The News & Advance
Published: April 22, 2010

Three years after the shooting massacre at Virginia Tech that snuffed out the lives of 32 victims, the Virginia General Assembly has done nothing to close the gun show loophole. That loophole allows anyone — even convicted felons and those with a history of mental illness — to buy weapons from a private dealer without a background check.

Many of the families of students killed and wounded in the mass shooting on April 16, 2007, have given up on Virginia lawmakers and are turning to Congress for federal legislation that would close the loophole.

They are tired of waiting. “It’s been three years since so many lives were altered beyond description by an act of gun violence too large to even describe,” said Lori Haas, whose daughter was injured in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

Haas concedes that the assailant, Tech senior Seung-Hui Cho, who turned one of his guns on himself, did not buy his guns at a gun show. But, she points out that “closing the ‘gun show loophole’ is the one recommendation the governor’s panel made in August 2007 that hasn’t been enacted.”

That’s because a committee in the House of Delegates has consistently killed legislative proposals to subject gun sellers at open-air gun shows to the same background checks required of sellers at federally licensed gun shops.

So the families are turning to Congress for help. In a full-page advertisement in the Richmond Times-Dispatch earlier this week, they asked Democratic U.S. Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner to support a bill that would require private sellers to run a background check on buyers at gun shows.

The “open letter,” which also ran the day before the 11th anniversary of the Columbine (Colorado) High School shootings that claimed the lives of 12 students and a teacher, says Webb had told some of the families that he would support requiring such checks. “Now is the time to deliver on your promise to the Virginia Tech families and endorse legislation to close this dangerous gap,” the letter continues.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., introduced legislation to close the gun show loophole about a year ago, but it has yet to be heard in committee. The measure would require background checks on all sales at gun shows that have at least 50 weapons for sale. The bill would also require gun show promoters to register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and maintain a list of vendors at all gun shows.

Last week, three Virginia congressmen urged their colleagues to reconsider closing the loophole. Democrats Jim Moran, Bobby Scott and Gerald Conolly sent a letter to members of the House of Representatives urging them to support a bill requiring private sellers to perform background checks on buyers at gun shows.

The open letter from Virginia Tech families imploring Congress to take action adds, “We have seen firsthand the incredible toll that gaps in the federal background check system have on public safety, and we live with the personal toll every single day of our lives.”

The Virginia General Assembly has consistently failed the families of the Virginia Tech victims. A majority in Congress must summon the courage to close the gun show loophole and succeed where Virginia lawmakers haven’t.

That legislation would apply the same checks on private gun sellers at shows that exist for federally licensed gun sellers.

What’s so onerous about that?