Posted on 08/28/2015 6:00:05 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Andy Parker’s morning started at 5:30 a.m. Thursday. The hours passed by in a blur of blinding TV lights — ABC, NBC, CNN.
In interview after interview, he almost broke down when the reporter asked the inevitable question: Tell us about your daughter. What made Alison so special?
But again and again, Parker fought back the tears.
"It’s what I’ve got to do," he said. "This is my new mission in life, and I’m doing it for Alison."
Alison Parker, a 24-year-old reporter for WDBJ-TV, and Adam Ward, a 27-year-old cameraman, were gunned down early Wednesday morning in an on-air attack that has stunned the community.
The shooter, a troubled man who was fired from the TV station more than two years ago, died later that day of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Shortly before, he reportedly faxed a rage-filled manifesto to an ABC News.
In the hours after the attack, Parker found himself wondering: How many more?
"You look at this, you look at Newtown, you look at the movie theater shooter," he said. "How many times does this have to happen before we take action as a country and the politicians grow some backbone and stop being lackeys of the NRA?"
"To have her life cut down in cold blood like that. There needs to be a remedy for that. It needs to stop."
Since then, Parker has talked about the often-difficult issue of gun control with anyone willing to listen. He’s done a string of interviews, frequently by remote from outside the family home in Henry County where Alison grew up.
He’s talked to Gov. Terry McAuliffe. He’s called out congressmen. He’s thrown down the gauntlet with the NRA.
"I believe in the Second Amendment. But there has to be some common sense," he said. "There has to be a means test associated with people who are mentally disturbed to keep them from getting guns."
The debate over guns in America sprang up quickly after Wednesday’s shooting. McAuliffe — who ran on a gun-control platform and thumbed his nose when the NRA gave him an F rating — started renewing his calls for legislative action that day.
The White House and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton quickly followed.
There was an equally strong backlash from those who saw politicians exploiting a community tragedy. Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Franklin County, urged officials to refrain from using the shooting for political ends.
The family of Vicki Gardner, who was wounded in the shooting and remained hospitalized Thursday, were appalled when they heard Clinton’s remarks.
"This isn’t a presidential campaign act," said Gardner’s daughter, Erin Arnold. "This is my mom and these poor people’s children."
In his own statements, McAuliffe repeatedly called for universal background checks for gun buyers. But he also acknowledged it wasn’t clear if a background check would have made a difference.
On Thursday, federal authorities said the shooter passed a background check and bought the gun legally.
Brian Coy, a spokesman for McAuliffe, argued that doesn’t mean no action is needed to combat gun violence.
"We should do everything we can from a policy standpoint to keep guns out of the hands of people who would use them for harm," Coy said.
Universal background checks remain one way, Coy contended. Other ideas may emerge as Wednesday’s shooting is examined, and McAuliffe will continue to pursue the issue. State Sen. Bill Stanley, who has known Parker for years, said it’s been heartbreaking to see what the family is going through.
"If Andy comes to me, then I’m going to do everything I can to help Andy," he said, adding he’d give serious review to any measures Parker proposed.
Stanley, R-Franklin County, has been praised as pro-gun by the NRA. But he said he felt there was common ground to be had on the issue.
"Certainly, I think we need to take a look at making sure that we’re keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill," he said.
But there are no clear or easy answers to the questions raised by Wednesday’s shooting, Stanley added.
While the attacker was clearly troubled, his history set off none of the alarms that authorities look for.
"Universal background checks would not have prevented this," Stanley said. "A background check only determines if someone has a criminal record or other legal prohibition that would prevent them from owning a gun. It can’t tell us what they’re thinking."
The conversation may be better focused on how the state deals with mental illness and issues surrounding workplace violence and hate crimes, he said.
Parker himself doesn’t yet have a clear proposal for action. He said he hopes to reach out to others affected by gun violence and formulate a plan.
