I was there with some of the Virginia Tech Young Dems and it was great. However, there were some big disappointments. You notice that for some of the vote yes discussion time, Sen. Cuccinelli wasn't even in the room? He said at one point he could be persuaded--I don't know how he expects that to happen if he isn't even listening.

Creigh seemed to be looking for a way to vote no. There are really no excuses on this one. If he does vote no, we will know for sure he cares more about his NRA rating than looking at each bill on a case by case basis to see what is right.

And at the vigil--there was one of the pro-gun guys singing "We shall overcome." On Martin Luther King day. Come on guys, overcome? Really?

I have video of some of the speeches at the rally. Hopefully they will be up on youtube soon.

Those Va Tech students were incredible. It really makes you worry less about the future of this country when you meet young people like that. God bless them.

I predict that if Dems don't let this go it will pretty much eliminate any chance of winning the governorship next year.

I am very ashamed of those who are exploiting the deaths of those students who were killed on an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with what happened.

This is yet another way that Dems are becoming professional victims.

Gov. Kaine is also disappointing me in breaking his promise of NO NEW GUN LAWS. PERIOD.

It was noted by many on the pro-control side that the loophole isn't what caused the shooting at Tech, but honestly what is the harm in making it a little more difficult to get a gun? It's a little hassle that could very well save lives, and I really don't understand what gun owners are so afraid of. Don't extend this particular case to people who want guns entirely banned. Look at it for what it is.

But this is the wrong way to go about it. We need to keep tragedies from getting into the discussion. The reason why we need background checks is so people like Cho can't easily get a gun. Making a new law that will quite frankly do nothing to prevent this type of thing is not the answer.

But if you tell me that I have to have a background check to buy a new shotgun from my cousin who has sold guns at a gunshow before as an individual then we have a problem. I know a lot of people who will have a problem with it. Reasonable people who would normally get in line with us when we want to approach public safety in a common sense way. The injection of such emotionally charged subject matter is a mistake and will only serve to provide fodder to the GOP in their efforts to separate independents from us.

As far as making it harder to get a gun. It should be EASY for law abiding people to get a gun. I am sick and tired of liberals ( and I am one) not supporting all of the Bill of Rights. The 2nd Amendment is very clear. And don't give me any BS about it being outdated either and applying to collective groups. The Bill of Rights was written to protect the rights of individuals and that makes it quite clear that it applies to individuals.

I think we need to work on making sure that all persons with mental problems that make gun ownership by them unwise to be entered into the background check system. We don't go about it by going after individuals who sell guns as a hobby.

I understand that it would really be a hassle to buy from someone you know...so the question is what can we do legislatively to address all sides of this the right way? If you allow for some people to buy guns without a background check then any individual seller could theoretically get around it if they claimed they knew the person buying it.

So what options do we have to actually do something about people getting guns that shouldn't? What about all the crime guns being purchased in VA that go to NY and DC? If we are going to find a way to make it easier for law abiding citizens to get guns, we also need to make it tougher for potential criminals to get them as well. And that is a tough line to try to draw.

can't just sell him the gun at his house--why do they need to do it at a gun show? This bill would not prohibit friends and family from selling guns to each other--it would prohibit sellers from selling to strangers at a gun show without a background check.

Selling guns at a gun show is not a hobby; it is a business. If your cousin wants to sell guns at a gun show, why can't he just become a licensed dealer?

Dude, a background check takes 3 5 minutes, tops. Just how easy does it have to be for a lawabiding individual to get a gun? We want to make it harder for criminals and the mentally ill to get their hands on a gun--background checks that cause very little inconvenience to law-abiding citizens can be a deterent to those who are not.  

Willie, I really don't understand your objection. You say you don't have a problem with background checks, but you obviously do. You say that requiring background checks at gun shows violate your 2nd Amendment rights, but other background checks don't? Where's the consistency there?

Finally, is there not something about equal protection under the law? How can it be fair for one person to have to go through a background check during a commercial  transaction, when the other person doesn't? How can it be fair for one businessman to have to become a licensed dealer while other businessman don't?  

why don't you take your complaints to the Va Tech parents who were there? You have no idea what you are talking about.

And this is NOT a new gun law, btw. It's simply fixing a loophole in an existing law. Just as when Governor Kaine--by executive order--fixed the loophole that allowed a mentally ill person such as Cho to purchase two guns--he was amending an existing law.

Tell me, is it that you don't approve of background checks, period? Because most of us, on both sides of the aisle, believe that everyone should go through a background check before purchasing a gun. Why would you oppose such a law?    

I LIVED in Blacksburg and Radford for two years. I was 6 miles from the VT campus when it happened. I knew one of the professors who was killed and met two more of them from time to time. So don't you dare to presume to lecture me about the VT tragedy. You owe me an apology for that comment.

Also, you are quite silly in these contradictory statements. First you tell me it isn't a new law. (you should ask a lawyer about that by the way) and then you proceed to ask me how I could oppose such a law. IT IS A NEW GUN LAW. Currently it is not illegal for individuals to sell guns without doing a background check. What is being proposed is a new law. Gov. Kaine promised not to do that. He is breaking that promise.

I am a huge fan of Gov. Kaine but I am also man enough to say when I think he is wrong. This is such a case.

You are WRONG. Not my opinion, it is a fact.

to imply that people who support closing the gun show loophole are exploiting this tragedy or exploting the parents of the Va Tech victims. Why don't you ask the parents of Mary Read about that? Why don't you ask the family of the professor you say you knew? Do they agree with you, I wonder?

What reasonable and rational person can really say that spending three to five minutes on an instant background check in any way stops law abiding citizens from purchasing a gun? And what reasonable and rational person can likewise say that waiting this few minutes to make a purchase is such an inconvenience that we should take the chance that another person with mental illness, a criminal, or a terrorist will purchase a gun and take innocent life as Cho did on April 16. And, please tell me, what person with even the slightest sense of compassion and decency would even think to tell parents who lost a child at Virginia Tech that a bill that might prevent a similar tragedy should not in the very least be heard before the full Virginia Senate?

I urge all of the Senators on the Courts of Justice Committee to take the advice of Governor Kaine. Let Democracy have its day in the hallowed ground where our forefathers like Thomas Jefferson first envisioned it. What would Thomas Jefferson do? I think we all know that he would let Democracy play out. Let the full Senate vote on this bill. In contrast to what Willie says, I think any Democrat on the Committee who votes against this bill will find it hard to face the voters in Northern Virginia and other parts of the state -- particulary Senator Deeds who wants to run for Governor. He can rest assured that a "no" vote tomorrow will bear a great deal of trouble for his statewide candidacy.

And please Willie, put your false piety aside. Is their a heart under all of that or are you the Grinch with no heart? Do not presume to tell people who have lost a child that they are "exploiting the deaths of those students." You have no moral right to do so.

Let all the Senators who represent ALL of Virginia vote on it! That's the only decent and democratic thing to do!  

If you want to buy a gun from your cousin minus a background check, just do it over the kitchen table at your cousin's house.  But if you want to buy a gun from your cousin who has set a table at a gunshow, you have to get a background check.  Don't like the hassle, then buy it outside the gun show.  But all sellers at gun shows, licensed or not, do instant background checks.  Better safe than sorry.

Robyn Anderson (age 18), the girlfriend of one of the Columbine shooters, purchased two shotguns and a 9mm rifle which the shooters used in the Columbine murders from a gun show.  She later admitted that a background check might have scared her out of buying the guns.  "I wish a law requiring background checks had been in effect at the time... I wish it had been more difficult. I wouldn't have helped [Harris and Klebold] buy the guns if I had faced a background check."

More than 70% of the citizens of Colorado voted to close the gun show loophole after that tragedy--the legislature was too bound to the NRA to do so.

Colorado is one of the states with the most gun shows--business has not been affected by closing this loophole. As a matter of fact, I believe 7 of the top 10 states for gun shows have closed this loophole--and yet they still have lots of guns shows, filled with lots of law-abiding, gun-buying citizens.

 

There's not too much I can add to the perfect lead editorial in today's Virginian-Pilot.  "Extending instant background checks to sales at gun shows injures no one." "The Second Amendment is not diminished by a five-minute wait for a background check." "They [private sellers] set up their tables next to the licensed dealers, and no good reason exists for treating them differently." "The Senate has a chance to amplify the good sense and popular will of Virginians by putting public safety ahead of politics."