Posted on 04/09/2008 11:43:58 AM PDT by neverdem
The student government at Virginia Tech asked protesters to demonstrate on a day besides April 16.
BLACKSBURG -- Gun-control advocates planning to protest April 16 on Virginia Tech's Drillfield said Tuesday that they hope to reach a compromise with the university that will allow them to protest without interfering with remembrance events.
Peter Hamm, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence, said the group has been working with Tech students on the protest. It would involve a 32-person "lie-in" at noon April 16, the one-year anniversary of campus shootings that left 32 people dead plus the shooter.
The Brady Campaign sent out a media advisory Thursday announcing the event, planned in conjunction with the gun-control group ProtestEasyGuns.com. Hamm said Tuesday that the gun-control groups had not discussed the event with the university.
Hamm was initially discouraged by what he saw as a hard-line stance by the university against issuing a permit and said Tuesday morning that the event would go ahead as scheduled -- permit or no permit.
But by Tuesday afternoon, he said he was optimistic that Tech students involved in the protest would be able to reach a compromise with the administration. He said the goal of the protesters was never to interfere with the commemoration ceremonies.
"If the parties talk to each other, I think these issues are fully resolvable," he said.
Hamm said the university and the Brady Campaign traded phone calls Tuesday afternoon and he was trying to facilitate discussion between students and the university.
To demonstrate on campus, protesters need to apply for an assembly permit. Tech doesn't allow groups not affiliated with the university to assemble on campus. Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said Tuesday that no one had applied for a permit for April 16, when the university will hold a day of remembrance to honor the shooting victims.
Hincker wouldn't rule out the possibility of the university giving a permit to a student group to assemble somewhere on campus April 16, but he said events are already planned for the Drillfield that morning and evening and the university doesn't want anything to interrupt the "solemnity" of the day.
Hincker said the gun-control issue is an important one, and the university understands the rights of people to express themselves. But he said April 16 is a time for the community to heal and reflect on the lives of people lost a year ago.
"April 16 is, to us, truly a solemn day," he said. "It's a day of remembrance."
Hamm said Tech students organizing the protest have not applied for a permit, but he expected the two sides to have "constructive conversations that will hopefully lead to an amicable resolution."
He would not say who the student organizers are because they've asked the national group to deal with reporters.
But Hamm said decisions on how the protest would be carried out would be determined by the students, not the Brady Campaign or ProtestEasyGuns.com.
"It's not for us to say what's an acceptable resolution," Hamm said. "It's their protest."
Abigail Spangler, founder of ProtestEasyGuns.com began organizing similar lie-in protests after last year's tragedy and has dubbed April 16 National Lie-In Day, with more than 50 events planned around the country.
The group has protested in various spots in Virginia and held a lie-in outside the Capitol in Richmond in January as legislators considered a bill to close the state's so-called "gun show loophole." The legislation, which would've required private sellers to conduct the same criminal background checks on buyers that licensed dealers must perform, was defeated.
Hamm said the lie-ins are quiet, short and peaceful. The protest would take place after the university commemoration events on the Drillfield that morning.
"I don't think anyone should see a lie-in as a cause for alarm," Hamm said.
Scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., the commemoration events will involve the reading of names of the victims and short tributes to each of them. Gov. Tim Kaine, a supporter of bills to close the gun show loophole, will be there.
Some students have expressed concern about protesters on campus April 16.
Tech's Student Government Association passed a resolution Tuesday night asking protesters "to respect the Virginia Tech community's wish to peacefully embrace the university day of remembrance by holding their demonstrations on a different date."
Sophomore Alyson Boyce, one of the sponsors of the resolution, said it isn't meant to discourage protests in general.
"We just want April 16 to be a day to honor our friends," she said.
Classic! They are exercising their 1st amendment rights in hopes of violating their 2nd amendment rights by introducing gun control. These are college students?
Just because they are in college doesn’t mean they are smart. The thing that makes me laugh about this is these idiots will never see that all their stupid small scale theatrics like this never change anything. They just come off as liberal loons.
Perhaps not. An Obama delegate was forced to step-down recently after receiving a citation for disturbing the peace following her telling her neighbor kids they should stop climbing in their tree like monkeys (guess what their ethnicity is?) So, she was penalized for thinking outloud when making an innocent comment. If your thoughts are made public, you can be made to pay a price.
My first thought when I read the headline was here’s a group that’s gonna spread some more lies about the evils of guns.
“Liberals, even when you grieve your dead, it’s all about them.”
Post of the day!!
I live only a few miles from Va Tech and am 100% against this retarded “lie down/lie in” thing. Many of the police officers, faculty, staff, students, parents, emergency responders, and some of my coworkers, etc. are still experiencing PTSD from that day and to see a bunch of morons laying on the ground can only bring back TERRIBLE memories for these people.
My son will be going to Tech (since it’s a short drive) in another year and he thinks this idea is crap too!!! Several of his friends (not harmed) were on campus and one was in the building next to the one where the main shooting took place (remember...there were 2 incidents that day a couple hours apart). why not do all to get on with life and learn a way to respond correctly to a threat rather than mimick a bunch of dead students by the living?!?
Handcuffs all around I say.
Not on the drillfield. There are no hidden spaces nearby. The place will be crawling with cops.
Of course because once the govt has no reason to fear them, then they (the govt) will start to listen to their protests on other matters. (sarcasm off)
Great Point!
The readers of the Tech newspaper have been hammering these people. People are really upset about this group using the tragedy as a political tool.
It’s not a “Lie In. It’s a “Die In”. They just changed the name of it.
I thought about paint guns, but figured it would be easier to prosecute those.
That’s pretty insulting to the people who died on the planes that hit the pentagon and the WTC. They would have fought if they had known what was in store for them, and I don’t believe all of them were wusses afraid of a fighting in the right circumstances...
With respect for the dead, they are the following week.
UCCS students want concealed carry permits
"From April 21 through 25, they'll wearing empty holsters around campus, as part of the group's nationwide protest."
Thanks for the link.
Yeah, it’s obvious we need to do something to ban automobiles.
p.s. I am not advocating this action. It was just a thought. We can still have independent thoughts right???
That would be most amusing, LOL.
Isn't it ironic that they will be protected from such a counter demonstration by men wearing real guns!
Ironic that they would call it a “Lie-in”, since “Lies” are the bread and butter of those in the gun-control movement.
No, they won't get it. Remember that Liberalism is a mental disorder, so rational thoughts by them is not possible. I can't wait to see these morons reactions if the Heller case goes our way.
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