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This past weekend, five families of victims of the April 16, 2007, shootings at Virginia Tech spoke with Gov. Bob McDonnell via conference call in hopes of vetoing House Bill 940.
The bill in question would repeal a 19-year-old law that limits the number of handguns a person in Virginia can buy to one per month through commercial sales and would likely increase the number of guns in the state.
While we certainly understand the Second Amendment and the constitutional right to bear arms, we believe the legislation should be vetoed and the current law should stand.
As Tech students, we know all too well the worst-case scenario when it comes to guns.
Furthermore, the repeal of this law could make illegal weapon trafficking even more prevalent. According to TraceTheGuns.org, Virginia is already a “net exporter,” meaning more firearms are exported out of the state than imported. If the repeal is lifted and the ratio between exported and imported increases, it will only hurt the commonwealth’s reputation.
Some activists have argued the law is outdated, as many citizens are already exempt from the law, but we believe it perhaps needs to be rewritten, but not done away with.
Guns can be dangerous, even in the right hands, and there are few situations that warrant the need to purchase multiple handguns in a single month.
The last thing the commonwealth needs is another incident like that of April 16 or Dec. 8, 2011, and if HB 940 increases the chance of more wanton acts of violence occurring again by even the tiniest margin, it isn’t worth it.
The editorial board is composed of the editors of the Collegiate Times.
A version of this article appeared in the Feb 28 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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This statement is misleading: Virginia is already a “net exporter,” meaning more firearms are exported out of the state than imported
Only residents of Virginia may purchase a firearm in Virginia. What they do after that purchase has no restrictions on where it goes.
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The fact these tragedies occur when these laws are already in place is proof that they don't work. Criminals will find a way no matter what. By the way 60 million legal gun owners killed nobody yesterday.
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I second the statement that this law is useless, as it exists and yet it doesn't work. Criminals will not go through the legal process to acquire guns. If for every 100,000 citizens, Virginia exports 32 criminal guns, maybe law enforcement should go after those exporting the guns, and not bog down law-abiding citizens with unnecessary laws.
Recreational and competition shooting is seeing a surprising increase in popularity. (It's an oldie from 2010, but it's data: http://www.nrablog.com/post/2010/12/03/Competitive-Shooting-Division-sanctions-over-11500-tournaments-in-2010.aspx)
Concealed carry licenses are increasing. The federal government has drawn up legislation to allow weapons in national parks (which went in to effect last year), reciprocity of CC licenses for all states (which hasn't passed). And lets not forget current state legislation waiting for the governor's signature removing the option for localities to include fingerprints with CC registration, and other CC refinements (http://www.guns.com/three-pro-gun-bills-pass-virginia-house.html), as well as redefining the Castle Doctrine. Virginia also enacted legislation last year to allow any citizen to carry an open weapon in their vehicles.
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I mention all these because Virginia, an already open firearm state, is moving towards more freedom for its citizens when it comes to firearms. It's simple, really. Those of us who don't do illegal things shouldn't be punished, when it's clear the laws don't even punish the ones who couldn't care less about them.
If I want to spend my money at a local gun shop to purchase more than one handgun a month, I should be able to. And if this law doesn't pass, a Virginia citizen can still do so if they have a CC license.
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This may be the most ill-informed editorial I've ever seen.
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This is the most ill-informed editorial the CT has ever published.
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but the school passing a regulation saying nobody can bring a gun on campus should cure this conundrum.
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I'd just like you guys to know, a several states, including Missouri, Texas, and Wisconsin, have fewer than 2 of the "Key State Laws That Curb Illegal Gun Trafficking" and have fewer the national average of guns exported. There is no direct correlation between how many of these "key laws" a state enacts and the number of guns they "export" for crime.
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The writer of this opinion piece seems to forget that Cho waited the required month before he purchased his second hand gun. So using his crime as an example of crimes that would be more prevalent is weak at best.
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