"The Massachsettes gun law would not grant Cho a gun.
The VA law did.
This small change could be made."

Incorrect. Cho was not entitled to purchase a firearm because he had
a history of having been involuntarily committed to a mental
institution. However, he lied about it on his application.

The system failed to bring this up on his background check. The
'small change' is to properly record and transmit the information
that he had at one time been considered 'an imminent danger to
himself or others.'

However, had he been denied ownership legally, he could easily have
purchased a weapon illegally or by circumvention of Virginia's laws
by going to another state.