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WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday are expected to publish a report on the disputed gun trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious, concluding that agents in Arizona — not Obama administration officials — were responsible for the tactics used in the inquiry and for providing misleading information relayed to Congress. In an 89-page report, titled “Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gun-walking in Arizona,” the Democratic staff portrays Fast and Furious as the fourth investigation, dating back to 2006, in which Arizona-based agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives employed...

As a heated issue among the American public, gun control has undoubtedly become one of the most salient topics in relation to law and public policy. Additionally, as a response to the wave of campus crime and gun violence through the recent decades, many universities have adapted the policy of a gun-free zone for their campuses. Setting aside the Constitutional intent on the issue, empirical results on college campuses have consistently illustrated the harm that gun-free zones pose.

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Police identified the Virginia Tech gunman on Friday as a part-time college student from nearby Radford University, though they still have not been able to say what led him to kill a police officer and then himself. The day before Thursday's shooting and campus-wide lockdown, Ross Truett Ashley, 22, stole a sport utility vehicle at gunpoint from a real estate office in Radford, police said. He dumped the car on the Virginia Tech campus and it was found Thursday. Police said that same day he walked up to the patrolman he did not know and fired,...

http://www.vt.edu/

Only Link per rules:http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/12/virginia-tech-reports-shots-fired-on-campus/1

Virginia Tech was the site of one of the bloodiest school shootings in the history of the United States. On that day a single gunman killed 33 people and injured 25 more before he took his own life. Many of us on this site believe the vast majority of those deaths could have been prevented by a single legally armed citizen and their firearm, but thanks to gun-free school laws and policies every victim was unarmed and defenseless. The Virginia Civil Defense League, Virginia’s firearms owner rights protection group, just announced their plans to hold a protest on November 17th...

BLACKSBURG, VA -- 9:59 a.m. WSLS can confirm that the campus siren system has been activated. --- 9:47 a.m. Virginia Tech Alert claims person with a gun spotted near Dietrick Dining Hall. Tech asking people on campus to stay inside, secure doors. Police conducting search now. WSLS's Ken Heineck is on the way to Virginia Tech now. More information as we get it.

As college students across the country prepare to convene in the nation’s capitol to discuss college gun bans on August 8th, two more states have expanded the right to carry concealed weapons on campus. Wisconsin became the 49th state to decriminalize bearing arms for defense when Governor Scott Walker signed SB 93 into law on July 8. The law, which goes into effect in November, removes the state prohibition on concealed carry, limiting possession of firearms on K-12 institutions but excluding college campuses. “Carrying a concealed weapon for protection is no longer a criminal offense in Wisconsin,” said David Burnett,...

Following last week’s opinion by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that state university policies are trumped by state-issued concealed handgun permits while properly promulgated regulations are not, Virginia Tech has announced their intent to transform their ‘no guns’ policy into a regulation. Generally, the process to promulgate a regulation under the Virginia Administrative Process Act (VAPA) requires a number of time consuming steps. However ...

On April 16, 2007, the day of the Virginia Tech massacre, then-Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, spoke at a campaign rally in Milwaukee WI, where he cunningly associated the tragic act of violence to a host of unrelated political issues, thereby politicizing the tragedy, as he did last week, during memorial services for the victims of the Arizona shootings: Video

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Defense is funding research to discover how species of Asian snakes are able to glide long distances through the air, researchers say. Researchers at Virginia Tech are studying how snakes of the genus Chrysopelea, found in Southeast Asia, India and southern China, glide without the benefit of any wings or wing-like parts, The Washington Post reported Monday. The snakes undulate from side to side, almost as if slithering through the air, to glide from the tops of 200-foot tall trees to land almost 800 feet away. "Basically ... they become one...

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia's governor led a ceremony at the state Capitol to mark the third anniversary of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history at Virginia Tech. Gov. Bob McDonnell on Friday read a proclamation at a gathering at the Capitol bell tower honoring the 32 who died and those who were injured in the shootings. He also said the state would observe Virginia Tech Remembrance Day each April 16 during the four years of his term. The crowd observed a moment of silence, and McDonnell then read the names of each of the students and faculty fatally...

