Gun 'loophole' lives

[fultonCoShooter]

http://www.roanoke.com/politics/roanoke/wb/147654

A House committee voted Friday against legislation requiring background checks for all firearms purchases at gun shows.

RICHMOND -- Despite emotional pleas from parents of Virginia Tech shooting victims, a House of Delegates committee on Friday voted down legislation that would require criminal background checks for all firearms purchases at gun shows.

The party-line vote by the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee is a setback for Gov. Tim Kaine and families of Tech shooting victims who want to close Virginia's "gun show loophole," which exempts private, unlicensed sellers from a state law requiring criminal background checks for firearms purchases.

Kaine and many families of the Tech shooting victims want all gun show sales subjected to background checks so that convicted felons and people with dangerous mental illnesses cannot get firearms at such events. A Senate committee is scheduled to hear a similar bill (SB 109) on Monday, one that Kaine's administration had a hand in crafting. But Friday's House committee vote signaled that new gun control measures have little chance in the legislature this year.

Kaine said he won't give up on the issue, but acknowledged that he will have a hard time turning around votes in the House.

The Republican-controlled committee combined House Bills 745 and 592 into a single measure and killed it on a party-line vote of 13-9.

"There are apparently those who think it's fine for a felon to have a gun, or a dangerously mentally ill person to have a gun, or a domestic abuser to have a gun," Kaine said. "They usually won't stand up and say that because they'll be laughed out of the room if they do, but apparently that's what they believe."

The House bills were sponsored by Fairfax County Democrats Chuck Caputo and Dave Marsden. Caputo and some families of Tech victims complained that the committee gave them short notice that the legislation would come up Friday. The vote occurred three days before Tech parents and gun control activists planned to hold a rally at the state Capitol.

Joseph Samaha of Centreville, whose daughter Reema was one of 32 students and faculty killed in the April 16 shootings, said he learned about the hearing while driving home from work Thursday night.

"I was a little taken aback because they already had their minds made up," Samaha said after the committee rejected the bill with little debate.

Opponents of the legislation noted that Seung-Hui Cho, the mentally ill Tech gunman, purchased his firearms from licensed dealers rather than gun shows.

"We've made that point a thousand times over," said House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, a member of the committee.

Information about an involuntary treatment order issued for Cho in Montgomery County had not been entered in the federal database used to conduct instant background checks. Kaine issued an executive order two weeks after the shootings to require that commitment orders be reported to the database.

Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, who works at Tech, said the shootings exposed the need for mental health reforms, not gun control. Nutter joined Republicans in voting down the gun show loophole bill, but acknowledged the vote was not easy.

"There's a lot of passion, a lot of hurting," Nutter said.

But, he added, "The issues of April 16 were not about guns, but about mental health, and those are the issues we need to work on."

Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, whose district includes Tech, joined Democrats in opposing a motion to kill the bill. Shuler generally supports gun rights and said he had to take "a very tough vote."

"This is an effort recognized by the Virginia State Police and many, many other organizations that this is a problem they need to deal with," Shuler said.

Virginia State Police Superintendent Steve Flaherty said as many as 35 percent of the people who sell firearms at gun shows are unlicensed. Requiring those sellers to conduct background checks would not affect private sales and "good old-fashioned horse trading" that occur away from gun shows, he said.

"This is about eliminating an opportunity for people to prey on folks ... and taking advantage of someone who unwittingly may find themselves selling a gun to someone who is not entitled to it," Flaherty said.

Three parents of Tech shooting victims urged lawmakers to pass the legislation, claiming it would help keep guns from convicted criminals and people with dangerous mental illnesses.

"I've tried to put my emotions aside; obviously I can't, and I've tried to determine why you can't support these bills," said Lori Haas, whose daughter Emily survived the campus shootings despite being shot twice. "I can't come up with an answer. I really cannot wrap my brain around a plausible reason that you could give me for not supporting this bill."

Samaha said the legislation would move the state "one step closer to keeping the weapon from the element that should not have one."

"I can then only assume that if you vote this bill down today that you will serve your own self-interest and not that of your constituents," Samaha said.

The 22-member Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee is stacked with rural lawmakers who oppose gun control measures. Eight committee members received contributions from the National Rifle Association in the 2007 election cycle, according the Virginia Public Access Project.

NRA state liaison Joel Partridge argued against the legislation, saying gun shows take place at "highly monitored, well-organized venues" that typically have a heavy police presence.

"To suggest that this is somehow is a problem currently in Virginia certainly is not the case," Partridge said.

Philip Van Cleave, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said gun control advocates are overreaching in response to the Tech shootings.

"Unfortunately there are those who are not in favor of guns who saw this as an opportunity to open the toy box," Van Cleave said.

Samaha told the committee about reading a blog posting that described the expanded background check requirement as "a nuisance."

"Let me tell you about the nuisance of hearing the news reports of shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16 when I woke up," Samaha said. "Let me tell you of the nuisance of calling Reema on her cellphone multiple times, only to get no answer, my heart pounding harder with each nonresponse. ... And let me tell you the nuisance of a total stranger walking up to me at Virginia Tech and telling me Reema did not make it.

"Imagine that," Samaha said. "This fella was complaining about waiting a few minutes for a background check."


How Southwest and Southside Virginia legislators on the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee voted on a motion to kill House Bills 745 and 592.

For

* Bill Carrico, R-Grayson County
* Morgan Griffith, R-Salem
* Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County
* Don Merricks, R-Danville
* Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg
* Charles Poindexter, R-Franklin County

Against

* Dan Bowling, D-Tazewell County
* Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg

[nijwnfi]

I am so sick of this bullshit. People have this stupid idea that you go to a gunshow, and you can buy a machinegun with a wad of cash and no paperwork. 15/16 of the sellers at shows are licensed dealers who do background checks. This loophole does not exist. Thank you for letting me tell you what you already know. I have no idea where the figure of 35% of dealers are not licensed came from. I also liked the comment, "This won't affect good ol' horsetrading in the parking lot". So unlicensed trades outside are OK, but not in the building. Bullshit.