Seeking safety

National | Massacre sparks action on background checks, debate about guns on campuses | Jamie Dean

BLACKSBURG, Va.— Eric Thompson was appalled when he learned about the horrific Virginia Tech shooting spree on April 16 that left 33 dead, including Cho Seung-Hui, the 23-year-old gunman who killed himself as authorities arrived at the grisly scene in Norris Hall. But Thompson was in "absolute shock" a day later when he learned where Cho obtained the .22 caliber handgun he used in the vicious killing spree: Thompson's online gun shop based in Wisconsin.

"I was torn up about it before I knew we had sold the weapon [to Cho], and even more so after we found out," Thompson told The Roanoke Times less than a week after the massacre.

The deranged gunman who wreaked horror and grief at Virginia Tech last month bought one of his murder weapons in February from TGSCOM Inc., the internet gun and ammunition company Thompson owns in Green Bay. In compliance with federal law, TGSCOM shipped Cho's weapon to a federally licensed gun dealer in Blacksburg, Va., which ran a mandatory background check on Cho. The gunman passed, and he picked up the weapon nearly two months before his killing spree.