Continuing Coverage by:

Victims: Toughen Brady System

October 16, 2007

By Peter Hardin

WASHINGTON — Three survivors of the Virginia Tech massacre and 50 relatives of victims are asking Congress to pass legislation to strengthen the national instant background-check system for gun buyers.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence made public yesterday their letter urging passage of legislation for states to share with the federal government more complete mental-health information about gun buyers.

"Every day that passes, dangerous people, who our laws have determined should not have guns, may be arming themselves because of this weakness in the background check system," the letter said.

Today, six months after the bloodshed, a survivor of the shooting rampage and about 12 family members of victims plan to appear at a news conference in the Capitol and make their plea.

Pat Craig, the aunt of Ryan Clark, a student from Georgia who was killed, said in a conference call with news media yesterday, "If this bill was in place at the time of April 16, in our minds, none of this would have happened."

Supporting the bill but taking a somewhat different approach is Holly Adams Sherman, mother of Leslie Sherman, a student from Springfield who was killed.

"This measure might have been one deterrent of many possible deterrents" to the actions of gunman Seung-Hui Cho, she said.

The House passed legislation earlier. A similar version has become stalled in the Senate, where Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has objected to Democratic leaders bringing up the measure for a vote.

Coburn said he was concerned because $2 billion in new spending authorized by the bill is not paid for with cuts.

In addition, Coburn said the bill does not pay for a process by which veterans or other Americans can appeal if they think they were wrongly prohibited from buying a gun because of mental-health concerns.

The National Rifle Association supports the legislation. The American Legion opposes certain provisions of it.

Contact Peter Hardin at (202) 662-7669 or phardin@mediageneral.com.