Did you know ...? History and trivia on guns

Virginians have had their weapons confiscated before. Worried after Patrick Henry's "give me liberty or give me death" speech, the governor, Lord Dunmore, sent royal marines on a secret mission to take the gunpowder stored in the magazine at Williamsburg. On the night of April 20, 1775, the marines got away with 15 half-barrels of powder before being discovered. The citizens were incensed, and the confiscation turned into a spark for the Revolution.

In 1988, Hampton Roads had a brush with a teenage gunman on a rampage. Nicholas Elliott, 16, opened fire with an assault rifle at Atlantic Shores Christian School in Virginia Beach, killing one teacher and wounding an assistant principal. A bloodbath was avoided when Elliott's gun jammed and he was tackled by a Bible teacher.

The six-shooter was a main character in "The Virginian" – a long-running TV series based on a 1902 novel by Owen Wister. The novel, dedicated to Wister's good friend Theodore Roosevelt, pioneered an entire genre of Wild West books.

The story revolved around a Civil War-weary man – known only as "the Virginian" – who heads to Wyoming for a fresh start. The book spawned five movies and the series, which starred James Drury and ran from 1961 to the early 1970s. One of the main character's most famous lines: "It's against my principles to kill anything, unless I absolutely have to."

In 2006, $2.4 million worth of firearms were stolen in Virginia.

Fallout from the Virginia Tech tragedy might lead to something that concerns about terrorism couldn't: federal legislation closing the "gun-show loophole."

Based on fears that gun shows could allow terrorists easy access to weapons, proposals have been floated before in Congress. They never got far, but legislation recently submitted has gained more support after the Tech shooting.

The new federal proposal would require blanket background checks at every gun show in the country.

The first cinematic close-up of a person was in 1903's "The Great Train Robbery." Audiences were shocked when one of the villains shot his six-shooter directly at them.

In 1982, Morton Grove, Ill., banned all handguns within its town limits. In response, Kennesaw, Ga., passed an ordinance requiring the head of every household within its town limits to own a gun.

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