documentary—which investigates the complex issues surrounding guns and the often-emotional debate about how best to reduce gun violence in the U.S.–tells the stories of citizens and activists on both sides. The film debuts on HBO on Wednesday, April 13, 2011. You were late to your French class that morning four years ago. Cho entered the classroom while firing shots, and left. He returned, killed 9 students and also Madame Couture-Nowak, who had instructed you to call 911. Cho shot you in the knee, through your right arm, and into both sides of your hips by the time doctors put a rod in your left leg. Four years later, how are you feeling? My recuperation took months. I had to learn to undergo physical therapy and learn to walk again. I still have bullets in my body, but I've been fortunate enough to be able to make a good physical recovery. I play volleyball each week in DC and recently ran a 5K benefit for Washington's Children's Hospital. I still generally dislike distance running by the way. I think having such as good physical recovery helped my mental and emotional recovery as well and has helped me turn a negative experience into a force for positive change. A few years after the tragedy, you joined the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. You were a ROTC cadet who had fired M-16 rifles and a hunter. At what point did you know that you wanted to speak out about gun violence? I made the decision in the spring of 2009 after watching the shooting at the Binghamton, N.Y. Immigration Center unfold on TV, and learning that 13 people were killed. Watching the same images, seeing the same tears, hearing the same cries, was the shooting that was too much for me. I was angry and sad, and finally, motivated to share my story and what I’ve learned. I knew there was more we could do to make these shootings less likely to happen to other people and I wanted to be a part of that. A number of states want to broaden rights to carry firearms on campus, either in public “right of ways” and/or in classrooms, buildings and dorms. Do guns belong at college? No, I believe the college environment and classrooms are not a place where guns belong. Currently, college campuses are some of the safest places in our country. In the rare instance of a shooting, it’s difficult for me to believe this measure will save lives and not make the average college day more dangerous. Instead of trying to pass a law in response to theoretical shootings, it makes more sense for us to work towards stopping that shooting from ever happening. But if you hold the idea that more guns in more places would make us all ALL safer, then the United States would already be the safest country in the world. But, by far, we are not. A solid majority of the U.S. public—three-quarters of Americans in some polls—that majority believes the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the rights of Americans to own guns. At the same time, Americans want the government to regulate who owns guns. What do you want to see happen? I want us to take three steps: 1 – Improve the Brady Criminal Background check system. There are millions of records missing from our background check database because so many states have done a poor job of getting them where they need to be. 2 – Require more gun sellers to do Brady Criminal Background checks. Once we get all the records into the system, we have to apply that system comprehensively and require all sellers to run background checks. I want everyone, everywhere who sells a gun to someone they don’t know to run a background check on them. 3 – Keep military firepower made for warfare from being sold to the general public. We should reinstate the ban on assault clips, like those the Tucson shooter used, that allow people to shoot 30, 50, even 100 rounds before they have to stop and reload. These three steps will protect all Americans and our Second Amendment rights from people who try to harm us. It seems that after each terrible shooting, there is talk of reforming gun laws in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy—and then the discussion fades. In your view, could a Virginia Tech happen again? Because we haven't taken the steps as a country to change laws since the last shooting, yes, I feel that a “Virginia Tech” WILL happen again. In fact, in HBO’s "Gun Fight" documentary, the Temple University Medical Center trauma coordinator reminds us that in some American communities, “Virginia Tech” numbers happen every week. And in America, a “Virginia Tech” happens every day. The true tragedy is that we see these killings everyday on our news stations and do nothing about it. We don't do more than send our “thoughts and prayers” after these tragedies. We don't speak out against these murders. We don't say, "I don't want this to happen to me and my family!" If we did, than we would save lives. Simple. That’s why I agreed to share my story in "Gun Fight" and in "Living for 32." It’s why I went to work for the Brady Campaign. |
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Columnist Laura Washington and @nprscottsimon revealed their 50th birthday wishes for President @BarackObama. #cnn inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/05/50t…
#Debt commission co-chair Alan Simpson slams the "disappointing" debt deal, saying Washington is "dysfunctional." #cnn inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/04/deb…
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Same old tired argument.Wish the Brady Campaign would get out of my life!
