ANNANDALE, Va. - "Parents of students slain in the Virginia Tech massacre stood in quiet protest last night against the so-called "Bloomberg Gun Giveaway" run by a Virginia gun-rights group.
"This is wrong," said Peter Read, 44, holding a large class photo of his daughter, Mary Karen, who was one of the 32 victims at the school. "But we're not here to debate. We just want people to think."
Nearby, Read's wife, Cathy, sobbed. "Mary's life was important. Now she's gone. It shouldn't happen to anyone else," she said."
Loonus Interruptus: Cathy, Peter, I'm terribly sorry for your loss. You have my condolences. Think about this though, please. If your darling daughter were killed by a road-raged driver, would you be angry at General Motors? How's about the dealer who sold him the car? The gas station where he purchased his fuel? Goodyear for fixing him up with high performance tires? Of course you wouldn't. No, to all of the above, am I correct? Focus your anger towards the people who permitted the angry korean boy to run amok. Ask the people who are paid to "serve & protect" where they were when Mary Karen was being murdered. Get answers from the faculty as to why they believe herding unarmed and defenseless young men and women into slaughter houses. Let's continue...
"The Virginia Citizens Defense League - a group that boasts of being to the political right of the National Rifle Association on gun control issues - held its giveaway in a heavily guarded Fairfax County building in Annandale.
It gave away "door prizes" -- a handgun and a rifle -- in a thumb of the nose at Mayor Bloomberg, who's responsible for lawsuits against dealers in Virginia, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina for illegally selling guns.
The handgun went to Jay Minsky, a 40-something, baseball cap-wearing former Brooklyn resident, who, when asked if he had a message for Bloomberg, unleashed several decidedly obscene hand gestures.
Longtime Virginia resident Stefan Meyer, the rifle winner, suggested only that Hizzoner "mind his own business."
Bloomberg had branded organizers of the giveaway "sick people."
But VCDL President Philip Van Cleave told the nearly 100 people at the event, "If these are sick people, I'm proud to be sick. I'm proud to be a gun owner."
Being to the right of the NRA is easy, nowadays. The NRA leadership also does not want law abiding citizens to carry legal weapons to protect themselves. Kudos to the Virginia Citizens Defense League.
