Virginia Tech Families Turn Grief Into Cry For Gun Laws

Cuccinelli, who has an A-plus rating from the National Rifle Association, said that if the Virginia Tech stories are powerful enough to create the momentum to close the gun show loophole, gun rights lawmakers will demand a political trade-off, such as a provision to allow faculty and staff and maybe graduate students to carry guns on campus once they've obtained a concealed weapon permit.

It has been more than 10 years since the General Assembly has passed any laws that restrict gun ownership. Instead, in recent years, lawmakers have voted to liberalize gun laws, making it easier to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon and to carry that weapon into once-forbidden territory, such as the parking lot of Reagan National Airport and the statehouse itself.

But many of the family members say if there ever was a time for change, it is now.

W. Gerald Massengill, former superintendent of the Virginia State Police and chairman of the special panel appointed by Kaine to investigate the massacre, agreed. The panel recommended closing the gun show loophole.

"Events like Virginia Tech are things that do tip the scales," he said. "And I personally think that this year, if it's going to happen in Virginia, it's going to happen this year, because it was a tragedy of historical proportions."

The grieving victims' families met for the first time in June, Samaha said. They began e-mailing one another, learning about gun laws and mental health. Many were horrified, including Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was shot four times and is living with the bullet fragments. "I'm ashamed to say it took me being a parent of an injured student before I became an activist," he said. He is president of the Million Mom March's Richmond chapter. Samaha is starting the Angel Fund to educate the public about gun laws.

Looking at the families' suffering and grief, some wonder how lawmakers could say no to them.

"You can say no in a polite way," said Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott). Kilgore, chairman of the House Republican caucus, said closing the gun show loophole does not address "the issue at hand." He said he would not support it.

Sen. John S. Edwards (D-Roanoke), whose district includes Virginia Tech, called gun control "a Northern Virginia issue" and said that neither Republicans nor legislators from more rural parts of the state would support a change despite lobbying by the families. "It's a cultural issue in this area of Virginia," he said. "You've got to be sensitive to the cultural values."

Victims' families say they know they are up against seemingly insurmountable odds. But they point to other tragedies such as the wounding of Reagan White House aide James Brady, which eventually led to the Brady law and background checks, as well as the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado and the 1998 shootings at a high school in Oregon that led voters to close the gun show loopholes in those states.

"One delegate at a time. That's how change comes about," Peter Read said yesterday after testifying before the delegation, cradling photos of his daughter and wearing her initials on his lapel. "I've read the quotes, that the insiders say it can't be done. But I'm not coming from a political place." He tapped the photos of his smiling daughter Mary, taken the weekend before she died, his eyes tearing up. "I'm here to say what needs to be said and to speak for my daughter. And for all the people who can't speak out anymore."

Staff writer Tim Craig contributed to this report.