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tech tragedy gives urgency to efforts, he says kaine backing gun checks

January 9, 2008 12:35 am

By Chelyen Davis

RICHMOND-- Flanked by families of the Virginia Tech shooting victims, Gov. Tim Kaine said yesterday that that tragedy has given urgency to requiring background checks on gun purchases, even from private dealers.

Kaine was announcing his support for closing the "gun-show loophole"--a part of the law that exempts from background checks gun purchases made through private, unlicensed sellers.

"Closing this loophole does not place an unreasonable burden on buyers or sellers," Kaine said.

"There's no reason for law-abiding gun owners to oppose the background check Now, more than ever in the aftermath of April 16, Virginia understands this is a public-safety issue. We need to close this last door which would enable criminals and others to find easy access to guns."

State law requires licensed dealers to run a background check on everyone buying a gun; felons, those under a restraining order, or those a judge has said are mentally ill and a danger to themselves or others, are not supposed to be able to buy guns.

But a private citizen can go to a gun show and sell a gun to anyone, without running a background check. To fall into that category, the seller can only sell a certain number of guns a year.

While Seung Hui-Cho, the student who killed 32 Tech students and faculty, and injured others, did not buy his guns at a gun show, he could have--and, said one parent, would have if his mental health background had turned up on a background check, preventing him from legally buying guns.

"That's what Mr. Cho would have done," said Joe Samaha, a Stafford County Realtor whose daughter Reema was killed in the shootings. "I plead to the delegates and senators this session to pass this law, that will close the loophole for the benefit of all Virginians."

Efforts to close the loophole in years past have been unsuccessful, in part because of opposition from gun rights groups who think it infringes on their rights.

Kaine acknowledged that the legislation has been "a challenging bill in the past." But, he said, if requiring private sellers at gun shows to do background checks would save even one life, it is worth it, and that the Tech shootings prove it isn't just a theoretical argument.

"If we can keep just one family from going through what these families have suffered, it will be the best thing that the legislature will do this year," Kaine said.

He said that his proposed legislation--which will be sponsored by Sen. Henry Marsh of Richmond--simply helps keep guns out of the hands of felons and the mentally ill. He challenged opponents to explain why they wouldn't want to do that.

"Do you want a felon to have a gun?" Kaine asked. "Why wouldn't you want to prevent a crime?''

He also noted that while statistics differ on how many guns purchased without background checks at gun shows are ever used in crimes, even one is too many.

"Say it is less than one percent," Kaine told reporters. "You know how many crimes that is?"

Col. Steve Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police, said while some details need to be worked out, he envisions the police having a booth at gun shows where all dealers--licensed and unlicensed--could come do quick background checks of buyers. It would take just minutes, he and others said, and the law would apply only to private sellers at gun shows, not those who sell a gun to, say, a neighbor.

"We saw what a single individual who was not entitled to have a firearm can do with a weapon in their hand," Flaherty said.

Mike White, whose daughter Nicole was killed in the Tech shootings, said he's a gun owner, but believes Kaine's bill is "a healthy compromise.

"It will bring safety to our families," White said. "Of course, for our families that's already passed. But we do this for others so their children can be safe."

The legislative session begins today.