Killer's gun supplier speaks at Va. Tech

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The online gun dealer who sold one of the guns used in the Virginia Tech shootings visited the campus yesterday, a decision the school's spokesman called "terribly offensive."

Dealer Eric Thompson spoke at the school last night as part of a weeklong demonstration in favor of allowing people to carry concealed weapons at colleges.

"For people who want to arm themselves, there shouldn't be policies in place to stop them," Thompson told about 60 students who attended his talk. There were only a few antigun questions posed to Thompson, and none of the protests that school officials prepared for.

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said about 20 officers were in and around Whittemore Hall, where the meeting was held, "to make sure everyone's rights are protected." Six officers were in the lecture hall.

Thompson visited to support a chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, which advocates weapons on campuses, but said he paid his own way.

A school spokesman denounced the visit in a statement Wednesday, saying it was "terribly offensive" that Thompson would set foot on campus.

"The organizers appear to be incredibly insensitive to the families of the victims who lost loved ones and to the injured students still recovering from this horrendous tragedy," said the statement issued by spokesman Larry Hincker.

Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was injured in the shootings, said earlier yesterday that it was Thompson's First Amendment right to speak at the school but added: "I think it's rather insensitive of him, though."

Ken Stanton, president of the university's chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, said that he lost a friend in the April 2007 shootings and that it taught him "firsthand the importance of self-protection."

Virginia Tech last week marked the first anniversary of the shootings in a dormitory and classroom building in which 33 died, including shooter Seung-Hui Cho.

Cho bought a Walther .22-caliber handgun through Thompson's Web site, based in Green Bay, Wis. Through another company Web site, Thompson also sold handgun accessories to the man who killed five Northern Illinois University students and himself in February.

Thompson pointed to a student's T-shirt that said "Guns Kill." "They certainly do," he said, but added, "Focusing on guns and focusing on who sold the guns is not going to solve the problem."

Thompson said he did not relish the attention he had drawn since the shootings but said he would not turn away from it because he said politicians need to allow people to protect themselves.