Gun Dealer Speaks at VA Tech

The man who sold a gun to the gunman who massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, as well as to the man who killed five people at Northern Illinois University on February 14, 2008, was recently invited to speak at Virginia Tech. Eric Thompson, the owner of TGSCOM was not invited to speak by Virginia Tech’s administration but by the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a student organization at the school. The group solely hosted the event on campus in Blacksburg, Virginia.

The Event and the Controversy

A small group of about 50 students and community members showed up to hear Thompson’s speech. The event had been unpublicized and those who did attend were mostly supporters of concealed weapons on campus. Thompson operates his company out of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The weapons that have put his name in the headlines include a Walther .22-calibur handgun which was sold to Seung-Hui Cho, the campus shooter responsible for last year’s tragedy. Thompson also sold two 9 mm magazines and a Glock holster to Steven Kazmierczak, the Northern Illinois University shooter, who also took his own life just after the shooting. Despite Thompson’s role in these incidents, whether considered major or minor, the students who put on the event made sure that the talk did as little as it could to offend the families of the students who were killed or injured that day. The school supported the group’s right to free speech, though they were offended by the topic itself.

Friendly Protest

At least one student protester was in the audience during Thompson’s speech, and she made sure to bring her voice and the voices of those who shared her opinions forward. She wore a homemade t-shirt expressing her disapproval of gun use. However, she was later quoted to say to freshman news reporter Caleb Fleming, who covered the story for Virginia Tech’s student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, that she thought the speech “was respectful and I think that he did show compassion for people.”

Thompson spoke about second amendment rights and the need to focus on gun users over gun dealers. He stressed his views that prohibiting people’s desire to protect themselves is wrong. At the same time, he stressed that this did not mean he believed everyone in the country should own a gun.

One Year Later

Thompson’s visit is not the only reminder of the shootings that have taken place a year ago. The Virginia Tech community has been working to commemorate those who lost their lives that day. One such reminder is a community service initiative established on campus called VT Engage. This group pledged to donate 300,000 community service hours in the victims’ memory this past year. A memorial has also been constructed out of 32 stones, each having a name of a victim etched into it. The center of it reads “We will prevail - We are Virginia Tech."

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