April 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- College students across America will once again strap on empty holsters in an act of silent protest against laws and policies banning licensed concealed carry on campus. The protest, sponsored by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), will take place April 5-9, 2010 and comes on the heels of college administrators discriminating against concealed carry permit holders, and censoring students who disagree. According to the group, colleges have repeatedly ignored or attempted to keep students from discussing the issue. In Pennsylvania, one college banned SCCC member Christine Brashier from handing out fliers about the group,...

Last year Virginia Tech drew unflattering attention to itself with a diversity policy proposed for the college of arts and humanities that amounted to an ideological loyalty oath. The draft proposal managed to include nearly every warmed-over cliché of identity politics, from "socially constructed differences" to "systems of power" to "hierarchy and privilege." The proposal made it clear that professors hoping to enjoy a fruitful career would have to prove themselves good little party members by participating in diversity workshops and even revising their course curricula to incorporate "issues of gender, race, and other perspectives." Administrators wisely backed off that...

The state medical examiner has confirmed the remains found on an Albemarle County Farm Tuesday are those of Morgan Harrington. Virginia State Police say the confirmation was made using dental records provided by the family and say the investigation continues into the time and cause of death.... Lt. Joe Rader, the lead investigator in Harrington's disappearance, said the area where the remains were discovered had not been searched previously. He added that the missing person case was now most likely a homicide. He said investigators were combing the area carefully, saying it was "imperative to maintain the sanctity of the...

The parents of Morgan D. Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student missing since October, have been called to a farm off U.S. 29 south of Charlottesville, where police are investigating the discovery of skeletal remains.

Skeletal remains were found this morning in Albemarle County and police investigators are on the scene. Officials have not yet released details. But authorities and volunteers conducted multiple searches in the area after the Oct. 17 disappearance of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington. Harrington, 20, went missing outside a Metallica Concert at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena in nearby Charlottesville. We will update as we learn more. Here is the statement from Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller: "Virginia State Police and Albemarle County Police are currently on the scene of the discovery of skeletal remains in...

New details revealed Friday about the university's response — from the time the victims were found to when they alerted the campus of a gunman on the loose — brought angry reactions and questions from some victims' families about leadership during the massacre that ended with 33 people dead.

Friends of the missing Virginia Tech student will be walking in the Vinton Christmas parade, which starts at 7 p.m......The 20 year old disappeared after going to a Metallica concert in Charlottesville on October 17.....Harrington was well known at the Roanoke office of Mental Health America, where she was a volunteer with the Forgotten Victims Group, which helps children of domestic violence. Harrington started volunteering there when she was in the eighth grade.....Some of the very people Harrington helped will be marching in the parade and passing out fliers about her disappearance. The group plans to pass out about 2,000...

Morgan Harrington was seen hitchhiking for a ride on the Copeley Road Bridge on the night of her disappearance, according to a police brief released Nov. 13. “After the 9:30 (p.m.) timeframe, we can’t seem to establish any other sightings of her,” said Corinne Geller, spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police. It was also released in the brief that she was wearing a Swarovski Crystal necklace on that night. Harrington might have received a ride or approached someone to borrow a cell phone, Geller said. “She was wearing it that night,” Geller said. “She dropped her purse and her cell...

Time after time, public murder sprees occur in "gun-free zones" - public places where citizens are not legally able to carry guns. The list is long, including massacres at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School along with many less deadly attacks. Last week's slaughter at Fort Hood Army base in Texas was no different - except that one man bears responsibility for the ugly reality that the men and women charged with defending America were deliberately left defenseless when a terrorist opened fire. Among President Clinton's first acts upon taking office in 1993 was to disarm U.S. soldiers on military...

This is a big week for the Virginia Tech chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. It's Defense Education Week, and the student group, which has 100 to 200 members, has organized a week's worth of seminars and gatherings in support of concealed carry on Virginia college campuses. Monday night's featured speaker was Philip Van Cleave, president of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League. Earlier Monday, I spoke to Ken Stanton, 32, a serious-sounding engineering graduate student and the vice president of the Virginia Tech chapter of the concealed carry group. Here's his argument in favor of guns on...

