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.
Gun Controllers have ALWAYS sponsored Lie-ins - whenever they state their “facts”!
ping.
Nope, paintball guns! Red paint. Getting wet doesn't send a message. Ever get wacked with one of those without thick clothing and man that will leave a welp!
They’d probably be charged as “firearms” if they ised them. It’s awfully hard to stick a charge on someone with a clear, bright hot pink florecent water gun.
And why should not someone who uses a paintball gun against another without consent be prosecuted for such? Even a water pistol would be a somewhat shaky ground legally (if a local prosecutor is anti-gun, he'd probably cooperate with any 'lie in' participants who wanted to press charges; I doubt he could score a conviction, but he could still impose thousands of dollars in legal expenses).
I'd suggest a toy "laser pistol" might be better. No real way to get prosecuted for that I would think. Though what might be better still if there were two 'lie ins' near to each other would be to have the 'attacker' attack both, but have an "armed" person nearby the second one.
until you accidentally hit someone in the eye and perminately blind them. What does hitting them with a beam of light do? Give them a welp. It'll cost more to hire lawyers to prosecute than its worth.
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