McDonnell talks with VT families, survivors about gun law
Bob McDonnell
RICHMOND – Families of victims of the 2007 mass shootings at Virginia Tech and a student who survived the rampage urged Gov. Bob McDonnell today to veto legislation repealing the state’s one-per-month limit on handgun purchases.
“I want to be able to say to anyone who asks that our governor is a profile in courage,” said Peter Read, whose daughter, Mary Karen Read, was killed in the April 16, 2007 campus shootings that left 33 students and professors dead, including the student gunman.
McDonnell spoke with five family members and survivors of the Tech shootings in a conference call this morning, one day after the families asked for a chance to speak with the governor. McDonnell faces a Tuesday deadline to act on a bill (HB 940) that would scrap Virginia’s 19-year-old law restricting handgun purchases to one per month.
McDonnell did not indicate to the families how he will act on the legislation, but participants said he told them he had a “duty to protect the Second Amendment.”
Lori Haas, whose daughter Emily was wounded in the shootings, said McDonnell told the families he would give their input “some consideration.”
“I think his commitment was genuine, but the families are very strident in their perspective that repealing one gun a month is making it easier for criminals to get weapons and we know what happens,” Haas said. “His duty is to public safety, not to the Second Amendment as he told us.”
McDonnell told the families that his staff would contact them by Tuesday to let them know what he decides. McDonnell is attending a National Governors Association conference in Washington. D.C. this weekend.
“The governor appreciated hearing directly from the families on this issue,” McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said. “It was a straightforward and substantive discussion. His thoughts and prayers remain with them as they continue to deal with their tremendous loss. We will have further comment on the legislation at the appropriate time.”
McDonnell voted for the gun control law as a state legislator in 1993, a time when Virginia was considered a haven for interstate gun-runners. But McDonnell has said he would support its repeal, a top priority of gun rights organizations. Lawmakers who support the repeal argue that the General Assembly already has weakened the law by granting multiple exemptions to the purchase limit, and that instant background check technology has rendered the law unnecessary.
Legislation to repeal the purchase limit sailed through the Republican-dominated House of Delegates. It passed the Senate by a vote of 21-19 with support from two Democrats – John Edwards of Roanoke and Creigh Deeds of Bath County.
Participants in the conference call told McDonnell how the shootings had affected them and motivated them to get involved in gun control advocacy, according to a news release issued by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
McDonnell reminded the families that he has opposed legislation to allow firearms on college campuses and was involved in efforts to make sure that Virginia provided mental health records to the database used for instant background checks on gun-buyers.
While the General Assembly passed bills to repeal the one-gun-per-month law this year, two measures dealing with guns on college campuses failed. A House of Delegates subcommittee killed a bill (HB 91) that would have allowed faculty members to carry concealed handguns on campus. And a Senate committee shelved a bill (SB324) that would prevent colleges and other state agencies from regulating firearms possession.
– Michael Sluss
February 25, 2012 - 4:16 PM
April 16, 2007 was a horrible day at Virginia Tech, period. It was made so by the actions of a mentally ill individual. His actions were the result of his illness however and not the tool he used. The events at Tech took place while this law was in effect. What did it do for the victims of that individual’s actions? This, as most gun laws only serves to restrict the ability of the law abiding citizens to make firearm purchases.
It seems that the victims and families of victims from the Tech incident are, in this case, latching onto a cause which is unrelated to their suffering. Has there been any study into what drove the gunman to act as he did on that day? Would it not be better to study that and find a way to avoid it ever happening to someone else? Let’s look at the cause of the problem, not the tool used.
Anyway, I urge our Governor to sign the bill repealing this law. It really is not necessary with the other laws we have in place now.
We already have laws on the books that prohibit selling guns to criminals! When are people going to wake-up and realize that guns are not the issue. People with warped demented minds are the issue.
It is quite obvious that schools are unprotected and anyone wanting to kill can go to a school and meet with little to no resistance. If you want to protect everyone’s rights, repeal that law that prohibits guns on campus.
If the likelihood of someone being armed on our school campuses, and if criminals knew that it seems that would act as a deterrent. But if the killer planned to kill himself as well; what would that matter? Our society always responds with new laws aimed at low hanging fruit that seldom solves anything. We cannot and do not enforce the laws that are in existence today. Moreover, most do not know what laws are already on the books. A little enlightenment would help.
April 16, 2007 was a horrible day at Virginia Tech, period. It was made so by the actions of a mentally ill individual. His actions were the result of his illness however and not the tool he used. The events at Tech took place while this law was in effect. What did it do for the victims of that individual’s actions? This, as most gun laws only serves to restrict the ability of the law abiding citizens to make firearm purchases.
It seems that the victims and families of victims from the Tech incident are, in this case, latching onto a cause which is unrelated to their suffering. Has there been any study into what drove the gunman to act as he did on that day? Would it not be better to study that and find a way to avoid it ever happening to someone else? Let’s look at the cause of the problem, not the tool used.
I urge our Governor to sign the bill repealing this law. It really is not necessary with the other laws we have in place now.
I think these families and all crime victims have a very valid point and have more than earned the right to speak up on the issue. Guns are too easy to get. For criminals, for the mentally unstable, for the incompetent and for the just plain idiots. Period. Whether one gun a month stops some of that or not, it is not too onerous and it is worth leaving in place. It is embarrassing for Virginia purchased guns, drugs or bombs to be used by criminals. 12 handguns per year are seriously not enough? So buy them the way they all still do.
“His duty is to public safety, not to the Second Amendment as he told us.”
I know this is a very emotional issue for the families, but this statement is not accurate. The Governor’s duty is to both public safety and the second amendment. As the highest ranking executive officer in the state, he has a duty to see to it that all the laws are enforced. That should result in a duty to ensure public safety. However, in his oath of office he also swears to uphold the Constitution of the United States, which includes the 2nd Amendment. The trick is to balance the two. To effectively do so requires a level of objectivity that is not usually found in the families of crime victims.
Governor McDonald should repeal the law restricting the quantity of handguns that can legally be purchased a month by law abiding citizens. To do otherwise is a violation of our second amendment rights.
People who think that gun control placed on law abiding citizens (who by the way are a majority) prevents this type of crime are living under-a-rock and their logic is so convoluted that it is no surprise that our constitution is under attack by these left-wing liberal-socialist. These “gun free” zones are open season for mass shootings.
If you really want to solve the gun crime problem in our society get rid of the drugs. And let me offer food-for-thought. If we lived in a “drug-free” society, could our employment base of police officers, Judges, court reporters, social workers, hospital staffs, emergency workers, prison workers stand to be laid-off? I know it may be hard to logically understand but drugs create jobs.
I doubt that our government leaders want a “drug-free” society. There is too much commerce in drugs. Their goal is enforcement not prevention. Government(s) seldom have any solutions to these kinds of social issues. If our government was serious about prevention, they would redirect the efforts of police toward prevention and away from the petty crimes they spend the majority of their time on.
Oh like we could “get rid of the drugs” anymore than we can get guns out of the wrong hands? How, pray tell would focusing on “prevention” in the case of guns in the wrong hands work exactly? You can seriously argue that 12 handguns a year is an onerous burden on your RKBA?
So, McDonnell is talking about “the second amendment.” If the one gun a month law was in violation of the second amendment, why was it challenged and overturned in the nearly 20 years it’s been in effect?