A tragedy indeed, but 3 proposals made none of which would have prevented this lunatic from obtaining the 'non military' guns he used. It is interesting that folks just want to do something yet the something does not attack the problem directly. Not unique to this young man though.
I agree, waste of time. This guy is an idiot. If one other person in that classroom was armed then the shooter wouldn't have killed nearly as many. He might have been stopped before he even killed one. These cowards choose locations to kill people because they know that no one else would be armed. If it's well known that a lot of people carry a firearm for protection then these cowards won't have the b*lls to try anything in that location.
The guy was mentally ill, not trying to show he was a big man. He also shot himself afterwards so survival wasn't his concern. A man with mental illness that severe should never have been allowed into a gun shop PEFRIOD.
Secondly imagine you're in class (with a handgun in holster). Some guy walks into class, you don't know him and probably won't look up, but even if you do, you and the 5 other armed people in class will still probably hit someone innocent and even if you do land that headshot, som einnocent person will still probably be dead first. Increasing guns per capita is not the way to solve this.
ur an idiot. If guns aren't allowed to be sold, Cho wouldn't have been able to get the gun to shoot the people. And if all students were to bring a gun, the school would be in chaos...
123, And if cows could fly we could get fresh milk by air. Utopia does not exist, not even when you start insulting reasonable people.
So db, you were talking to kw when you said insulting reasonable people doesn't lead to Utopia? That sounds reasonable to me.
If there was one other person who had a gun in that classroom, I just about guarantee that other person would of been dead. Studies have been done that show, unless you have as much dedication as some police officers and military members, that your quick draw will be slow. And while you are trying to draw, instead of ducking, you will be shot. Now if you do remember to duck, and cover, it generally takes longer to get out the gun, and again, during that time you can be shot. If everyone had a gun, true, he might of not pulled it off, and fewer people could of died that day, but that is just that day. When those college kids get drunk, and forget about their guns until later. If you start adding up all the days they have guns, you will see dead college students even more often. I'm not against guns being on campus in general, but they need to be treated with respect. Way way way way way toooooooo many adults even treat them with disrespect. And now we are talking about college kids....... Not all are like that, but many are, and that there lies the problem.
Burns paints a scary picture but unfortunately for him that is all it is... a fantasy picture made up in his head. With millions of CCW holders across multiple states for decades he should be able to show hundreds of examples of his horror stories... but he can't simply because they are not true.
@Dale
It's really interesting that you support this position, endorsed by Jim Brady the one who made millions of dollars getting shot in a “Gun Free Zone”, where he now works to make even more of those money making “Gun Free Zones”.
You state: “If there was one other person who had a gun in that classroom, I just about guarantee that other person would of been dead.”
That isn't what happened at the Virginia Appalachian School of Law shooting, where the murderer encountered 2 ARMED students.
If this statement isn't simply a poorly thought out lie, you should be able to supply a few examples of where armed intended victim(s) “made things worse”.
Google Thomas Glenn Terry, see what happened when THREE gunmen attacked the restaurant he was eating in just 2 months after the Luby's Massacre.
You state: “Studies have been done that show, unless you have as much dedication as some police officers and military members, that your quick draw will be slow.”
Let's see the names of a few of those studies.
I've never seen such studies.
You ignorantly state: “unless you have as much dedication as some police officers”
Most police officers have very little actual firearms training (Too expensive and cops rarely encounter a shooting situation. Most officers retire without ever using their gun outside of the rare training session.)
And you say: “your quick draw will be slow”. Thankfully a “quick-draw” are seldom needed to defend against the criminal attack. Thousands of everyday Americans use guns thousands of tomes a day to stop serious crimes.
You state: “And while you are trying to draw, instead of ducking, you will be shot.”
Facts tend to disagree with you.
But that aside, do you really emote that your chance of survival would be increased by assuring that only the murderer was armed?
How'd that “The more helpless you are, the safer you are” theory work out at Virginia Tech?
You state with absolutely no basis: “If you start adding up all the days they have guns, you will see dead college students even more often.”
How many of those shooting has happened in Utah colleges and universities, where the student can be armed?
None.
You ignorantly state: “And now we are talking about college kids.”
If you'd done any research, you'd know that these are college ADULTS we are talking about, not “kids”. You have to be 21 to have a CCL.
