Father of slain WDBJ reporter Alison Parker pledges his life to ending gun violence in new editorial

The father of WDBJ reporter Alison Parker–one of two victims of the WDBJ shootings, carried out on live television last week by a disgruntled former reporter–has penned a strong anti-firearm editorial for the Washington Post. Entitled “My daughter was killed on live television. I will do whatever it takes to end gun violence,” the essay is direct, and often frank about the gun violence that Andy Parker calls “evil” and “insanity.”

Alison Parker, pictured with boyfriend Chris Hurst

 

“Last Wednesday,” Andy Parker begins, “my daughter Alison was brutally struck down in the prime of her life by a deranged gunman. Since then, I have stated in numerous interviews with local, national and international media that I plan to make my life’s work trying to implement effective and reasonable safeguards against this happening again.”

To that end, Parker “plan[s] to devote all of [his] strength and resources to seeing that some good comes from this evil.” He continues, “I am entering this arena with open eyes. I realize the magnitude of the force that opposes sensible and reasonable safeguards on the purchase of devices that have a single purpose: to kill.”

To that end, Parker contends that America must “focus our attention on the legislators who are responsible for America’s criminally weak gun laws; laws that facilitate the access dangerous individuals have to firearms on a daily basis.”

As for the legislators who represent the Parker family–and the families of others affected by the WDBJ shootings–Andy Parker has choice words:

 

[Rep. Bob Goodlatte] has refused to lead on this issue, and he has done absolutely nothing to help contain the carnage we are seeing. On the other hand, Goodlatte had no problem cashing his check from the National Rifle Association during the 2014 election cycle. Shame on him….[State Senator] John S. Edwards, Democrat, who represents the area where Alison and Adam lived…also [represents] the Virginia Tech campus, so he is fully aware of how easy it is for dangerously mentally ill individuals to acquire guns in the commonwealth of Virginia. Yet he has been a constant opponent of sensible gun reforms, such as expanded background checks, during his nearly 20 years in the state senate, breaking ranks constantly with his colleagues in Virginia’s Democratic Party.

 

Hurst, Alison Parker, and two co-workers at WDBJ in Virginia

 

The editorial has nearly three times as many comments as the next most-talked-about opinion piece on the site. It’s also inspired the Twitter hashtag #WhateverItTakes, which trended on the day of the editorial’s publication, and briefly once more this morning.

 

(Photo credits: Alison Parker via Facebook)