When massacres are normal: guns and Virginia Tech

Binoy Kampmark

Brent Jesiek

You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.

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Grace Makes Beauty

Close-up of items at the April 16 Memorial site. Photo taken April 17, 2008.

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>.

Brent Jesiek

Brent Jesiek

You are contributing your stories and/or files to The April 16 Archive, which is developing a permanent digital record of the events surrounding the tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, 2007. Your participation in this project will allow future researchers, and people such as yourself, to gain a greater understanding of these events and the responses to them.

eng

Students Lie Down to Stand Up for What&#39;s Right

published: May 01 2008 06:01 PM updated:: May 01 2008 06:15 PM

University of Tennessee students who took their usual walk to their midday classes on April 16th, may have encountered a strange sight: 32 students dressed in all black laying down on pedestrian walkway. This &#39;lie down&#39; was organized in remembrance of the victims of last years Virginia Tech school shooting as well as to protest easy gun laws.

The Virginia Tech massacre was the deadliest mass shooting to date, and consisted of two separate attacks approximately two hours apart on April 16, 2007, which took place on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia. The gunman, Seung-Hui Cho ended his shooting rampage by committing suicide.

Jesse Matton, a UT sophomore from Northern Virginia organized the event. She extended invitations to people she knew and made a facebook group to advertise the event. She states: "I did it because I really wanted people to remember the victims and how much it effected all the students at tech." She recruited 32 participants, one to represent each victim of the Virginia tech shooting, for a three-minute lie down in the middle of the public walkway. She says, "We laid down for three minutes because that is the amount of time it takes to buy a gun in the U.S"

Matton&#39;s desire to organize this event came largely from the death of her friend, Reema Samaha, a victim of the Virginia Tech school shooting. A participant of the lie down, Sondra Ortagus, also a sophomore at UT and a long time friend of Matton says: "It was a very hard thing to look back on. I am glad we did it because hopefully people will start to realize that guns are too easy to get nowadays. Laws should be tighter so that incidences like Virginia Tech don&#39;t happen again."

Despite the many easy gun laws that are still being protested, the VT school shooting did lead to some tightening of gun regulations. The massacre led to rapid changes in Virginia law that had allowed Cho to illegally purchase handguns without detection by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Furthermore. It prompted the first major federal gun control measure in more than 13 years. President, George W. Bush, signed a law that strengthens the NICS on January 5, 2008.

One of the outstanding issues with gun control laws is the gap between state gun laws and federal gun laws. In Virginia for example, one can legally purchase one handgun every 30 days with valid proof of residency. A 1968 federal law prohibits those considered "mentally unsound" from buying handguns. Cho, having been declared a danger to himself by a court in 2005, did not meet this condition of mental stability and should not have been able to obtain the two semi-automatic pistols he used in the massacre. The state of Virginia failed to report Cho&#39;s mental health to the federally mandated NICS demonstrating an error in the system. Virginia Governor, Timothy Kaine, addressed this issue on April 30th declaring the importance of closing this reporting gap.

Discussion still rages about US gun laws in all states. The strength of background checks is in question as well as states ability to regulate gun laws successfully.

Further discussion is geared towards school safety in light of the presence of a handgun on Virginia Techs campus, which prohibits weapons. Of the 16 states that currently ban guns on college campuses, Several are weighing legislation to allow gun permit holders to carry concealed firearms. In March of 2008, so shortly after the terrible tragedy at VT Delegate Gilbert of Virginia attempted to pass a law allowing for concealed carry on college campuses.

This demonstrates that the fight for tighter gun laws is far from over, according to Matton, it is just beginning.

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This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License</a>.

Original Source: <a href="http://tnjn.com/2008/may/01/students-lie-down-to-stand-up-/">http://tnjn.com/2008/may/01/students-lie-down-to-stand-up-/</a>

Tennessee Journalist

2008-06-15

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States

eng

Remembrance Vigil Crowd

A crowd grows on the drillfield prior to the start of a candlelight vigil on April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance.


Photo by Brent Jesiek.

Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>

Brent Jesiek

2008-06-06

Kacey Beddoes

Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)

eng

Preparing for the Remembrance Vigil

Candles are distributed prior to the start of a candlelight vigil on the evening of April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance. Norris Hall is visible in the background.


Photo by Brent Jesiek.

Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>

Brent Jesiek

2008-06-06

Kacey Beddoes

Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)

eng

Gathering for the Remembrance Vigil

Crowds gather on the drillfield prior to the start of a candlelight vigil on the evening of April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance.


Photo by Brent Jesiek.

Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>

Brent Jesiek

2008-06-06

Kacey Beddoes

Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)

eng

Roses and Stone

Roses and a painted stone at the War Memorial. The stone reads: "What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we loved deeply becomes a part of us."
Photo taken April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance.

Photo by Brent Jesiek.

Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>

Brent Jesiek

2008-06-06

Kacey Beddoes

Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)

eng

Everyday Heroes

A sign posted outside Blacksburg&#39;s First Church of God reads: "Thank you to our
everyday heroes."
Photo taken April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance.

Photo by Brent Jesiek.

Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>

Brent Jesiek

2008-06-06

Kacey Beddoes

Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)

eng

Attention Media

A sign on an entry to one of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Barracks reads:

"ATTENTION MEDIA PERSONNEL

Please respect our time and space as we reflect and remember. Media personnel and equipment are not allowed in our residence hall communities as they are considered "safe havens" during this special time. If media are found in the building, the police will be called.

Thank you,
Residence Life Staff"

Another sign below this reads:

"VIRGINIA TECH CORPS OF CADETS BARRACKS
NO ADMITTANCE BEYOND THIS POINT WITHOUT CADET ESCORT"


Photo by Brent Jesiek.

Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>

Brent Jesiek

2008-05-30

Kacey Beddoes

Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)

eng

Creating Kites

Students build and decorate kites during the "Remembering Through Art Creation" event in Squires Student Center on April 16, 2008, A Day of Remembrance. An instruction sheet for the event explained:

"Create-a-Kite!
Unfurl your kite and decorate with images of hope and love, words of peace, strength and comfort. Take your kite outside and watch it lift your message to the sky and rise to the heavens. You may keep your kite or return it for others to fly."


Photo by Brent Jesiek.

Licensed under Creative Commons
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0</a>

Brent Jesiek

2008-05-30

Kacey Beddoes

Brent Jesiek (bjesiek@vt.edu)

eng