Documentary on gun violence touches on Tech tragedy

Agree with him or not, Colin Goddard is hard to dismiss.

Tall. Chiseled. Well-spoken. And shot four times by a psychotic gunman at Virginia Tech.

Some survivors of the rampage focused on forgetting. Goddard decided to let April 16, 2007, determine his course. He became a voice for the 32 who died, and a poster boy for the push to tighten gun laws.

"Every time something like this happens," Goddard said, "everyone says, 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.' That's it. That's the extent that people get involved. I don't see why we're surprised when another one happens, because we have done nothing to make it not happen since the last one."

Goddard, now working for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, insists he's not a "gun-banner."

"This is about putting guns in the hands of the right people," he said, "while making sure they don't go to the wrong ones."

In "Living for 32," his 40-minute documentary, Goddard demonstrates just how easy it is for anyone to buy a firearm at a gun show. The film, which screens Wednesday at the Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk, started as a five-minute video that mushroomed when he decided to use a hidden camera at shows in Virginia, Ohio, Minnesota and Texas.

With the help of a few friends, more than a dozen firearms were purchased at the shows - handguns, shotguns, an AK-47 and assorted other assault-style weapons - with no one checking to see whether the buyers were felons, fugitives or had been certified as dangerously mentally ill.

The guns were bought from unlicensed sellers - "collectors" allowed to rent tables at the shows or individuals who walk around with their own guns for sale.

In 33 states, including Virginia, buyers must submit to background checks only if they're purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer. "It's all legal," Goddard said, "but should it be?"

He thinks every gun sale should require a check - a requirement he views as "reasonable." It has made him a target for the gun-rights camp, the folks who see any new restriction as another step toward what they fear will eventually be an outright ban.

Goddard said that when he first took a stance, "everything seemed so simple, like it's all common sense. But in reality, there's so much more to this whole thing than you ever thought. The depth and the history of it all - the emotions."

He's been yelled at and called names by people who have never faced the business end of a gun, much less been shot. "It can be hard to control my own feelings. I try to come off as reasonable, try to keep it toned down. But when I get home sometimes, it feels like I've been beating my head against the wall all day long."

It's not always that way. Goddard has testified before Congress and sat down with Oprah Winfrey. "Living for 32" was among only a half dozen or so documentaries selected for screening at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Goddard knows it's impossible to stop all the bad guys from getting guns.

"But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. To throw your hands up in the air and say there's nothing we can do about it is ridiculous - a call for anarchy. We can make this legitimate without taking your gun away."

Joanne Kimberlin, (757) 446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com