Kaine marks Va. tech massacre with call for gun control measures

Sen. Tim Kaine came to th floor of the Senate to read the names of the 32 Virginia tech students and faculty who died in the mass shooting of April 16, 2007, and to call on Congress to pass comprehensive background check legislation -- the kind of law that would have kept shooter Seung Hui Cho for getting the high-powered weapons he used on that terrible day.

Kaine said Congress needs to stand up against groups like the National Rifle Association that oppose such legislation -- and he told his fellow Senators about two survivors of the Virginia Tech massacre, Virginians Colin Goddard and Lily Habtu, who have become strong advocates for stricter gun laws. 

“As we commemorate the shooting at Virginia Tech honoring those we lost, honoring those brave survivors like Colin and Lily, who are using their experiences to help others, honoring the resilience of the entire Hokie nation, it is my hope that my colleagues will get serious about gun safety." Kaine said.

Though he owns guns himself and supports the Second Amendment, Kaine said "the time is long overdue for a comprehensive background check system that keeps weapons out of the hands of dangerous people like Seung-Hui Cho.”

Kaine said the NRA opposes background checks even though American gun owners and even NRA members have indicated strong support.

"The NRA has been fond of saying,  ‘we don’t need new gun laws, we just need to enforce existing laws.’ That is exactly what a background records check does,” he said.

Kaine said the NRA doesn’t represent American gun owners, but rather gun manufacturers, and that Congress is equally beholden to the gun industry whose first interest is “selling as many guns as you can to whomever you can, whenever you can and wherever you can.”

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