Virginia Tech survivor Colin Goddard lobbies for gun control

Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

Since surviving four gunshot wounds at Virginia Tech's April 16, 2007, massacre, Colin Goddard has remade himself into an advocate for gun control legislation.

EnlargeCloseJack Gruber, USA TODAY

Since surviving four gunshot wounds at Virginia Tech's April 16, 2007, massacre, Colin Goddard has remade himself into an advocate for gun control legislation.

Waiters carry trays of hors d'oeuvres through the crowd while Goddard, a 25-year-old who could model for a J.Crew catalog, chats amiably. He doesn't have to move much because people flutter around him. The lights flicker, and the crowd moves to a screening room to watch Gun Fight, a documentary on the nation's firearms debate. The film prominently features Goddard, a survivor of the April 16, 2007, shooting at Virginia Tech.

Scenes like this are typical of Goddard's life since he became assistant director for federal legislation at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a Washington-based group pushing for more gun control. When Goddard visits lawmakers on Capitol Hill or speaks to groups, listeners latch onto his words. Some say they respect how he has turned the trauma of being shot four times into something productive. Before Gun Fight, filmmaker Kevin Breslin made a documentary featuring Goddard called Living for 32, so named for the number of people shot dead by Virginia Tech gunman Seung Hui Cho before he fatally shot himself. That documentary was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

MORE: Virginia Tech fined $55K in shootings"He looks good, he speaks directly and honestly, he's not programmed, he's not scripted," said Paul Helmke, president and CEO of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "Sometimes, it's not quite what I think he should say," Helmke added , "but, hey, that's him."

Barbara Kopple, director of Gun Fight, said there was little footage shot of Goddard for the documentary that she didn't use. "He's approached all this with an amazing levelheadedness and a sense of purpose."

"He's just very unique for a young guy," Kevin Breslin said. "He could have collected the insurance policy and taken a walk. A lot of people would have."

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