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Comments for the Virginia Tech Review Panel (June 11, 2007) Abigail Spangler, Ph.D. I am Abigail Spangler, founder of Protest Easy Guns, a protest movement that emerged in response to the April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech shootings. We are citizens who are outraged at how easy it is to obtain a gun in the United States and believe it is time to act against lax U.S. gun laws. We were compelled to action by the tragic murders committed at Virginia Tech -- the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. Three days after the Virginia Tech shootings, heartbroken and grief-stricken, I emailed my friends and asked them to lie down beside me in front of City Hall in Alexandria, Virginia to represent the 32 victims of the Virginia Tech shootings. Within hours my friends responded overwhelmingly. On Sunday, April 22nd, 32 of us, representing the 32 victims at Virginia Tech, lay down for several minutes in front of City Hall. The short duration of our lie-in symbolized the short amount of time it took the Virginia Tech shooter to obtain his gun in Virginia. Protesters included citizens from all walks of life -- mothers, grandmothers, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, preschool and kindergarten teachers, and three hunters’ wives. We wore black with VA Tech-colored remembrance ribbons around our necks. Most of us have never protested before in our lives. We all agree that it is time to put common sense into our gun laws! This protest movement is spreading as women and men, in community after community, lie down in protest, passing the baton from one to another. The Alexandria-32 triggered three other protests in Virginia – the Falls Church-32, Arlington-32, and McLean-32. Since the Virginia Tech tragedy, there have been 10 “lie in” protests in 5 states. The next protest is in Chicago on the 2-month anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Our goal is to encourage like-minded citizens to stage their own protests around the country so that we can influence the public discourse and ultimately the legislative process with regard to this critical national problem. We have created what we call a "Protest-in-a-Box" that will help average American citizens organize and carry out an effective easy protest. We are a social movement fueled not by money, but by outrage. In fact, we do not raise money, we raise consciousness. We commend Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for responding promptly to this tragedy by making sure that mental health records are adequately reported to the Virginia State Police and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) database. But much more needs to be done regarding our lax gun laws in Virginia. As you know, anyone can walk into a gun show in Virginia and buy a gun from a “private seller” without a background check. That means criminals, terrorists, and the mentally unstable can put their money on the counter and walk out of a gun show with a gun, no questions asked. This is madness and we want it changed. Seventeen states in the U.S. have closed this gun show loophole. It is imperative that Virginia closes it as well. Furthermore, we want a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. These guns have no place on our streets, in our schools, or in any place frequented by Virginia’s families—they are weapons of war. We also want a ban on high capacity cartridges, like the ones that the Virginia Tech shooter used. We want the NICS background check system to be strengthened. We want the Tiahrt restrictions removed by Congress so that our police can have access to crime gun trace data. All of these measures would make it harder for criminals and dangerous individuals to buy guns. The bottom line: It is far too easy to buy a gun in Virginia. We need to change our laws to secure a safer future for our children and all Virginians. And we must protect our police so that they can protect us. Protests to Date:
ProtestEasyGuns.com
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