Findings that gun control laws should be tightened in response to the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech have given advocates hope that the commonwealth’s General Assembly may endits years of fierce opposition to such measures.
“It is time for action on guns,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Condolences are not enough. … No responsible college or university administrator would allow guns on campus, whether brought by students, faculty or outsiders.”
At least one local legislator, Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, R-Vienna, has said she would push to enhance gun control laws because of the rampage.
Last week’s report from the Virginia Tech Review Panel, a group Gov. Tim Kaine assembled to investigate the killings, proposed requiring background checks for individuals buying a weapon at a gun show and banning firearms on higher-education campuses.
The panel’s findings are expected to carry great weight with lawmakers when the legislature convenes in January. They hope that feelings stirred by the tragedy will be enough to prevail over gun-rights groups, who are a powerful force in Richmond and have successfully fought any attempt to increase the state’s restrictions.
During this year’s session, for example, legislation to require the background checks at gun shows and allow localities to forbid firearms in public libraries were swiftly defeated.
Virginia law allows guns in most public places, and Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defense League said he sees no reason why colleges and universities should receive special treatment. If a properly licensed student can carry a gun while walking down a city street, he added, then the same student should be allowed to bring a firearm on a campus for protection.
“If every other security measure fails and someone is pointing a gun in your face, why should you have to die?” said Van Cleave, the league’s president.
In its findings, the panel questioned whether armed students would have been safer during the attack.
“If numerous people had been rushing around with handguns outside Norris Hall [where 30 students and faculty were shot to death] in the morning of April 16, the possibility of accidental or mistaken shootings would have increased significantly,” the report said.
