Gun Show Loophole
261 words.
I’m generally in favor of gun rights, but I’m not obsessive about it. I think I’m in the minority on that in Virginia. The only other opinions here seem to be the extreme right-wing we-need-to-stockpile-guns-to-prepare-for-the-zombie-apocolpyse opinion and the extreme left-wing ban-access-to-all-items-that-might-conceivably-cause-injury opinion.
This brings me to the so-called “gun show loophole” being discussed by the Virginia General Assembly (see, for example, HB745). There were demonstrations and counter-demonstrations at the capital over the weekend.
If I understand this right, the “loophole” is that private citizens can setup a booth at a gun show in Virginia and sell their private gun collections without requiring a background check of the buyer, sort of like a yard sale I guess. Gun control proponents want to require them to conduct background checks just like everyone else at the show, while gun control opponents think it infringes on the rights of private citizens to do business.
I think both sides have valid arguments. Personally, I would just require sellers at gun shows to be licensed dealers, rather than require private citizens to conduct background checks when selling their guns. That seems like a no-brainer. (Of course, the private citizens would only have to sell their guns in the parking lot to get around the restriction…)
One other thought: It is dead wrong for gun control proponents to invoke the Virginia Tech shooting on this issue because my understanding is that the perpetrator bought his guns at a licensed gun dealer and passed the background checks with flying colors. So clearly the gun show loophole had no relevance.
Sorry, new comments are disabled on older posts. This helps reduce spam. Active commenting almost always occurs within a day or two of new posts.