Richmond lawmakers have callously rejected a gun control proposal sought as a memorial to the 32 students slain in the Virginia Tech massacre. Once more, state senators proved more beholden to the gun lobby’s propaganda and campaign money than to public safety.
The measure, sought by Gov. Tim Kaine after the 2007 campus spree, would have reined in the unfettered sales of lethal weaponry — from backwoods to battlefield guns — at weekend “sportsmen’s shows.”
With no background checks required on customers, the dealers present convicted felons and sociopaths an enormous loophole for mayhem. A federal study traced half of the crime guns in Washington, D.C., to Virginia. They move along the “Iron Pipeline” of weaponry infecting states along Interstate 95.
Governor Kaine resolved to impose background checks after the public agony of Virginia Tech laid bare the state’s porous gun laws. In the post-mortem, officials theorized that the suicidal shooter, suffering mental illness, could have been turned away from a licensed gun dealer. But Mr. Kaine properly reasoned that the shooter could turn to the unlicensed dealers to buy unlimited assault weapons and ammunition for his campus atrocity.
The Senate’s retreat from gun controls was compounded by its repeal of another worthy Kaine priority — a ban on people swaggering into bars with concealed weapons and make-my-day fantasies. Bereft of courage as public servants, the Richmond senators made clear their crocodile tears about “closure,” shed in the immediate horror of students gunned down. They also made clear the need for a federal law to bypass cowardly statehouses and to close gun-show loopholes.
Well, what did you expect from the NY Slime Editorial Board? [sad2]
The measure, sought by Gov. Tim Kaine after the 2007 campus spree, would have reined in the unfettered sales of lethal weaponry — from backwoods to battlefield guns — at weekend “sportsmen’s shows.”
With no background checks required on customers, the dealers present convicted felons and sociopaths an enormous loophole for mayhem. A federal study traced half of the crime guns in Washington, D.C., to Virginia. They move along the “Iron Pipeline” of weaponry infecting states along Interstate 95.
Governor Kaine resolved to impose background checks after the public agony of Virginia Tech laid bare the state’s porous gun laws. In the post-mortem, officials theorized that the suicidal shooter, suffering mental illness, could have been turned away from a licensed gun dealer. But Mr. Kaine properly reasoned that the shooter could turn to the unlicensed dealers to buy unlimited assault weapons and ammunition for his campus atrocity.
The Senate’s retreat from gun controls was compounded by its repeal of another worthy Kaine priority — a ban on people swaggering into bars with concealed weapons and make-my-day fantasies. Bereft of courage as public servants, the Richmond senators made clear their crocodile tears about “closure,” shed in the immediate horror of students gunned down. They also made clear the need for a federal law to bypass cowardly statehouses and to close gun-show loopholes.
Well, what did you expect from the NY Slime Editorial Board? [sad2]