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- As Americans scrambled to make sense of the life of Army psychiatrist Nidal M. Hasan, who allegedly killed 13 people and injured 38 more at Fort Hood, Tex., last week, one fact stood out for those living here: Hasan graduated from Virginia Tech in 1995. "We were like, 'Oh, jeez, not again,' " said Liana Bayne, a freshman communications major who was in charge of writing about the shooting for the campus newspaper, the Collegiate Times. The paper's student editors quickly re-framed their story to reflect the school's connection to another tragedy. It has been 2 1/2...

In light of the Fort Hood Massacre, you notice there are not much condemnation from Muslims, like right after 9/11. It was silence for the most part, with the exception of a few. On the other hand, there were lots of condemnation from Koreans right after the Virginia Tech Massacre. Quite a stark contrast right there. They were fears of backlash in both cases. By the way, I never encountered any backlash after Virginia Tech Massacre. South Korea apologized after Seung-Hui Cho massacred 32 people. Quite frankly, I thought that was a little over the top coming from a Korean...

Lessons learned from the horrific Virginia Tech shootings in 2007 are credited with averting an even bigger massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, Thursday afternoon when police officer Kimberly Munley confronted the gunman without waiting for backup and took him down with four shots. Reviews in the aftermath of the shootings at Virginia Tech, where 32 died, found that first responders' decision to be careful and wait for backup probably cost lives as that gunman moved unchecked from classroom to classroom as law enforcement massed outside. Those findings had found their way to Fort Hood's Special Reaction Team, which had practiced...

Virginia Tech this morning confirmed that Fort Hood shooting suspect Nadal Malik Hasan graduated from the university in 1995. Here's the full news release. Virginia Tech has confirmed with the United States Army Human Resources Command in Alexandria, Va., that the alleged shooter at Fort Hood, Texas, once attended Virginia Tech. According to Virginia Tech records, Nidal Malik Hasan first enrolled at Virginia Tech for Summer Session II in 1992, and completed coursework in Spring Semester 1995. He received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in biochemistry from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He minored in biology...

The suspect, a Virginia Tech graduate and one-time Vinton resident, was shot but survived at Fort Hood, Texas. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of shooting 12 people to death and wounding 31 others at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, was the son of Roanoke merchants and restaurateurs, lived in Vinton and graduated from Virginia Tech. Hasan was born in Arlington to Palestinian immigrants from near Jerusalem who later settled in Vinton. Neighbors on Vinton's Ramada Road remembered him as a "studious" boy who went by "Michael." While his brother Eyad -- "Eddie" -- would play football with...

WASHINGTON — Military officials say Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspected shooter at Fort Hood, was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for six years before being transferred to the Texas base in July. They said he received a poor performance evaluation while at Walter Reed. The Virginia-born soldier is single with no children. He is 39 years old. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech, where he was a member of the ROTC and earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1997. At Walter Reed, he did an internship, residency and a fellowship.

Jihad at Fort Hood? Shooter: Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan - Jihad Watch via kwout

American heavy metal band Metallica has stumped up 50,000 dollars in reward money for a fan who disappeared at one of their concerts, a campaign website said Monday. Police have been searching for blond-haired, blue-eyed Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, since she went missing from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville, Virginia on the evening of Saturday, October 17.... "The Band Metallica is also adding an additional 50,000 dollars to the reward bringing it to 150,000 dollars for Morgan's safe return or information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Morgan's disappearance," it said....

Every day, nearly 2,500 missing-persons reports are filed across the United States. Few of those reports receive any media attention. Yet the disappearance of Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington went from local newspaper and television stations to cable television's "Nancy Grace" in 48 hours. According to some television and digital journalism experts, Harrington's case skyrocketed because of a confluence of circumstances including her connection to the site of the largest mass school shooting in U.S. history. Those experts say that the disappearance of the 20-year-old from Roanoke County made national news because: -- Harrington is a young, pretty, blue-eyed...

