The issues of gun-violence and the dangers of firearms hit close to home for Lori Haas and Andrew Goddard.
Their children were injured in the Virginia Tech shootings.
"It came out of nowhere," said Goddard. "One day we were talking to him and two days later we were sitting next to his hospital bed."
"We have lax gun laws," said Haas. "We need background checks."
They, along with dozens of others, gathered at Virginia Tech inside of the Haymarket Theater in the Squires Student Center to watch the documentary titled "If I Only Had a Gun."
It was produced by ABC 20/20.
It looked at the issues of gun violence in America, especially on college campuses and the "so-called gun show loophole". It's something Omar Samaha put to the test.
His sister, Reema, was killed in the April 16, 2007 shootings.
In the documentary, Omar bought ten guns in one hour without showing his identification. "I just walked in, gave people cash for guns and walked out," said Samaha. "It's one of the easiest things I've ever done...like buying a candy bar."
Virginia Tech Students for Non-Violence and The Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention hosted the screening of the documentary. They hope it will make people think..."more about the dangers of owning a hand gun and the dangers of other people owning handguns," said member John Welch.
"From personal conversations with the survivors...not a single one of them thinks they could have done anything had they been armed," said Haas.
Samaha added "It's about preventing that situation from occuring in the first place. It's not about having a gun and pulling it out...it's about preventing someone from having to carry a gun to class at all."
Meanwhile, members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League peacefully protested the event.
They handed out stickers to about half a dozen people in the audience that read "Guns Save Lives."
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