The Virgina Tech Grad You Don’t Hear About

When you mix the words guns and Virginia Tech grads together in the media, you are mostly likely to hear about Colin Goddard of the Brady Campaign or his movie Living for 32. The other alternative usually is Omar Samaha of MAIG’s Fix Gun Checks. If you are in Texas you might also hear about doctoral student John O. Woods and his campaign against guns at the University of Texas-Austin.

I’d like to add another name to that list – Dr. Ken Stanton who earned his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in 2010 and who is now a Research Scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State. He was on campus in Blacksburg on that day in 2007 when the madman killed 32 students and faculty. He, too, lost a good friend to the madman (whose name I choose not to publicize). However, as Stanton explained to a reporter for the Wall Street Journal for an article on campus carry published yesterday, he took a different lesson from the shootings than did Goodard, Samaha, and Woods.

But Ken Stanton, a Virginia Tech Ph.D. student at the time of the
shooting, said he decided to become a research scientist at Colorado
State University because he wanted to be on a campus where he could
legally carry a gun to class. The Virginia shooting, which killed one of
his friends, left him convinced that concealed weapons should be
permitted on campuses to allow people to defend themselves.

“It is not a force field, but it just means that if something bad
does happen, we can fight back,” said Mr. Stanton, an advocate for gun
rights on campus. “At Virginia Tech, no one had a chance.”

Dr. Stanton decided not to be a victim. I’m sure there are many other Virginia Tech grads who were on campus that fateful day in 2007 who have made the same decision and of whom we will never read about in the mainstream media. That Dr. Stanton was even mentioned is an aberration because when the media has to choose between promoting self-defense or victim-hood, it is almost inevitable that victim-hood wins.

A Serious Rebuttal To Colin Goddard

By now most people have heard the name Colin Goddard. Many people also know that he was one of the students shot by the deranged student at Virginia Tech. Many also know that he is now a paid staff member of the Brady Campaign with the title of Assistant Director of Federal Legislation.

The New York Daily News called Goddard a “walking, talking poster boy for gun control” while discussing his movie “Living for 32.” I didn’t realize until I read that article that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s sister, Maria Cuomo Cole, was both the producer and financier of Goddard’s movie.

Michael Bane is his Down Range Radio podcast last week provided a serious examination and rebuttal to Colin Goddard. Goddard is now touring the country promoting “sensible gun control”. As Michael notes, we seem in this country to confer special rights and status to those who are “victims”.

Goddard has said when the gunman came to his classroom that he and his fellow students “didn’t know what to do”. As Michael rightly points out, “Which sensible gun law protects you when you are cowering under your desk?”

While you can listen to the whole podcast on the embedded player below, the relevant part starts at the 32:06 mark and continues to the end. It is well worth a listen.

Oprah Has Colin Goddard On As A Guest

Oh, joy of joys. I’m stuck at home today due to the snow and am stuck with the vast wasteland of daytime TV. Oprah is on and is featuring an interview with Colin Goddard, Virginia Tech survivor and the Brady Campaign’s Assistant Director of Federal Legislation.

She is talking about his film “Living for 32”.

Oprah asks him if he has found “his calling” after this. He says he had to do this after the massacre.

Oh, jeez!