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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...

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...

This is a tremendous speech by a young republican at the state Republican convention in Richmond, Virginia. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4_0L2ZJAvQ for part one. Part two is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zejvNWt65VI&feature=related

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) SNIPPET: "Each time he looked up, Cox said, Zhu was on top of Yang, who was on the floor. Zhu stared at Yang's face as he cut through her neck, Cox said. "It wasn't really an angry face at all," said Cox, at that point the only witness to the gruesome events. "It was just a really blank, determined look." By the time police arrived, Zhu was holding the woman's head in his hand, an officer testified."

The Best Speech of the Virginia GOP Convention. Cadet Colonel Adnan Barqawi:"Impossible is Nothing..." Click here for the video Cadet Colonel Adnan Barqawi "Impossible is Nothing"We had so many speakers at the Virginia Convention, we had Mitt Romney, Sean Hannity and a slate of Virginia representatives but it was not one of them that claimed the day. It was Cadet Colonel Adnan Barqawi, a new citizen and descendent of Palestinian refugees born in Kuwait, who brought the house down with his speech given from the heart with a clear love of his new country and its founding principles. His success...