Add to this the fact that the police have no duty to protect individuals, then ask yourself this important question:
Why should a police officer risk his life, to save something so insignificant (your life), that even the owner is unwilling to protect it?
You are totally right. The only reason Virginia tech could happen is because of the gun restriction in that school. Had it not been a "gun free" zone, the perpetrator would have either chosen a different location, been shot by a concealed license holder or not have done his deed altogether. It is clear that the left is gearing up for 2012 and comes up with this kind of nonsense to appease the soccer mums that know nothing about guns but find them scary.
"Goddard: Because we haven't taken the steps to change laws since the last shooting, a 'Virginia Tech' WILL happen again."
Of course, he is RIGHT about this. As long as everyone on campus is disarmed by policy or law, college campuses will be free-fire zones for any lunatic who wants to kill lots of people without the risk that someone might shoot back.
We need to change the law – to allow concealed carry permit holders to carry firearms on college campuses just as they do throughout the rest of society. There's no reason for us to make college students especially vulnerable to attack.
I feel for this guy and the other victims of the VT massacre, but no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to limit access to guns even more than it already is (though that isn't much). There's the 2nd amendment to work around, and you ahve too many people who want to keep their rifles, shotguns, and such. It'd be great to remove guns from the public, in my opinion, but lawfully and logically it is not possible.
When you OUTLAW the guns, Only Outlaws will have GUNS...Criminals will always find a way to get what they need..So why let it affect everyone. How many lives have been saved from citizens owning guns? Lets see those stats side by side. US LAW Abiding citizen shouldn't be harassed by gun laws for actions caused by those who break the law.
Drug dealers rarely kill innocents. They usually kill other criminals who owe them money, and sometimes cops unfortunately. Its mentally ill people who do these mass murderings, Charles Whitman was actually a respectable man, but his brain tumor made him into a killing machine. YOU HAVE TO KEEP WEAPONS OUT OF THE HANDS OF CRAZY PEOPLE.. Background checks for example make a massive difference, I can't believe you people foot drag about this. But to a lesser extent, the guy who leaves his "home defence" assault rifle at his cottage and has it stolen is responsible for any ensuing murders.
Since the government fails consistently to enforce the laws, much less prosecute less than 1% of those 1.67 mil rejected by the background check since 1994, explain again how more laws and BS will fix he problem when you have consistently failed to address those responsible for failing to do their job, the government. UISDOJ Background Check & Firearm Transfer report 2008.
Since is was doctors (Cho VA Tech) that failed, since it was 9 Army officers disciplined for their failures to not stop the Ft Hood shooter, why then hasn't the sheriff in AZ who failed to press charges against Loughner for making death threats multiple times and 5 times where charges could have locked him up prior to the Gifford shooting. Funny how the denominator in all those failings are the government.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention the DOJ Felons Firearms Use Survey 1997, published Nov 2001 reviewed in conjunction with the background report show that today, 95.52% of felons don't even attempt to buy a firearm from a licensed source.
Since less than 1% of those are even prosecuted even though over 50% of those rejected are committing a prosecutable felony, explain again how the background check prevents anything other than paying the BATF and associated government employee's a welfare check eh?
Don't forget Haynes vs US 390, 85 1968 where felons were ruled not being legally held to follow a law requiring them to violate their fifth amendment right of no self incrimination. See 85% of those 20,000 plus gun control laws require you identify yourself, hence required self incrimination. Yeah funny how 17,000 plus gun control laws just don't apply to felons.
So again what is your point about thse useless laws preventing anything again eh?
Dont by fooled by these so-called gun control bills They have only one purpose and that is to ban private ownership of all guns In Canada we have the long gun registry that costs over 60 million a year to administer First came the FAC permit you neeed to buy a rifle then you needed a restricted permit to by a pistol After the 14 woman in Montreal were shot You needed to go and take a gun course in order to keep your firearms Now all so called assualt rifles are considered restricted or prohibited weapons and you need a licence for that You can not transport a restricted weapon unless you have permit to do so ex from your house to the range assault rifles can not be taken to the range any longer If you fail to renew your permit the gov doesnt send you the form its up to you Failure to renew brings officer friendly to your doorstep and takes your firerarms just like that Imagine how much this program would cost in your country not to mention the gov workers who would have to hired to make it work
The FBI has reported earlier this year, late last year that violent crimes in the US are at a 30+ year low. Laws and more laws do not teach people right from wrong. It is possible that the real horror of mass shootings – as reported by the media – is why do people sit and watch vs jumping in and doing something? Two heroes jumped the shooter in Arizona – out of a crowd of how many? Maybe the real horror is the lack of "response-ability".
