From the University of Bridgeport:
Living for 32 is the inspirational documentary of Colin Goddard, a survivor of the gun shooting massacre on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007. It will be shown tonight (Monday) 7 p.m. at the University of Bridgeport Cox Student Center, 244 University Avenue. It is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served afterwards. Goddard will be at UB to show his film and answer questions from students. Ethan Rodriquez-Torrent, a student at Yale, who is a survivor of this past summer’s shootings in Aurora, Colorado, will also be in attendance. In light of the death of a UB student due to gun violence this semester, we feel this film will be very meaningful for our students to see.
On April 16, 2007, 32 students and staff were killed in a mass shooting at Virginia Tech University. Colin Goddard, a 21-year-old International Studies major from Richmond, Virginia, was in a French class when he was shot four times during a rampage that stunned the nation.
After an arduous recovery, he returned to Virginia Tech before working with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, going undercover and wearing a hidden camera at gun shows all across America to prove how easy it is for anyone to buy a gun, with no identification, no Brady background check, and just a wad of cash.
Living for 32 chronicles Mr. Goddard’s miraculous story, and has captivated audiences across college campuses across the country.
*** This documentary should be shown in all city high schools, no? *** Send a real message! ***
Look at the CT Post front page coverage of this event at UB last evening. More than 180 attended the movie and most of them were college students, I will guess.
The documentary was well done and in just 40 minutes connected the life of a Virginia Tech survivor of four bullet wounds with his healing and efforts to find a middle of the road way to install effective reporting and controls of weapons on a national basis.
Colin was joined on the stage for the Q&A with a senior from Yale who experienced the Aurora, CO event earlier this year. Serious issues. Serious young people. Practical and reasonable message, accepting of Second Amendment positions to a point, but looking for uniform laws.
Two notes: guns used in NYC homicides are most frequently purchased in Virginia; this morning NPR reported a major increase in Chicago homicides where 20 years ago 70% were solved and today that has dropped to 30%.
I reported on the TIPS (Trustworthy Information for Public Safety) that has been slowly rolling out in Bridgeport since July, 2012. It calls on people to reject the NO SNITCH culture but to consider their own safety in the equation by using a postage-paid envelope into which they slip written info about guns, drugs, gangs, violence or whatever is illegally affecting the quality of life. It is starting to be used by folks who are willing to SAY IT when they SEE IT! Time will tell.