BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE
For Immediate Release
December 21, 2010
Contact: Caroline Brewer, 202-289-5769 or cbrew@bradymail.org
BRADY CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES ‘GODDARDS ON GUNS’ BLOG
“Father and Son take on gun lobby after VA Tech Tragedy”
Washington, D.C. – A father who nearly lost his only son to gun violence, and that son, who survived being shot four times in the worst school shooting in U.S. history, are adding their voices to the blogosphere, the Brady Campaign today announced.
Virginia Tech survivor Colin Goddard and his father, Andrew, who are both active in the gun violence prevention movement, are teaming up to write a blog about gun issues.
“Since being shot at Virginia Tech, a number of people have told me that crazy people are going to do crazy things and there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Colin Goddard, 25. “I reject that premise. There are things we can and must do. One of them is to speak out against America’s epidemic of gun violence and talk about the solutions. My voice is my greatest weapon, and blogging with my father is one of the ways I intend to use it.”
The Goddards didn’t know it then, but the April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre, in which 32 students and teachers were killed, would be the event that would help them find their voices on gun violence and spur them to pursue meaningful social and public policy changes to prevent similar tragedies.
The Virginia Tech killer, who carried out the massacre with two semi-automatic assault pistols, should not have been legally allowed to purchase those guns because of his history of mental illness. When the Goddards discovered how easy it is for dangerous people to get guns in America, they vowed to fight for change.
Colin Goddard, who now works at the Brady Campaign as Assistant Director for Federal Legislation, went to gun shows with a hidden camera in 2009 as an intern for Brady to expose the loophole that allows private sellers to sell guns without criminal background checks.
That experience, and Colin’s work at Brady, inspired filmmakers to make the young man’s story the subject of a new documentary, Living for 32, which has been accepted for competition in the Short Films category at the Sundance Film Festival (see http.www.livingfor32.com) and is being screened at select venues around the country. The producer is Maria Cuomo Cole, who blogged about Colin and guns on campus on the Huffington Post recently. The post is available here.
Andrew Goddard, a retired engineer who resides in Richmond, Va., became president of the Richmond Chapter of the Million Mom March shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings.Any bets on whether or not these professional victims will allow "reasoned discourse"?
As Andrew sat near his recuperating son’s bedside that snowy April day and noticed that “sandbags are piled against the wounds to stem the bleeding, but the sheets and pillow slowly turn from starched white to dull red,” questions nagged and tugged at him. “What circumstances caused this terrible event? Where did (the shooter) get his guns and what made him want to shoot all those people? What could have been done to prevent this?” Andrew recalled with Colin in their introductory blog posted at bradycampaign.org and www.hufffingpost.com
The Goddards will blog about “the flow of guns between the legal and illegal markets, state and federal gun legislation and policies, mental health, school and university policies, and America’s culture of gun violence in general.”
Colin Goddard can also be followed on Twitter and Facebook.
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As the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, works to enact and enforce sensible gun laws, regulations and public policies. The Brady Campaign is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.
I don't see a url and haven't been able to locate the actual blog site--yet.
I just don't think "Goddards on Guns" is as catchy as "The Human Target"...
UPDATE: Here it is. Nope--no comments allowed. This is my shocked face. [Thanks, Sean D Sorrentino]