Agree with Dr Bill.To go one step further, how much different would the outcome of 9/11 have been. Box cutters?!? The problem is that there is too much reliance on others to take care of you when there is really no way possible for it to happen most of the time. Banning guns and limiting guns isnt the solution.
I
I will say simply take lethel/deadly wepons away from the mentally diabled people who cannot know right from wrong period no questions asked!!!!!!
CNN this actually happened in 2007. Really, Cmon??? (Date under the photo is wrong)
Seriously.
Katie dear, there is no such thing as a "gun show loophole", that was just a tern invented to scare the stupid and gullible.
Want proof?
What is legal to do inside a gun show, that is illegal outside of a gun show?
That's right: NOTHING!
Please do a little real research.
The only reasonable argument regarding allowing guns is a hesitancy to allow trigger-happy, panicked people into shooting themselves – perhaps that can be solved by allowing students who are licensed to carry and/or who have law enforcement or military experience (people in law enforcement and military know that one can't be too hasty in using guns!)
Colin Goddard, it's too easy to obtain guns in this country. Once a person enters a campus with a gun and intends to use it, that person will use the gun.
How is it that mentally unstable people get guns legally?
It is called the gun show "loophole"; anyone can buy a gun from a private dealer without a background check.
You mean private sales?
Nope, checked the laws and BATF laws, no registered dealer is allowed to sell without a background check.
Then again, you are really complaining about the unintended consequences of the BATF persecution of law abiding gun onwers that resulted in the 1986 Gun Owners Protection Act.
Prior to that time, if a collector sold more than 1 firearm at a time, the BATF would prosecute them as an unlicensed dealer, successfuly might I add. So many firearms owners become Type 1 FFL licensee's, essentially a gun store at home to avoid the lharrasment by the BATF.
So when the gun ownwers protection came along, it really PO'd the BATF. So in 1994, along with the useless semi auto rifle ban cause they looked ugly 1994-2004, the BATF changed all their rules, increasing the fee's at 40 times and up, making a paperwork mistake a felony, unannounced inspections and visits, etc, etc, etc, etc. All that draconian Nazi style rules and fee's that of the then 245,000 ffl licensees, between 1994-2004 70% did not renew their licenses.
So now over 162,000 former dealers by law no longer had to report sales.
To top that off, unless you are a gun dealer, you can't access the background check.
Oh yeah, don't forget that 95.52% of felons don't even attempt to buy from a licensed source so what would a voluntary background check to to stop those bad guys from getting a firearm anyway, LOL!
So the reality is if you don't like the private sales not having access to a quick, cheap background check, then you need to be complaining to those who are again the common denominator for the failure to enforce the laws, the BATF and the government.
LOL, such are the unintended consequences of the actions of the Nazi's in charge!
All the people who are pro gun have no idea what they're talking about. Go to Europe you fools!! No one (NO ONE) would ever think of giving teenagers or anyone else for that matter, a gun to carry every day. And in schools??? You're out of your crazy mind. Guns don't kill people, people kill people, this is the stupidest sentence ever thought, what are guns made for?Caressing you tenderly at night? The USA are still back in their dark ages (Europe has come out of those some five hundred years ago). Yeah, let's arm our toddlers in pre-schools so if someone tries to steal my son's snack he can always shoot them, and then another toddler in his class can shoot him in return and then, in an hour or so everybody can have used their own gun, yeah, this is power, this is being real Americans, real cow boys; hey, it's in the second amendment... IDIOTS!
Pix, none of my guns have ever killed anybody. As far as I know, none of the guns i handled in the military or law enforcement have either. They may if they ever need to, but I hope to God they don't.
Terry T, I've been robbed at gunpoint a few times. Should I not be able to say that the next guy to rob me may or may not live to regret it?
God help someone coming in my house looking for trouble may well find it. If he (she, they, it, whatever...) takes my suggestion to sit down and wait for the cops, it will be okay. If not, well
"assault clip"? thats a new one. I love these weapon terms the anti gunners make up.
