Sens. Henry Marsh (right) and Creigh Deeds talk about bill. Steve Helber/

Josh Horwitz, of the Virginia Center for Public Safety (front, left), talks with Virginia State Police Superintendent Steven Flaherty (center) and Col. Robert Kemmler, Steve Helber/

Bill to close gun 'loophole' defeated in Senate panel

By Chelyen Davis

Date published: 1/24/2008

RICHMOND--A Senate committee yesterday killed legislation to close the so-called "gun show loophole," despite efforts to amend the bill to make it more palatable to opponents.

A House version of the bill has already failed this session, making it doubtful that the legislation--championed by families of victims of last year's Virginia Tech shootings--will be revived this year.

However, the Senate Courts of Justice committee did vote to send the bill to the Crime Commission for further study--against the wishes of the bill sponsor, Sen. Henry Marsh, D-Richmond.

The bill would have required private sellers of guns at gun shows to do background checks on their buyers. Currently licensed gun dealers must do background checks on buyers, but private sellers do not.

Proponents call it the gun show loophole and say it provides a way for those who would not pass a background check--felons, the mentally ill, those who have a restraining order against them--to bypass the law and buy a gun.

Although Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people and himself, and injured others, at Virginia Tech last year, did not buy his guns at a gun show, families of the victims said he could have. They've pushed hard for the bill, backed by Gov. Tim Kaine, providing emotional testimony at committee hearings Monday and last week on the House side.

But Republicans and rural Democrats on the Senate committee were not convinced. The bill failed on a vote of 6 to 9. "They've taken a backdoor approach to this thing," said Andy Goddard, whose son was injured in the Tech shooting, after the meeting. "I don't think they had the guts to take action on it in front of the people of Virginia."

The vote came after Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, proposed an amendment that he hoped would help garner support for the bill, primarily by exempting carriers of valid concealed carry permits from having to get background checks when buying from private sellers.

"I've never voted for legislation like this before but I think it's important that in the end we respond in some fashion to the tragedy at Virginia Tech and the focus these parents have poured into this legislation," Deeds said.

"Losing kids is a powerful thing," he told reporters later. "You have to respond to that anger and that pain."

The bill would have required private gun dealers at gun shows to perform background checks on people who are purchasing weapons from them.

Date published: 1/24/2008

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