Gov. Kaine: Close Gun Show Loophole

By: Lowell
Published On: 11/28/2007 7:29:09 AM

Gov. Kaine said yesterday that he wants to close the gun show loophole.  According to Kaine, "You either want felons to have guns or you don't."  Kaine added:

You want people who are mentally adjudicated to be dangerous to have guns or you don't. If you don't want them to, then you ought to close that gun show loophole.

This makes perfect sense, which of course means that it will go nowhere in the flat-earth-wing-Republican-controlled House of Delegates.  It's sad, but Virginians had their chance to turn the House of Delegates over to the Democrats -- and to commonsense -- on November 6,  and they didn't.  End of story on closing the gun show loophole, and probably a lot of other good things (e.g., Tim Kaine's pre-k initiative) as well.  Perhaps next election more Virginians will realize that local and state elections directly impact their lives, and will show up to vote.  Or not, and live with the consequences.

Comments



Not end of story; beginning of story (True Blue - 11/28/2007 10:09:38 AM)
Sometimes it takes time and an intervening election to solve these sorts of things.

Kaine is firing the opening salvo of a battle that may goon long after he leaves office.



Well, it's the "end of story" for (Lowell - 11/28/2007 11:45:59 AM)
several years to come, until Virginia changes enough (and there's redistricting) that we have another decent shot at the House of Delegates.  


Respect your enemies (True Blue - 11/28/2007 12:35:07 PM)
We have to "respect our enemies" in the very limited sense that we must recognize that they have the ability to thwart progress, delaying or even blocking it.

Wanting something instantly and refusing to recognize that we may have to fight a long and costly battle against clever but wrongheaded people is how you end up like Matt Stoller: a bitter purist who demands everything now and denounces anyone who disagrees.

We fight the battle every day, trying to move the ball a little further down the field.  I'm just thankful that we've got people like Tim Kaine, Jim Webb and Mark Warner in places where they can speak up and make a difference. We need more of them, and we'll fight those battles as they come.

The Republicans will try to slow us down or even stop us and they are clever, skillful politicians.  But the arc of History is on our side, not theirs.



What do we keep hearing from pro-gun groups? (mkfox - 11/28/2007 4:12:57 PM)
"Better enforce existing law"

Well, if it's a state and federal crime for felons, mental defectives and other prohibited purchasers to own firearms, then closing the gun show loophole only makes sense. (Hell, according to the VT Panel, it's a crime for them to also own ammunition so why not have background checks on that too?) My only hope is that a gun-show loophole bill isn't crammed with pro-NRA concessions just to get passed. It's like, yes let's have Exxon write energy independence bills or Big Tobacco compose cigarette tax plans.



Bu there is no gun show loophole (opencarry - 12/16/2007 1:14:16 AM)
Federal law does not require background checks for private non-dealer intra-state sales - are you going to ban private sales at people's homes, yard sales, church parking lots too?  Only 9 states restrict private sales - 4 generally, and 5 at gun shows.  VA is not going to join them!