The VA Tech shooter did not get any of his guns at a gun show. Closing the imaginary “gun show loophole” would not have stopped him from getting a single one of his guns. Essentially, stop being wrong.
A group called Protest Easy Guns is planning to bus people in from all over the state for a demonstration Monday on Capitol Square. They’re planning to lay down on the front lawn of the state capitol to drive home the impact of the Tech shootings.
That’s real classy, right there. I get really irritated about tactics like this, because I’m generally opposed to grandstanding and making a public spectacle of oneself, especially if in so doing you’re also ramming a tragedy in the faces of the general public. It seems rather uncouth to me.
But back to the facts, a concept with which I’m sure Protest Easy Guns is alien to, but like I said the VA Tech shooter didn’t buy his guns from a gun show. There is no gun show loophole, no matter how hard you close your eyes and pretend that there is one. The VA Tech shooter got his guns because he squeezed through a now closed loophole in the NICS system, something that was addressed by H.R. 2640. So closing the gun show loophole will do, uh, nothing. Something like 99% of the people selling actual guns (note: guys selling beef jerky, holsters, black powder firearms, knives, etc don’t count) at gun shows are FFL holders, which means they’re required by federal law to conduct a background check. There are usually a few private individuals at gun shows selling off a private collection like that, but in the 10 years I’ve been going to gun shows I have yet to see a private selling selling “an arsenal” or whatever hyperbolic term the anti’s are using now.
I used to live in Virginia, and they have an active and vibrant pro-gun culture, headed up by the VCDL. I’ve lived in a lot of places in the last 8 years, and there was something about Virginia that stuck with me; despite the bad traffic and high prices I really enjoyed being there. If you’re in Virginia, you need to contact your state reps and oppose any proposed legislation to “close the gun show loophole”. Make me proud to keep calling myself and Virginian-in-exile.
Not to pick a nit (well, all right, I am picking a nit), but HR 2640 wouldn’t have made a bit of difference in the VA Tech murderer getting his guns. That “loophole” was actually closed by executive fiat by Governor Kaine, and it still troubles me.
The problem with that assassin was that those who had the responsibility to deal with his mental health issues took ineffective steps.