SEUNG-HUI CHO didn't
Gov. Tim Kaine proposed the change, which was recommended by the Virginia Tech Review Panel that studied the campus massacre. Legislation to close the loophole was filed in both General Assembly chambers.
On Friday, the Republican-led House Militia, Police and Public Safety committee killed its version in a 13-9 party-line vote. The legislation was added to the docket late Thursday in an apparent effort to head off supporters' organizational efforts. Be aware that GOP panel members have received thousands of dollars in contributions from gun-rights advocates.
Yesterday, the legislation's supporters, which include relatives and friends of the Tech shooting victims, had the opportunity to show their backing before the Democrat-led Senate Courts of Justice Committee, which has scheduled a vote for tomorrow.
The legislation has been greeted with a firestorm of criticism from gun-rights advocates across the commonwealth and the country. Their outrage is predictable, but their fears groundless. The Second Amendment states that "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." The infringement of that right, however, is not at issue here. The idea is to keep guns out of the wrong hands, and all should stand united in favor of it.
"Guns don't kill people; people kill people," gun-rights advocates say, but that's the point of the legislation: Keep guns away from people who might use them to kill people. It won't be 100 percent successful. Neither is the law against robbing banks. The point is, if you rob a bank, the law provides a punishment. That serves as a deterrent to others.
Common sense suggests the need to extend background checks (already used in stores) to gun shows. This shouldn't be a problem: If a gun buyer has nothing to hide, why would he or she object?
Between 1994 and 2005, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System blocked 1.4 million sales to prohibited purchasers. Virginia State Police say background checks by licensed dealers stopped 2,668 improper gun sales in Virginia in 2005 alone.
Tech shooter Cho's history of mental illness was not accessible in the background checks he underwent. To seal up that crack, Gov. Kaine issued an executive order denying gun sales to anyone ordered by a court to obtain mental health treatment.
Now the gun-show loophole must be closed. A responsible society seeks out the causes of tragedies such as the Virginia Tech shootings and strives to prevent them. Gun-rights advocates may invoke the Second Amendment, but in the case of this common sense legislation, that dog won't hunt. Those who oppose the legislation are shooting themselves in the foot--and putting the rest of us at risk.