Tim Kaine on "Ask the Governor"

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said yesterday that he is considering an executive order to make sure that gun sellers have more information about the mental health of potential buyers, a move that would have kept Seung Hui Cho from purchasing the handguns he used to kill 32 people at Virginia Tech last week.

Seems like an obvious move to me.

Now, here are a few highlights from the WTOP show:

*Kaine described how he found out about the Virginia Tech shootings right after he had landed in Tokyo, checked into a hotel and gone to bed.  While waiting for the first flight back, Kaine says, "I was glued to the news."  Also, on the phone with his Chief of Staff, the President of Virginia Tech, the police, etc.

*Kaine flew with President Bush on Air Force One from Washington, DC to Virginia Tech.

*Kaine said, "It's just been a very, very intense last week."  He added "I almost felt like...a parent" (Kaine's oldest son, junior in high school, is looking at Virginia Tech as a potential college); "I know a lot of kids on that campus;"  "I felt an immense feeling of pride in [the Virginia Tech students]...they handled themselves so well."  "Grief doesn't know any boundaries, but also community doesn't know any boundaries."

*We've got "some hard work to do" to look at this, learn, and share the lessons with "college campuses everywhere."  Kaine compared the Virginia Tech shootings to 9/11 and the sniper case. "This one touches every corner of Virginia."  "It is heartbreaking."

*Kaine's special panel on the Virginia Tech shootings (headed by former state police superintendent Gerald Massengill) is looking to learn as much as possible about the shootings, to pursue every question until it [is] answered and to learn whatever can be learned, find where the gaps are.

*There were many questions about the gunman and mental illness, lots of concerns/complaints expressed, nothing was really done...very troubling.  Kaine said that "this is actually going to be the most important piece of it."  "We're going to learn a lot about the mental health system and gaps in that system."

*Massengill: Seung should "certainly not" have been able to obtain a weapon.  Lack of compatability between federal and state laws on this issue.  In Virignia, there has to be an "involunary commitment" before the information is sent to the state police.  Seung was not involuntary committed but handled as an outpatient - "therein lies the question that needs a real close look."
*Kaine: Once there's an adjudication that they're mentally ill and pose a danger...[that information] should be shared with the national database.  All states should share this information with the database. 

*We now have the benefit of "perfect hindsight."  Police at the time were acting they didn't have that, were acting with best information they had at the time.  That's the way law enforcement investigations often occur.

*Masengill: Public safety officials have only one chance to get it right in cases like this.

*Panel will be looking at campus security statewide, not just for Virginia Tech.  "College... is not a medium security prison."  Have to understand the mission of higher education, not turn colleges into "a security state."

*Massengill: The special panel is filled with "unmatched" "integrity and experience."  Recommendations in Governor's hand before the next school year.
*Kaine: There needs to be public involvement, input.  But "we need to move quickly on this."

*"As the facts come out, you're going to see a lot of people" who fought back, came to aid of people who were shot, other examples of heroism.  We need to tell students what to do as well.

*Massengill: We know of at least...several instances where people did step up during the shootings. Training and education is the foundation for how you react in an emergency.  We have to learn from this.  All this stuff is teachable.

*Question about what the media does, possibly encouraging "copycat" behavior?  Kaine: the broadcasting of materials left behind by the killer "kind of made me sick."  Let the killer "go out as a big hero" and "played exactly into his hands."  "The glorification of someone who's trying to seek attention...I hate to see us playing into their hands."

*Massengill:  Balance between getting the news out and potentially causing "copycat" behavior. 

*Massengill:  "We do learn from this." "We will probably never eliminate these tragic things, but we certainly can lessen or mitigate it."

*Massengill: Everything isn't broken. "I've still got confidence in the processes that are out there."

*Kaine:  "We're gonna learn out of this," but we can't guarantee that another shooting won't happen in the future.

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