RICHMOND - As he sat in a hospital, watching blood ooze from his son Colin's gunshot wounds, Andrew Goddard negotiated with a higher power: Let my son live, and I will do what I can to spare another parent this torture.
Colin survived, despite the four bullets fired into him by Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho.
Now his father is making good on the deal: He and relatives of others killed or injured on the campus in Blacksburg will lobby for changes to the state's gun and mental health laws during the General Assembly session that begins Jan. 9.
Together, they hope to be a powerful lobbying force with the potential to make changes in areas that have historically had gained little traction with Virginia legislators.
"They stand in the position unlike no one else that will be in this whole process," said state Senator Ken Cuccinelli. "And they will get listened to."
Since the April 16 shootings, in which Cho killed 32 others and himself after a long history of mental illness, several of the victims' families have demanded stricter oversight of gun purchases and a revamping of the state's mental health system. Nine survivors and 16 families of those killed signed a letter urging Congress to strengthen the background check system for weapons purchases.
Cho was able to pass a background check and buy two guns despite having been deemed mentally defective by a Virginia court. In response, Governor Timothy M. Kaine signed an executive order requiring that anyone ordered by a court to get mental health treatment be added to a State Police database of people barred from buying guns.
However, people can still buy guns through other means that require no background check in Virginia, such as gun shows where scores of people sell firearms.
Efforts to close the so-called gun show loophole have failed repeatedly, and even Andrew Goddard - the most outspoken family member on the issue - acknowledges that getting lawmakers to close it this year will be a struggle.
"It's a tremendous uphill battle," he said. "I have no doubt that we're going to suffer severe defeats."
But Goddard is ready to fight. He is organizing an advocacy day next month at the Capitol that will include a "lie-in," in which participants will lie on the ground to represent the shooting victims. His son plans to make a speech. And other families have already begun speaking out during pre-session legislative meetings.
However, persuading Virginia lawmakers to impose restrictions on gun ownership is nearly impossible, said Stephen J. Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg.
"The gun control issue is political dynamite in Virginia," Farnsworth said. "There's no question that they are as effective a group of lobbyists as one can imagine for gun control issues, but there are a lot of people with a lot of money and a lot of interest in politicians who are pro-gun in Virginia - and that hasn't changed after the Virginia Tech tragedy."
State Delegate Jim Scott, who favors closing the gun show loophole, is less certain.
"In any case of trying to change opinions, you really have to be well organized, focused, and be sure that you have all the facts," Scott said. "And my guess is they will be all of those."
The families have another factor on their side: emotional impact. "A lot of what they bring to the table is a discomfort factor," Cuccinelli said. "You don't want to be ruling against families that are in this kind of pain."
