A lie-in at Capital Square today attracted about 50 onlookers supporting tougher gun laws to help avert future gun tragedies.

On the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, 32 people dressed in black lay still on the grass for three minutes to represent the 32 victims of gunman Seung-Hui Cho and the time it took him to buy a gun.

Organizers asked Virginia legislators to close the so-called "gun show loophole" in state laws. At a gun show, an unlicensed, private dealer can sell a gun without doing a background check on the purchaser. Cho did not buy either of his two guns at a gun show.

The lie-in was supported by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and ProtestEasyGuns.com.

Pam Carnahan, a family friend of injured Tech student Emily Haas, offered thoughts and prayers for the families of Tech victims and for "all who have lost their lives or been injured as a result of gun violence."

Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, was the only visible opponent of gun control in the crowd. He said that if students at Tech had been armed, then Cho may have been stopped before he killed 32 people.