Richmond’s WCVE: On sixth-month anniversary ofVirginia Tech shooting, family members of victims lobby for tougher gun laws in DC
Below find the public radio script for this story that aired on Richmond’s WCVE.
Suggested host intro: To mark the sixth-month anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, family members of victims came to Washington to lobby for a tougher gun law. Matt Laslo reports from Capitol Hill.
NARR: The somber family members crowded the back of a small room in the Capitol. They want lawmakers to strengthen the federal data base that checks the mental history of gun buyers. Holly Sherman’s daughter Leslie was killed at Virginia Tech in April.
SHERMAN1-DILLUTING
:13 “It’s too bad there has to be a tragedy like this to bring victims out to try to pass something that common sense would dictate should have been brought out by the rank and file or by anybody – it shouldn’t take victims to do this.”
The House already passed its version of the bill. It is currently being blocked in the Senate by Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. He says he’s worried the law could keep veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from buying guns. Supporters are pressuring Senate leaders to find a way around Coburn before the session ends.
Matt Laslo, WCVE News, Capitol Hill.