One of his biggest worries now is that the issue will simply fade away from the public’s mind. "I’m not going to let that happen," he vowed. "We need to constantly keep this message going."
"This is something I’m not going to let go of. I’m going to be relentless about it. Because this is going to give Alison’s life even more meaning, and hopefully prevent the next tragedy."
It’s a shame that poor young woman’s father is a vile, lying, hate-filled, bigoted asswipe.
None
I have no idea about background checks for gun purchases but it seems to me if police are called to escort you out of your former employer that fired you that day, some sort of red flag should be recorded.
Killing from a distance is easier.
But the point is that the distance was very short. He could have touched these people.
He has seen his child gunned down as she desperately ran for her life. He hasn’t even had much time to absorb that.
There will be people around trying to use him for their own agenda.
What could have prevented this? He passed a background check.
Do we put difficult nasty people on some sort of list?
I can think of quite a few people who remind me of this guy.
Really ... How DO you prevent this? What possible law could have stopped him?
Take away everyone’s guns?
He’ll get one illegally. Or use a bomb. Or a knife.
He also said he thinks he might need to get a gun now that he is in the public eye, but denied getting any death threats... I watched part of an interview he did. I feel very bad for the victims, less bad for people like him.
He’s a frustrated Leftist politician.
He was promised his career would be resuscitated if he would read the copy and wave his daughter’s bloody shirt for the cameras.
That’s all there ever is or will be to this putz.
I’ve always thought it was never a good idea for the media to pursue grieving family in the aftermath of these things.
They aren’t in their right minds. Probably haven’t slept. And there is always that desire for their loved one to not have “died in vain”
A need to assign blame - and then to “fix” things.
The media gobbles up the drama like vultures.
Did you see the video of this crime? It seemed to me very odd that the shooter approached the victims slowly, while recording it with his camera, and none of them took any notice of him. Presumably, there were not many people up and about in that shopping centre at 06h45, but he warranted not a glance.
Later on, he stood behind the camera man aiming the pistol at Ms Parker for what seemed to me like a long while, at a short distance, and still none of them noticed him.
I am not so sure that if any of the victims were armed, it would have done any good.
It’s a Democrat thing. Ideology trumps Family every time.
I agree. I’m an Estate Planning lawyer, and when one of my clients or their loved ones die, one of the first things that I tell the family is not to make any big decisions for at least a few months. Their minds simply cannot function normally with that kind of loss so close in time.
I feel very badly for Andy Parker and his family. I hope that they can derive at least some comfort from the kind of person that Alison was, and the fact that literally millions of people are praying for them. But barring a complete revamping of our mental health system, incidents like this will continue. That, or basically banning guns, which is utterly unacceptable. I hope that he wwill come to understand that this was a horrible tragedy, but one that could not have been prevented without dramatically affecting the most basic rights of millions. You can’t just lock up disagreeable a - holes because they MIGHT hurt someone, nor deny those people and everyone else the right to self-defense. Until we have the knowledge to be CERTAIN that someone is so mentally unstable that they WILL hurt others in the future, there is simply no way to stop horribly tragic incidents like this one without a massive denial of basic rights to millions of innocent people.
i call bs
the murderer was a disgruntled black queer, the perfect storm of unfulfilled over expectations. his self esteem had been raised by first a black president and then the apparent rise in all sorts of gay rights issues. but to him, there was no difference. he was still a loser rather than rich and famous
the reason was at root, he was a black queer loser.
There were no real mental issues....... those are excuses to justify the failure of a queer black man to reach his own expectations
https://drhurd.com/55552-2/
“Having your second amendment and eating it too.”
Where's the LIKE button?
Andy is like most liberals. Anti-gun and he’s not going to let up on being able to use his daughters dead body to profit. He’s probably already being put on speaking dates and the obituary announcing a funeral for his daughter hasn’t even been planned.
The survivor said she didn’t see him because the light on the camera is so bright it blinded her from seeing behind the camera man.
The shooter probably knew they couldn’t see him.
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