Gun Show Measure Falters in Va. House
Vote Irks Relatives Of Va. Tech Victims

By Anita Kumar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 19, 2008; B01

RICHMOND, Jan. 18 -- A Virginia House committee on Friday defeated an effort to close a major loophole in the state's gun laws, angering families of victims of the Virginia Tech massacre and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who had pushed hard for the law.

The House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee voted along party lines to kill a requirement that all sellers conduct background checks on firearms buyers at gun shows, a move that makes passing a bill on the checks this year nearly impossible.

For years, gun control advocates have tried to close the loophole. They had hoped that the April 16 shooting at Virginia Tech and Kaine's lobbying would give them momentum to succeed this year.

The 13 to 9 vote by the committee, which is controlled by Republicans from rural areas, came after an hour of passionate testimony by families of those killed or injured at Virginia Tech. But even a delegate who works at the university and represents part of the area around the campus, David A. Nutter (R-Montgomery), voted against the proposal, showing the importance of firearms in rural Virginia. Opponents said they feared that the measure could lead to further checks on private sales.

"I don't know why these people don't represent their constituents,'' said Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was shot four times by the Virginia Tech gunman, Seung Hui Cho. "I think they just represent" the National Rifle Association.

"Some people don't like it, but guns have a special place in the Constitution,'' said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem).

Supporters of ending the loophole said that their efforts are not over. A Senate committee is expected to take up a similar bill Monday. But if the Senate approves the bill, it will have to go back through the House committee.

Kaine told reporters after Friday's vote that if the Senate passes a bill, there will be "momentum" that could pressure the House into approving it.

"It's not over," he said. "If ever it is going to happen, this is the year to make it happen."

"It's over," said Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott), adding that committee members listened to the families but that they did not change anyone's mind. "We ought to go to something else. Let's try to work together on things we can agree on."

Kaine has supported background checks before, but this is the first year he is actively lobbying for a change. Many Republican lawmakers remain opposed, as do some rural Democrats.

Federal and Virginia laws require licensed gun dealers to screen customers through instant background checks. Felons, mentally ill people and domestic abusers are barred from buying firearms. But the state does not require background checks for people who buy guns in private sales at gun shows. State police say that 22 percent to 35 percent of people who sell guns at shows are unlicensed.

"At these shows, people transfer, buy, sell, collect firearms, and an individual may want to sell two or three guns out of their collection," Griffith said. "They are not violating the law."

In recent months, several families have been lobbying legislators for background checks for all gun purchases and against allowing guns on college campuses. They plan to be in Richmond on Monday with supporters from across the state to call on legislators to enact what they call sensible gun laws.

"They were killed by a sick person who should not have had that gun,'' said Richmond resident Lori Haas, whose daughter Emily was shot twice at Virginia Tech but survived. Cho bought one gun used in the attack at a pawn shop and the other from a gun dealer.

In the past, gun control advocates have supported measures to require background checks for one-on-one gun sales, including sales at gun shows. But proposals this year deal only with gun shows.

Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said that if the bill passed, he suspected that the legislature would try to expand background checks to one-on-one sales.

"This would be just the first step," he said. "Next would be the private sales. You can kind of see where this is going."

Fifteen states require background checks at gun shows.

Cho, of Fairfax County, passed two background checks when he bought the two handguns used in the massacre. Although a judge had found Cho a danger to himself and ordered him to undergo outpatient mental health treatment, Virginia at the time required that only the names of those committed to hospitals for the mentally ill be reported to the FBI.

Kaine has since signed an executive order requiring that anyone ordered by a court to receive mental health treatment be added to a state police database of people barred from buying guns.

Had Cho been turned away at a gun store, experts say, he could have gone to a gun show and bought a gun out of the trunk of a private dealer's car, no questions asked. For that reason, a Virginia Tech review panel recommended requiring background checks at gun shows.

Friday's committee vote had been expected, but Virginia Tech family members said they were surprised that many delegates did not seem to pay attention to what they said or even debate the bill.

Nine of the Republicans who voted to kill the bill received more than $4,165 in campaign contributions from gun advocacy groups or dealers in last year's election cycle, according to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

"I was a little bit taken aback, because I think they had their minds made up,'' said Joe Samaha of Centreville, whose daughter, Reema, was killed at Virginia Tech. "There are two sides to an argument, but they don't want to hear the argument at all."

Van Cleave countered that the bill was unnecessary and would infringe on the rights of lawful gun owners.

"The bill would not have changed anything," he said. "If this had passed last year, Virginia Tech would still have happened."

Staff writer Tim Craig contributed to this report.