Monday, January 28, 2008
Instant record checks are no threat
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Clifton A. "Chip" Woodrum
Woodrum was a member of the House of Delegates from 1980 to 2004. He was a member of the State Crime Commission from 1982 to 2000 and served as chairman from 1995 to 1999. He lives in Roanoke.
The bills that would require instant record checks at gun shows will go to the State Crime Commission for study and may be considered at the next session of the General Assembly. It looks like this could be a long and tortuous process on an emotional issue. There is much to be said on both sides of the issue and a whole lot that has been said that should never have been said.
It is my hope that the bills will pass and that instant record checks will be required. I believe that a significant majority of Virginians agree -- at least 68 percent of us feel it is a high priority, according to a recent Christopher Newport University poll.
It is interesting to note that instant record checks are now required at gun shows if the seller is a licensed firearms dealer. Passage of these bills would level the playing field and the private seller would likewise be required to secure the check. The bills establish a procedure that would permit the checks with a minimum of inconvenience to both the seller and the purchaser.
Those who oppose the instant records check assert that almost everyone who goes to gun shows are law-abiding citizens. I agree. However, there are a number of people who go to these shows who are not law-abiding citizens. I note that Timothy McVeigh was one such who frequented gun shows. Sam Handlin of Court TV reported "McVeigh also spent time on the gun show circuit moving from show to show ... selling copies of 'The Turner Diaries' and other paraphernalia." CNN noted that McVeigh "sold firearms at a gun show in Arizona" and he had suggested one weapon had the ability to shoot down an ATF helicopter.
McVeigh is not the only one who frequented gun shows. The Violence Policy Center notes there are others who sought to use gun shows to secure weapons with minimal or no oversight. These include the likes of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the Weather Underground, Branch Davidian David Koresh and would-be presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore.
I know that a records check might entail some inconvenience to innocent parties who go to gun shows with only the finest of motives. Unfortunately, some inconvenience may be the price we must pay for ensuring the safety of our fellow citizens in today's society.
We are all inconvenienced every time we must arrive at the airport well before our flight, exhibit and re-exhibit our personal identification, remove our shoes and other articles of clothing and subject ourselves to a pat down, knowing that our checked suitcases will be opened and our personal effects handled by security. But that is what millions of law-abiding air travelers must do to make certain that a dangerous few do not slip through.
I have heard no claims that the air safety procedures violate Fourth Amendment guarantees against unreasonable searches. How can there be a serious claim that an instant record check at gun shows is more offensive to the Second Amendment?