"Get them asking the wrong questions, you'll never have to worry about the answers."
Gun-Control would not even be on people's minds in the slightest were it not for the media shelling us constantly with their master's agenda.
Gun-Control should never be an issue to anyone except those bad people who wish to disarm others in order to prey upon them, because that's what Gun-Control is: The process of disarmament for the sake of control. That is all it's about, that's all it has EVER been about. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER has it had anything to do with stopping crime.
Quite the opposite, it's tool of criminals...
Predators want disarmed victims, be the predator a common street-thug or a corrupt government. The history of "Gun-Control"(That is, government control of the common instrument of the time used for fighting and defense -in our case, the Firearm) is one of genocide, terror, and tyranny. (Look up the JPFO and read some of their stuff)
We should ban victims of illegal weapons used by criminals from commenting on legal gun ownership and what honest citizens should or should not be able to do.
Mass shooing last week in school Dutch city. The gun banners dream of Europe style gun control does not work. Corrected for population mass shootings in Europe occur more Frequently than in the USA. Look it up.
Mass shooting occur in so called Gun Free Zones. These zones are a killers dream. Schools, churches, Post Offices, Universities, etc. Liberals want to create more gun free zones leading to more killings. These are dream zones. There are always guns in gun free zones by criminals. They do not obey laws. These shootings are always stopped by someone with a gun. Self inflicted, cop, university employee, school employee. over 1/4 of the mass shooting in the Universities have been stoppeed by peole going to thier car getting a gun and stopping the shooter per the Apalation Law Scool, and the Utah church shooting, etc.
I still fail to understand why you think the mere possession of a gun makes me able to commit murder. I've been carrying for quite a while – with 2 'high capacity' mags. I have yet to murder anyone. Nor have I killed anyone. And I hope I never have to.
Pix – "Guns don't kill people, people kill people, this is the stupidest sentence ever thought, what are guns made for?" Really? I tell you what – come over to my house. I'll put my loaded .45 on the coffee table. You yell at it, scream at it, threaten to kill its wife / kids, flip it off, spit on it, moon it, threaten to destroy it and even punch it (as long as the safety is on). I bet you can't make it shoot you. It has no feelings, no desires and no prejudice. The only way it can go off without someone pulling the trigger would be to set it on fire. Then and only then could it fire without pulling the trigger and at that point – YOU caused it to go off by setting it on fire. So see – guns don't kill people – people do. Just like swords don't kill people – cars don't kill people – airplanes don't kill people.
Burns – If someone steals my guns you want me to be held responsible? So if someone steals your car YOU are responsible for any accidents / damages they cause? If someone breaks into your house and steals your credit card and transfers money to Al-Qaeda, do you want to be held responsible? You terrorist! You would probably feel sorry for the bloke if he cut his arm on the broken window and offer to pay his medical bills!
Correct me if i'm wrong but don't car accidents, alcohol, and cigarettes kill more people each year then guns do? Why doesen't everyone want to ban cars, or smokes or beer??? Gun control laws only affect the innocent as by definition, criminals do not obey the law. So your gonna stop someone innocent from having a high capacity firearm while some dirtbag who's looking to commit crime with a stolen gun is unaffected.... Briliant. And for anyone to say more people could have been injured at VT if the students were armed needs their head checked... Weird how these gun free zones re anything but... I'n the meantime i think it's time i got my CCW. Since i can't carry a cop, i'm gonna carry a gun!
BTW – how many people have been murdered using airplanes? They didn't need guns. How many in Oklahoma City? He didn't need a gun. How many are murdered every day in the Middle East? Thousands have been murdered in recent history – all without guns. Crazy, murderous people will find a way to kill. We need a way to be able to stop them.
You call 911 and wait for the police (Which I respect, but they can't be everywhere all of the time) and hope you're one of the survivors. I'll take my chances defending myself. I may get a bystander – sure – but in a mass murder situation is it better that I shot one or that the actor shoots 10-12 more? What all you anti-gunners don't realize is that you all are not self reliant – you are dependent. You are dependent on the police and on the government to 'protect' you. All of us pro-gun are self-reliant – with self defense as well as survival.
Keep schools a gun free zone and you ensure this will happen again.
Unbelievable how well-written and ifnormaitve this was.
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