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Virginia Tech Families Rally To Curb Guns

October 17, 2007

By Peter Hardin

WASHINGTON — From the U.S. Capitol to a Richmond gun show, some family members of Virginia Tech massacre victims are turning activist.

Lori Haas of Henrico County, whose daughter Emily was wounded in the shooting rampage, called on Congress yesterday to pass a bill to tighten the national instant background-check system for gun buyers.

"I stand here to say that we are begging the Senate to pass this bill," Haas, wearing a VT lapel pin, told reporters about legislation stalled in that chamber. She was joined at the Capitol with one survivor and family members of about a dozen victims.

Meanwhile, Andy L. Goddard of Short Pump, whose son Colin was shot and survived, said he plans to participate Saturday in a demonstration outside a Richmond-area gun show, with 32 protesters dressed in black and lying on the ground to symbolize the Virginia Tech slaying victims.

He was preparing to speak at a similar protest at the University of Virginia late yesterday. Goddard, too, is pushing for legislation in Congress to make sure that states share with the U.S. government mental-illness information that might prohibit a buyer from getting a gun.

In Washington, some relatives of shooting victims fought back tears as they gathered at the news event held by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Lori Haas' daughter, Emily, recently turned 20 and is now in her third year at Tech. She was shot in the back of her head in French class. "By the grace of God and half an inch, she's alive," her mother said.

Peter D. Read of Annandale, father of Mary Karen Read, who was slain, urged Congress "to help make some good come out of a tremendous evil, so we can all be confident that Mary and our other loved ones didn't die in vain."

Family members met with lawmakers.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., was reported by an aide to support the legislation under consideration in the Senate.

A spokesman for Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., said only that the legislation appears to be consistent with what Warner has supported before.

Goddard, a mechanical engineer, said the planned protest Saturday will occur nearby the Showplace and will include people from the Brady Campaign, the Million Mom March and ProtestEasyGuns.com, which calls itself a grass-roots movement in response to the Virginia Tech shootings. The Showplace is on Mechanicsville Turnpike.

"I'm interested in getting the word to the masses in the middle. Most of America is with me, in the middle somewhere," Goddard said.

Contact Peter Hardin at (202) 662-7669 or phardin@mediageneral.com.