BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- The owner of an online firearms store that sold one of the guns used by Seung-Hui Cho in the massacre at Virginia Tech spoke there Thursday in support of carrying concealed weapons on campus.
Eric Thompson, owner of TGSCOM, a company based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, sold a Walther .22-caliber handgun to Cho, who killed 32 people and himself on April 16, 2007.
Thompson also sold two 9 mm magazines and a Glock holster to Steven Kazmierczak, who killed five people and himself at Northern Illinois University on February 14, 2008.
The event was sponsored entirely by the student organization Students for Concealed Carry on Campus and was strongly opposed by the Tech administration.
University spokesman Larry Hincker released a statement denouncing Thompson's visit.
"Free speech is a hallmark of university life," Hincker said. "Still, I find it terribly offensive to learn that the gun-seller of the weapons used in the Virginia Tech campus murders would set foot on this campus.
"Additionally, the organizers appear to be incredibly insensitive to the families of the victims who lost loved ones and to the injured students still recovering from this horrendous tragedy."
But Thompson was undeterred as he addressed the audience of more than 50 students and community members, almost all of whom support carrying concealed guns on campus.
Thompson's appearance failed to bring out a large crowd. The event was largely unpublicized, leaving many students with opposing viewpoints in the dark.
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