By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
RICHMOND, May 1 -- Retired Virginia State Police superintendent W. Gerald Massengill said Tuesday that beginning next week, the panel looking into the massacre at Virginia Tech will examine the "entire event," including such potentially volatile issues as how people obtain guns in Virginia.
Massengill, chairman of the eight-member commission, said the group's first meeting will be May 10 in Richmond. The panel is seeking to answer how and why Seung Hui Cho of Fairfax County killed 32 people and himself April 16.
Although the commission's full agenda won't be determined until after its first meeting, Massengill released an outline of what he said he hopes panel members can accomplish.
He said the panel will scrutinize the state's mental health system; review the police response to the shooting; analyze post-traumatic stress on first responders; and explore gun issues, including whether college students should be allowed to carry firearms on campus.
By agreeing to look into how Cho obtained his weapons and whether students should be allowed to carry guns, Massengill appears ready to explore the divisive issue of whether Virginia has stringent enough controls on the sale of firearms.
"I am calling it a comprehensive case study. The bottom line is we will be taking an in-depth look at the entire incident," said Massengill, who wants the commission's findings to become a "template and a model" for colleges and governments across the country.
The panel includes specialists in psychology, law, forensics and higher education, as well as former U.S. homeland security director Tom Ridge.
Massengill raised the possibility that the panel would need additional time because the investigation might be slowed by privacy laws. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who appointed the panel, has said he wanted its recommendations by the end of summer so colleges can act on some of them before the school year starts.
Massengill told Kaine on Tuesday that the panel should have preliminary recommendations in August but might not complete its work until fall.
Although he said he is confident the panel eventually will have access to the information it needs, Massengill said state police won't be able to turn over all the evidence they collected during their investigation, which is ongoing.
The commission, which doesn't have subpoena power, might also not be able to access some of Cho's academic and medical records, Massengill said. But he said he does not "anticipate any problem getting people to appear" before the commission, including, perhaps, Cho's parents and sister.
"We want to learn as much as we can about the shooter," Massengill said.
The commission will be supported by as many as 10 staff members from TriData, a division of Arlington County-based System Planning Corp. The company has conducted more than 60 after-action reviews, including one after the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell (R) has assigned a staff member to provide legal advice.
Massengill said most of the panel's meetings will be open. The commission is creating a Web site and mailing address so the public can submit feedback. Several of the meetings will be in Blacksburg, he said.
Although Kaine's office has sought to manage expectations of what the commission can accomplish, Massengill said that he expects the panel's findings could help shape state policy in a number of areas.
The shootings are likely to rekindle the debate over gun control in Virginia, which is home to the National Rifle Association and which gun control advocates say has among the least-stringent gun laws in the country.
Cho legally bought .22-caliber and 9mm pistols, including one obtained from a Wisconsin gun dealer, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the months before the shooting, even though a court had found him to be dangerously mentally ill.
Unlike some states, Virginia has no waiting period before purchasing a handgun, nor does it require registration. State law does limit purchasers to one gun a month.
Residents 21 or older can apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Virginia, but colleges and university officials can prohibit guns on campus. Because Virginia Tech bars students and faculty from carrying guns, opponents of gun control say Cho would have been stopped sooner had more people on campus been armed.
"We don't plan to argue the Second Amendment, but we are certainly going to look at the issues that are there under current law," Massengill said. "If we see something that obviously needs a legislative fix, we will be making that recommendation to the governor."
House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem) said members of the General Assembly will ultimately be charged with reviewing the state's gun laws. But Griffith said he welcomes the panel's advice.
"The number one objective they need to do is to make a finding of fact of what could have had an impact on preventing this," Griffith said.
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