Gun Rights: A decade after Congress forbade the CDC from studying the health consequences of gun ownership, the National Institutes of Health has started funding such research. Will reform pry the guns from our cold, sick hands? More than a decade ago Congress, seeing it as a backdoor assault on the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms, voted to cut funding for firearms research by the Centers for Disease Control. Such research was viewed as one-sided and based on flawed assumptions that all gun use was bad, even that which saved lives and deterred crime. The...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Police searched Tuesday for a Virginia Tech student who hasn't been seen since she was separated from her friends at a Metallica concert Saturday. Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, was last seen near the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. Her parents said they talk to her every day and her disappearance is very out of character.

Lynchburg, VA - Supporters of the Second Amendment gathered Friday afternoon at the Liberty University (web) School of Law for a gun rights symposium. The discussion of current legal cases turned into a cry for help from students at Virginia Tech. Some Virginia Tech students even skipped class to do it. Alyson Boyce with VT Students for Concealed Carry President said, "Two and a half years ago, if you would have asked me anything about gun rights, I would not have been able to tell you a thing. Now, Boyce is the president of the Hokie Chapter of Students for...

Note: Photo included. Contrite St. John's Univ. student behind alleged massacre threats on Facebook says booze to blame BY KERRY BURKE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, September 17th 2009, 3:34 PM PHOTO CAPTION: "Radames Santiago Jr., 18, a student from St John's, who was arrested for making threats on his Facebook page." SNIPPET: "A St. John's University freshman who posted messages on Facebook threatening to launch a "Virginia Tech attack" at the Queens campus told the Daily News that he was just drunk and never would have caused anyone harm." SNIPPET: "Santiago, who lives in Washington Heights with his mom...

The funeral services for two Virginia Tech sophomores who apparently were shot to death last week in the Caldwell Fields section of the Jefferson National Forest are scheduled for today in Lynchburg. As of Sunday evening, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office still was seeking leads for the shooting, which they believe occurred either Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Services for David Lee Metzler, 19, of Lynchburg and Heidi Lynn Childs, 18, of Forest will be held at Heritage Baptist Church, which both students attended. Metzler's service will be at 1 p.m., while Childs' will be at 3 p.m. Each service...

BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 28 -- In what has become a sadly familiar ritual, about 100 students huddled together Friday on the Drillfield at the heart of the Virginia Tech campus, weeping and singing hymns as they mourned two slain classmates. Heidi Childs, 18, and David Metzler, 19, bright and promising students who were active in Campus Crusade for Christ, were found fatally shot Thursday morning in a national park about 15 miles from campus. Police said Friday that they had no suspects.

David Lee Metzler, 19 years old, and Heidi Lynn Childs, 19 years old, both of Lynchburg, VA were found by a passerby this morning at approximately 8:00 a.m. in the area of Caldwell Fields off of Craig’s Creek Road in Montgomery County. Both were deceased when they were found. The preliminary investigation revealed that both victims had gunshot wounds. Both were Virginia Tech students living off campus.

Family gives permission for release Recently discovered mental health records contain no obvious indications that the Virginia Tech gunman was a year and a half away from committing the worst mass shootings in modern U.S. history. The records contain previously unseen handwritten notes from the counselors who talked to Seung-Hui Cho in 2005, and in one report Cho denied having any suicidal or homicidal thoughts. On April 16, 2007, Cho killed 32 students and faculty members on the Blacksburg, Va., campus and took his own life. The counselors' notes indicate they were concerned for the troubled student, but the records...

Now that Virginia Tech has conquered the Atlantic Coast Conference in back-to-back years, it’s setting its sights on a loftier goal in 2009—wire-to-wire contention for a national title. The Hokies are the class of the ACC for now, a fact that most expect to continue this fall. Heck, they wore the league crown last year, which was supposed to be a quasi-rebuilding period. However, like the local bully looking for new challenges, they’re pining for more respect outside of the neighborhood. Tech needs that kind of season that keeps them in the BCS championship right through November. And so does...

