Virginia Tech Shooting Survivor Pushes For Tougher Gun Regulation
WASHINGTON (WJZ)— When a gunman opened fire on students at Virginia Tech, he changed Colin Goddard's life forever.
Jessica Kartalija tells why this victim of violence is now a man on a mission.
Gunshots rang out on the Virginia Tech campus April 16, 2007.
"I was in total disbelief what was going on," said Goddard, a victim of the Virginia Tech shooting. "Bullets started coming through our door and everyone hit the floor."
Four bullets strike Goddard.
"I just dove under the desk, had nowhere to go and tried to act like I was already dead," he recalled.
Kartalija: "Do you ever think back to that day and all of your classmates in that classroom and think why did I live?"
"It's there," Goddard said. "There's nothing I can do about that. So am I supposed to be upset about that, have pity on myself my entire life? No. I want to do something with this. I want to be happy, and the work that I'm doing now makes me happy."
That work is with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
He spends his days on Capitol Hill lobbying lawmakers for universal background checks. So anytime anyone sells a gun, there's a background check, including sales from unlicensed dealers at gun shows. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms calls gun shows major trafficking channels.
Goddard is also the centerpiece of a new HBO documentary where he shows how easily you can buy a gun with no background check.
"I'm not talking about removing all guns or banning guns," Goddard said. "I'm trying to make sure we do a better job checking people so guns go into the hands of the good guys, not the bad guys."
The Virginia Tech gunman who shot Goddard and 31 other people slipped through the system despite a court order finding him mentally ill and dangerous. That paperwork never made it into the federal system, which would have stopped the gun sale. Goddard wants lawmakers to provide better incentives to states to turn over all of their records.
"We make it way too easy for these people...anyone to just go and buy a gun," he said.
Those opposed to gun control disagree, insisting criminals will always find a way to get a gun.
"The laws only apply to the law abiding," said John Josselyn, Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore. "The people who do not obey the law work in a whole different realm."
Kartalija: "How far do you want to push?
"People say this is the land of the free," Goddard replied. "They say free to carry a gun with you wherever you want to. I think the land of the free is being free to walk down the street or free to go to university without the fear of someone shooting you. I say that is the land of the free. That is what we should be aiming for."
Goddard tells WJZ that mandatory background checks have already kept guns out of the hands of more than 2 million people the government viewed as dangerous.
