TScottW99
12-05-2007, 22:15
Kaine takes aim at firearm loophole
Efforts will be stepped up to close a loophole on gun purchases without background checks.
By Michael Sluss
(804) 697-1585
RICHMOND -- Gov. Tim Kaine said Tuesday that he will make a "very aggressive" push next year to close a legal loophole allowing unlicensed gun dealers to avoid checking the criminal backgrounds of buyers, hoping to win support from a legislature that has been hostile to proposed gun controls.
Kaine has long supported proposals to close the so-called "gun show loophole," but has not made it a priority of his legislative agenda. On Tuesday, facing an audience that included relatives of the Virginia Tech shooting victims, Kaine said he "will definitely be proposing to close that loophole" during the upcoming General Assembly session.
"I'm going to be very aggressive in pushing that we close it," Kaine said in an appearance before state newspaper reporters and editors who gathered at the Richmond Times-Dispatch for a forum sponsored by The Associated Press.
Previous efforts to close the loophole have gained little support in the legislature, where gun debates often break along regional rather than partisan lines. But the issue received renewed attention in August, when a state panel that investigated the April 16 Tech shootings recommended that lawmakers eliminate exemptions that enable criminals and those with dangerous mental illnesses to buy guns.
"I think the recommendation from the panel is a sound one," said Kaine, who appointed the group. "And I don't really think there needs to be any equivocation or gray area."
Seung-Hui Cho, the mentally ill Tech student who killed 32 people and himself on the Blacksburg campus, purchased two semiautomatic pistols from licensed dealers who checked his criminal background in a federal database. He made the purchases more than a year after a Montgomery County special justice concluded that Cho "present[ed] an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness." But, because Cho was not sent to a mental health facility, the justice's finding was not reported to the federal database.
Kaine issued an executive order April 30 requiring that the names of people involuntarily committed to receive outpatient treatment be added to the database for background checks. But, as Kaine and his panel have noted, Cho still could have avoided the background check by purchasing guns from an unlicensed dealer.
"He very simply would have gone to a gun show and purchased the firearms without a background check" from an unlicensed vendor, said retired Virginia State Police Superintendent Gerald Massengill, who was chairman of the governor's panel. "It really would not have been that difficult to figure out."
Massengill participated in a panel that included legislators on both sides of the gun control debate. Sen.-elect Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, defended the exemption allowing unlicensed dealers to avoid background checks, saying it "goes to the very heart of citizens' being able to possess firearms and sell firearms within their communities."
"Are we going to tell citizens that I can't sell firearms to my neighbor without a background check?" said Hurt, who served six years in the House of Delegates.
Some relatives of the Tech victims have become increasingly vocal in calling for gun control, and a few challenged Hurt on the issue Tuesday. "What is the fear of going through a background check?" asked Joseph Samaha, whose daughter Reema was killed in the shootings.
Hurt said the elimination of the loophole would "infringe on a person's individual right to own a firearm."
Hurt said that lawmakers' response to the Tech shootings should focus on issues that directly affect campus safety and improvements to the mental health system.
Del. Jim Scott, D-Fairfax County, voiced support for closing the gun show loophole. But he predicted that "very little will be done" on gun legislation before the U.S. Supreme Court issues a much-anticipated ruling on the constitutionality of the District of Columbia's ban on private handgun ownership.
Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, who has opposed previous efforts to close the loophole, said in a telephone interview that the political climate for gun control has not changed significantly since the Tech shootings. House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said lawmakers instead should concentrate on fixing problems in the mental health system that contributed to Cho's failure to get court-ordered treatment.
Kaine said mental health reforms will be a major thrust of his 2008 legislative agenda and he expects to have bipartisan support to address long-neglected deficiencies.
"In the aftermath of the horrible, horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech, the obvious gaps, the glaring gaps in the state's mental health system can no longer be ignored," Kaine said.
http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/142272
Efforts will be stepped up to close a loophole on gun purchases without background checks.
By Michael Sluss
(804) 697-1585
RICHMOND -- Gov. Tim Kaine said Tuesday that he will make a "very aggressive" push next year to close a legal loophole allowing unlicensed gun dealers to avoid checking the criminal backgrounds of buyers, hoping to win support from a legislature that has been hostile to proposed gun controls.
Kaine has long supported proposals to close the so-called "gun show loophole," but has not made it a priority of his legislative agenda. On Tuesday, facing an audience that included relatives of the Virginia Tech shooting victims, Kaine said he "will definitely be proposing to close that loophole" during the upcoming General Assembly session.
"I'm going to be very aggressive in pushing that we close it," Kaine said in an appearance before state newspaper reporters and editors who gathered at the Richmond Times-Dispatch for a forum sponsored by The Associated Press.
Previous efforts to close the loophole have gained little support in the legislature, where gun debates often break along regional rather than partisan lines. But the issue received renewed attention in August, when a state panel that investigated the April 16 Tech shootings recommended that lawmakers eliminate exemptions that enable criminals and those with dangerous mental illnesses to buy guns.
"I think the recommendation from the panel is a sound one," said Kaine, who appointed the group. "And I don't really think there needs to be any equivocation or gray area."
Seung-Hui Cho, the mentally ill Tech student who killed 32 people and himself on the Blacksburg campus, purchased two semiautomatic pistols from licensed dealers who checked his criminal background in a federal database. He made the purchases more than a year after a Montgomery County special justice concluded that Cho "present[ed] an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness." But, because Cho was not sent to a mental health facility, the justice's finding was not reported to the federal database.
Kaine issued an executive order April 30 requiring that the names of people involuntarily committed to receive outpatient treatment be added to the database for background checks. But, as Kaine and his panel have noted, Cho still could have avoided the background check by purchasing guns from an unlicensed dealer.
"He very simply would have gone to a gun show and purchased the firearms without a background check" from an unlicensed vendor, said retired Virginia State Police Superintendent Gerald Massengill, who was chairman of the governor's panel. "It really would not have been that difficult to figure out."
Massengill participated in a panel that included legislators on both sides of the gun control debate. Sen.-elect Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, defended the exemption allowing unlicensed dealers to avoid background checks, saying it "goes to the very heart of citizens' being able to possess firearms and sell firearms within their communities."
"Are we going to tell citizens that I can't sell firearms to my neighbor without a background check?" said Hurt, who served six years in the House of Delegates.
Some relatives of the Tech victims have become increasingly vocal in calling for gun control, and a few challenged Hurt on the issue Tuesday. "What is the fear of going through a background check?" asked Joseph Samaha, whose daughter Reema was killed in the shootings.
Hurt said the elimination of the loophole would "infringe on a person's individual right to own a firearm."
Hurt said that lawmakers' response to the Tech shootings should focus on issues that directly affect campus safety and improvements to the mental health system.
Del. Jim Scott, D-Fairfax County, voiced support for closing the gun show loophole. But he predicted that "very little will be done" on gun legislation before the U.S. Supreme Court issues a much-anticipated ruling on the constitutionality of the District of Columbia's ban on private handgun ownership.
Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, who has opposed previous efforts to close the loophole, said in a telephone interview that the political climate for gun control has not changed significantly since the Tech shootings. House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said lawmakers instead should concentrate on fixing problems in the mental health system that contributed to Cho's failure to get court-ordered treatment.
Kaine said mental health reforms will be a major thrust of his 2008 legislative agenda and he expects to have bipartisan support to address long-neglected deficiencies.
"In the aftermath of the horrible, horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech, the obvious gaps, the glaring gaps in the state's mental health system can no longer be ignored," Kaine said.
http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/142272
