Virginia Tech Students to Participate in Advocacy Day Lie-In

By: afausser
Published On: 1/17/2008 2:45:33 PM

On January 21, students from Virginia Tech as well as other colleges across the state will be traveling to Richmond to advocate that the recommendations made by the Virginia Tech Review Panel be passed into law.

The Collegiate Times has more:

Spangler has put together numerous lie-ins throughout the country in which 32 participants lay down for three minutes, symbolizing the length of time it took for Cho Seung-Hui to purchase the guns used on April 16.

Monday's event, deemed Advocacy Day, falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Buses from all over Virginia, including Tech, University of Virginia, Norfolk and Hampton Roads, and Northern Virginia Community College, will be joined by students from Virginia Commonwealth University for a day of peaceful protest. The buses are provided free of charge. Around 8:45 a.m., the participants will be briefed on the legislation in question before meeting with their respective elected officials. The lie-in is scheduled for 1 p.m. and a vigil featuring speeches by several victims' families will follow.

 I think it's great that this is happening. If only it were addressing mental health concerns, as well, it would be excellent. In my opinon, though, any progress here is better than none at all.



Comments



Update (afausser - 1/17/2008 6:57:22 PM)
I just got this email from the organizers:

Folks,

Delegate Chuck Caputo's bill ( HB 592) and Delegate Dave Marsden's bill (745) requiring background checks at gun shows has been called before the House Milita, Police FULL committee at 9 a.m. Friday 18 January, origninally scheduled for next week.

This was a change made today and perhaps will affect the ability of those that orginally wanted to testify to possibly miss their opportunity, including parents of VT who had planned to participate due to the weather.

Attempts to postpone this have been unsuccessful.

If or your family are a constituent of VA please contact your representative to let them know you support these bills.

You can also call Chair Bev Sherwood's Legislative Assistant at 804-698-1129 and voice your concern.  



I hate to break it to you... (elevandoski - 1/18/2008 1:30:51 PM)
The House Militia, Police and Public Safety committee voted against HB745 in a 13-9 party line vote this morning (Fri., Jan. 17). Bastard Republicans!

Supposedly their "excuse" was that the Virginia Tech gunman did not use the gun show loophole to purchase his guns. He bought the weapons from businesses and passed background checks. Lame!



It's really a shame (afausser - 1/19/2008 7:44:27 PM)
We're still going down Monday though. :)