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The Latest Bill of Rights News Concerns Gun Control.

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In Bill of Rights news the gun show loophole is under debate again.

Federal and state law requires that people buying guns from licensed dealers undergo background checks in the effort to make sure that those whom the state and nation believe shouldn’t own guns-convicted felons, the mentally ill, abusive spouses, for example-can’t buy them.

However at a gun show, any and all of the above can buy a gun-a handgun, a shotgun, an assault rifle-because vendors who don’t have federal licenses are permitted to sell guns at many of the popular gun shows.

According to Virginia State Police, as many as one-third of the gun vendors at Virginia state shows are unlicensed.

In Bill of Rights news gun-rights advocates point out that some of the non-dealers are just selling antique or curio items from their collections to other collectors and, equally true, some are selling high-powered handguns with no questions asked to people who want to shoot people.

A gun show’s the place to go to buy a gun if you’re a stalker who has a court restraining order against you, or if you have a felony on your record, or have been committed to a psychiatric hospital.

At any other legal selling point, the instant background check will foil you and that’s why it’s called the gun show loophole.

There are a limited number of ways guns move into the hands of criminals; some are able to buy them legitimately; some buy them illegally on the street; some steal them; some buy them from licensed dealers (the crooked few) who don’t bother enforcing the laws; and some buy them at gun shows.

So if there’s a way to stop part of the flow of guns into criminal hands, why not do it? Since the nation has decided, rightly, that background checks are a useful tool, why not require them of all sales at gun shows?

It would be a simple thing to set up.For legitimate buyers, what’s the problem? And for those who aren’t, a purchase stopped is good.

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Victims of Virginia Tech Shootings

In news of the Bill of Rights, victims of the shootings at Virginia Tech and some of their families have been pleading with the crime commission to close this loophole.

They are striving to bring something positive out of their losses and spare other families what they have gone through.

It’s not directly applicable to their situation, because the Tech shooter got his guns from a dealer, but their pain concerning the horror that gun violence brought to them is very real.

In Bill of Rights news the Virginia commission didn’t recommend against legislation closing the loophole; it just put off a decision.

The Virginia legislature has asked for a recommendation by their January meeting, in time to be passed over to bill-writers.

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Virginia Reluctant of Infringe on Gun Control

It may well not make any difference, but the Virginia General Assembly is notoriously reluctant to infringe on gun ownership, especially under pressure from a fervent group that wraps up any and all limits, even reasonable ones, in the deceptive mantle of a threat to Second Amendment rights.

The loophole is real. And so are the criminals. As an update to this Bill of Rights news, on January 13, the Virginia legislature did pass the bill for a criminal background check at gun shows.

The commission however, endorsed a bill that would require gun show promoters to hire a state policeman to monitor illegal sales.

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