The Mom Behind a Movement

Lawmakers did tighten up the mental health provisions in the law, which Cho had slipped through. But Van Cleave said his group successfully lobbied to make it easier for gun rights to be restored after a person's mental health crisis has passed.

But Spangler said she is not giving up. She has just signed a lease for office space because the movement has outgrown her dining room and her ability to lead it for the three afternoons a week that she has a babysitter.

"It is a complete and utter outrage," she said, that Virginia lawmakers will continue to allow private sales at gun shows with no background checks. After Columbine, she said, the Colorado legislature resisted calls to close the gun show loophole. When lawmakers refused to act, voters pushed for a public referendum and overwhelmingly voted to close it. "Guess who doesn't have public referendums?" she said. "Virginia."

Spangler is no stranger to controversy. She grew up in Charlotte. Her parents were active in desegregation efforts -- her father pushed for it as head of the State Board of Education in North Carolina -- and she was bused across town to what had been an all-black public school. "That transformed my life and the way I look at people," she said. "One of my first memories is running to answer the phone and someone saying, 'I'm going to kill your father.' "

So she is not surprised when she gets e-mails such as one she clicked on in her kitchen: "Be careful what you believe. It may cost you your life." She shrugged it off. "From an early age, I learned the importance of standing up for what you believe," she said.

She also grew up learning how to shoot rifles and shotguns at camp. Her group is not opposed to that. Nor to hunting. Nor to lawful gun ownership, she said. What it wants, she said, is background checks for all gun sales and a ban on assault weapons.

What keeps her going, she said, are the Virginia Tech survivors and victims' families. Joe Samaha, who lost his daughter Reema in the shooting, praised Spangler for her "perseverance, tenacity and courage" as he recently presented her with the Brady Campaign's Advocate Award. "All of our angels thank you," he told her.

Spangler is working with Reema's brother Omar to push back against another growing movement -- students in favor of concealed weapons on campuses.

She touched a silver disk she wears on a chain around her neck. In the center is the number 32. "They are my bosses," she said, the victims of gun violence across the country and "the 32 Virginia Tech victims. That's who I work for, to prevent that from happening again in our country."