The Transportation Department will convene a meeting of safety experts and others concerned about the dangers of text-messaging and cell phone use while driving, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Tuesday. “If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting, but unfortunately, laws aren’t always enough,” Mr. LaHood said. Mr. LaHood said he hoped to bring together transportation and safety officials from around the country, as well as members of Congress, law enforcement officials and others concerned about what happens when drivers do not give full attention to controlling their vehicles. The session may be held in...

The gunman who killed three women in an aerobics class at a Pittsburgh-area gym bought accessories for his weapons from the same dealer that sold a gun to the Virginia Tech shooter. George Sodini, 48, purchased the items from TGSCOM Inc. of Green Bay, Wis., before committing the Aug. 4 massacre that left three women dead and nine wounded. He then killed himself. It wasn't immediately clear what accessories Sodini bought. Seung-Hui Cho purchased a .22-caliber handgun from TGSCOM in February 2007, two months before he killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. Police investigating Tuesday's shootings at the L.A. Fitness...

Guns are now legal for students on public university campuses in South Carolina. The signs say "guns prohibited" on the College of Charleston's campus, but according to bill 593 that's about to change. Lawmakers approved the bill last month. It says cars on public college campuses are now acceptable places for concealed weapons permit holders to store guns. But that makes some students feel uneasy. "Why makes guns more easily accessible after the violence we just saw at virginia tech and nationwide?" asked student Rachel Kutler. Kutler transferred to the College of Charleston after the Virginia Tech massacre. She doesn't...

RICHMOND, Va. – Missing mental health records of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho have been discovered in the home of the university clinic's former director, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday. Cho killed 32 people on April 16, 2007, then committed suicide as police closed in. His mental health treatment has been a major issue in the investigation of the shootings. A memo from Gov. Tim Kaine's chief legal counsel to victims' family members says Cho's records and those of several other Virginia Tech students were found July 18 in the home of Dr. Robert...

Missing mental health records of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho have been discovered in the home of the university clinic's former director, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday. The memo said the records were removed from the Cook Counseling Center on the Virginia Tech campus more than a year before the shootings. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090722/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_tech_shooting

Gun-rights advocates have won victories in several states in recent months allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons in public parks, taverns and their work places. So it came as a surprise to Tennessee state Rep. Stacey Campfield that he couldn't persuade his colleagues to pass a law allowing students at public colleges to carry concealed firearms on campus. The bill died this spring in the Republican-controlled legislature -- one of 34 straight defeats nationwide for people who believe a gun wouldn't be out of place in a college student's knapsack. aucous debates over the parameters of the Second Amendment...

A participant of a summer camp on Tech's campus has been confirmed by Schiffert Health Center to have a case of H1N1 influenza, according to an e-mail to on-campus students from Housing and Dining Services. The H1N1 influenza virus, also known as swine flu, recently hit pandemic status in early June, indicating widespread global activity, as defined by the World Health Organization. According to the Center for Disease Control website, the pandemic status only reflects the spread of the virus to over 70 countries and not its severity. Housing's e-mail, sent by Associate Director for Occupancy Management Kenneth Belcher, clarified...

Despite Recent Violence, Gun Laws Are Softening Thirteen killed at an immigration center in New York. Eight at a nursing home in North Carolina. Five in a house in California. These were among the 57 people killed in mass shootings in a 30-day period this spring in the U.S. Meanwhile, new laws are easing restrictions on guns. Congress recently approved a bill to allow guns in national parks. Tennessee has passed similar measures for its state parks. In South Carolina, a bill under debate would allow weapons on school grounds. Texas may welcome guns into bars. In Montana, a new...

WASHINGTON — The First Amendment guarantees Americans the right to free speech. The Second Amendment guarantees the right to possess firearms. Now the first two clauses in the Bill of Rights have come together in an ongoing debate over the right of college students to advocate that they be allowed to carry guns on campus. The bloody massacres at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School, as well as smaller campus shootings across the country in the last decade, have fomented a lively debate over whether citizens should be allowed to carry concealed weapons to defend themselves on campus. But that...