Business as usual at gun show
after background check bill fails
Private gun vendors were able to continue to buy and sell unhindered by background checks at the C&E gun show at the Salem Civic Center last weekend.
A bill that would have changed that was defeated 9-6 in a state Senate committee last week. The bill would have required sellers at gun shows to subject potential buyers to the same background check that federally licensed gun dealers must conduct on their customers.
Among those who might have been affected by the bill is Sam Koontz, a private vendor who sells his collection of historical firearms and paraphernalia along with modern rifles. Koontz said if a similar bill is passed in the future, he will likely stop selling at gun shows altogether.
Before the bill was defeated, committee members agreed to amendments by Sen. Creigh Deeds, whose district includes Rockbridge County. Deeds' amendments would have exempted certain transactions from background checks. Those exemptions would have covered sales of antique guns, sales to concealed-carry permit holders, and sales conducted in gun-show parking lots.
Federally licensed firearms dealers are required by law to conduct background checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The NICS screens potential gun buyers through a national database that tracks convicted felons, domestic abusers, those committed to a mental institution and others ineligible to buy guns. Most background checks take place in a matter of minutes.
Ladd Everitt, advocate for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said the national database is not as up-to-date as it should be, claiming that one fourth of convicted felons and 90 percent of mental cases are not recorded.
According to Everitt, the privacy laws and disorganization of the mental health system mean that many of those ineligible to buy guns never make it to the NICS. That was the case for Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui, who purchased his weapons legally after passing background checks. Cho, who shot and killed 32 students and professors before killing himself last April, did not purchase his weapons at a gun show.
Many gun show attendees in Salem questioned the Senate bill's relevance to the Virginia Tech shootings and to other crimes. A 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics study found that fewer than 2 percent of guns used in crimes came directly from gun shows. But that does not take into account guns that were sold again later.
Produced by
Washington and Lee
journalism students.
Lead Supervisors:
Prof. Brian
Richardson
Prof. Phylissa
Mitchell
Editing supervisor:
Prof. Pam Leucke
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd