Monday, January 21, 2008
Senate panel hears emotional pleas for tighter gun-show regulation
Senate Courts of Justice Committee to vote on measure Wednesday.
RICHMOND — In an overcrowded room teeming with emotion, a state Senate committee this morning heard parents of Virginia Tech shooting victims demand passage of legislation to require criminal background checks for all firearms purchased made at gun shows.
The Senate Courts of Justice Committee held a 90-minute hearing on a bill designed to close the so-called "gun show loophole," which exempts unlicensed firearms sellers from performing computerized criminal background checks on buyers. The panel will vote on the bill Wednesday. Gov. Tim Kaine is making an aggressive push for passage of Senate Bill 109, but faces an uphill fight winning support in the General Assembly. Many parents of victims of the April 16 Tech shootings have joined Kaine in pushing for the bill.
"It requires profiles in courage from every one of you," said Peter Read of Annandale, whose daughter Mary Karen was killed in Norris Hall during the April 16 shooting spree on the Tech campus. "I'm not going to back off on that."
A House of Delegates committee defeated similar legislation on Friday, after providing little notice that it would hear bills dealing with the issue. The Senate hearing attracted a large crowd that filled a hearing room and spilled into a corridor of the General Assembly office building. The audience included Tech students and Blacksburg residents who traveled to Richmond by bus, many wearing yellow stickers that read "Close the Gun Show Loophole." Opponents of the legislation also were visible, sporting orange stickers that read "Guns Save Lives."
Seung-Hui Cho, the mentally ill Tech student who killed 32 people and himself, was able to buy his guns from licensed firearms dealers because information about his illness was not entered into the database used to conduct the instant background checks. But Kaine and other officials have noted that Cho still could have avoided a background check by seeking out an unlicensed seller at a gun show.
Many gun rights advocates oppose the legislation and want lawmakers to pass a bill allowing students and faculty with concealed carry permits to bring guns with them on campus.
Philip Van Cleave, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, complained that the instant background checks are not always immediate. Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, interrupted Van Cleave with a pointed question.
Pointing to the family of slain Tech student Reema Samaha, Saslaw said: "How onerous do you think this has been to that family sitting right there to your left?"
The Senate Courts of Justice Committee held a 90-minute hearing on a bill designed to close the so-called "gun show loophole," which exempts unlicensed firearms sellers from performing computerized criminal background checks on buyers. The panel will vote on the bill Wednesday. Gov. Tim Kaine is making an aggressive push for passage of Senate Bill 109, but faces an uphill fight winning support in the General Assembly. Many parents of victims of the April 16 Tech shootings have joined Kaine in pushing for the bill.
"It requires profiles in courage from every one of you," said Peter Read of Annandale, whose daughter Mary Karen was killed in Norris Hall during the April 16 shooting spree on the Tech campus. "I'm not going to back off on that."
A House of Delegates committee defeated similar legislation on Friday, after providing little notice that it would hear bills dealing with the issue. The Senate hearing attracted a large crowd that filled a hearing room and spilled into a corridor of the General Assembly office building. The audience included Tech students and Blacksburg residents who traveled to Richmond by bus, many wearing yellow stickers that read "Close the Gun Show Loophole." Opponents of the legislation also were visible, sporting orange stickers that read "Guns Save Lives."
Seung-Hui Cho, the mentally ill Tech student who killed 32 people and himself, was able to buy his guns from licensed firearms dealers because information about his illness was not entered into the database used to conduct the instant background checks. But Kaine and other officials have noted that Cho still could have avoided a background check by seeking out an unlicensed seller at a gun show.
Many gun rights advocates oppose the legislation and want lawmakers to pass a bill allowing students and faculty with concealed carry permits to bring guns with them on campus.
Philip Van Cleave, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, complained that the instant background checks are not always immediate. Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, interrupted Van Cleave with a pointed question.
Pointing to the family of slain Tech student Reema Samaha, Saslaw said: "How onerous do you think this has been to that family sitting right there to your left?"
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