Collegiate Times

Last Wednesday, the Virginia Senate Courts of Justice Committee rejected the "gun show loophole bill" in a 9-6 vote.

The gun show loophole allows felons and the mentally ill to bypass background checks when purchasing firearms at gun shows because only licensed dealers, not private sellers, must perform such checks.

Gov. Tim Kaine and families of the April 16 shooting victims have been advocating for this bill's passing since its beginning. Jeff Tiller, press secretary for Kaine, said Kaine was very disappointed that the bill was rejected.

"The governor has been saying pretty much all along, since we started looking at this issue, either folks want felons to own guns or they don't," Tiller said. "This loophole allows felons, domestic abusers and the dangerously mental ill to purchase guns at gun shows, and apparently some folks think that's fine."

Seven republicans and two rural democrats on the Senate's 15-member committee voted against the legislation. The republican-controlled house's committee on Militia, Police, and Public Safety rejected a similar bill Friday, Jan. 18, with a vote of 13-9. However, many of the bill's advocates held out hope for the democrat-controlled senate.

"(Kaine) had been working with folks in the Senate to see if we could get it through," Tiller said. "He had also been working on lobbying members of both houses to support the bill."

Kaine had also been working alongside Tech families and Virginia law enforcement to build support for the legislation. Chad Ramsey, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, has been speaking out against the gun show loophole as well.

"I knew it was going to be a major uphill climb to get it passed, but I thought, given all that's happened and the amount of lobbying that has taken place these past few weeks, that at least Sen. Edwards would be moved to change his vote like Sen. Creigh Deeds did," Ramsey said.

Ramsey was one of over 300 people who attended the General Assembly last Monday to argue for or against the loophole's closing. The public hearing was mostly filled with supporters of the bill, who outnumbered its opponents 3-1, including more than 20 Tech shootings victims' parents and supporters. Ramsey stated that he was particularly disappointed with Edwards, who represents Blacksburg and Roanoke, because the he refused to speak at the committee hearing.

Although the guns used in the April 16 shootings were not purchased at a gun show, advocates of the bill said that the next potential shooting could involve such weapons. But guns rights activists, like Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, deny that this legislation would solve the problem.

"The bill wouldn't have made any of us any safer," Van Cleave said. "The bill keeps coming up every year; they shouldn't bring it up. Such a tiny, tiny percentage of guns come from gun shows that are used in crime, and that bill had all kinds of problems with it."

He stated that if someone wants to sell a few guns at a flea market without realizing that there are other guns being sold, he or she could be charged with a crime if there are at least 26 guns being sold, making the market a gun show.

"It was bad legislation," Van Cleave said. "It was the number one bill that we were out to stop this year."

He spoke to key senators and delegates about the bill and spoke at Monday's hearing.

The legislation, which was sponsored by Senator Henry Marsh (D-Rich.), was re-referred to the Virginia Crime Commission, which meets in May. The bill will not return until next year at the earliest.

"It's too soon right now to say what we can do next year," Tiller said, adding that Kaine must get through this session first.

Ramsey still has hope for this session.

"We're exploring all avenues in moving this legislation forward, despite this loss," Ramsey said, adding that plenty of moves can be made such as offering discharge petitions as amendments on the floor. "We're not giving up, even in this session, we're going to keep pushing, but we realize that we have to change the people who are voting against it, like Sen. Edwards."