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Mass Shooting Survivor's Gun Show Video Sparks Debate
posted 11/18/09 3:43 pm
NewsChannel 8 - Mass Shooting Survivor's Gun Show Video Sparks Debate
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ARLINGTON, Va. - A new video, made by a survivor of the Virginia Tech mass shooting, is becoming an internet sensation. It's also sparking a debate over how easy it is to buy a gun in the Commonwealth.

He was shot four times and survived. Now, Colin Goddard has gone undercover to unveil the ease with which you still can buy a gun in Virginia. Goddard armed himself with a hidden camera to take aim at gun shows.

He documents how easy it is to buy a gun from an unlicensed seller at gunshows across the country. If it's a private transfer, there is no background check. It's simply cash and carry.

"You can just pay your money, you can get your gun and you just walk out," said Goddard. "No one is going to ask you any questions. This is the problem we want to stop."

"I like the gun he bought. I wish I had been there," commented Larry Pratt after viewing Goddard's video.

Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America sees nothing new in Goddard's video, released by the pro-gun control group the Brady Campaign. He says these transactions are perfectly legal.

"No, no law is broken," stated Pratt. "The Brady Campaign can't get it through their head that gun shows aren't the problem -- disarmed victims are the problem."

He continued, " Whaty they are trying to do to gun shows isn't going to touch what criminals do at all."

Private sales, which require no waiting period or background checks, are legal in a majority of states, including Virginia. Only three states, Maryland among them, regulate private transfers of guns.

"It's just frustrating to me to see how easy it is," said Cathy Read after seeing Goddard's video.

Cathy Read lost her stepdaughter Mary in Cho Seung-Hui's rampage at Virginia Tech. Goddard's video stirs her outrage over the ease with which a mentally ill person bought the gun which took so much from so many. She worries about how many more mentally ill people still can get firearms.

"It's easier to buy a gun than to buy just about anything else. If you buy anything at the store you have to pay taxes. You buy a gun at a gun show you don't even pay taxes," said Read. "There is something fundamentally wrong there."

Goddard bought numerous guns at shows in Minnesota, Ohio, and Virginia. All the weapons he bought he turned over to police.

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