HoodaThunk?

Here we go again with yet another Dem breathlessly seeking to “close the gun-show loophole”, this time with Kaine trying to ride the backs of the murdered VA Tech students and faculty. Kaine is proposing to require the checks for anyone who buys a gun at a gun show, whether it’s from a private individual or from a licensed dealer.

Let’s set aside the issues with the proposal for just a moment. The most clueless, crass aspect of this attempt is Kaine’s blatant attempt to abuse the memory of those slain by a gunman at Virginia Tech last year by having their family members stand with him during the announcement. What’s my problem with that?

Primarily, the gunman (Cho) didn’t buy the weapons from a gun show nor did he buy them from a private individual. He bought them from standard, licensed gun dealers at their shops. Those dealers ran the background checks which came back fine. They came back fine because the people who had the information about Cho’s mental instability failed to communicate that information. The dealers, therefore, had no idea about the problem. Whether Kaine’s proposal was law before VA Tech or not is irrelevant to the shootings; they would have happened exactly the same.

Changes to the laws and the NICS system used to run the checks have been made to allow the mental health information that would have been useful in Cho’s case to be communicated effectively. Responsible gun owners, general defenders of the 2nd Amendment such as myself, and even organizations such as the NRA approved of those changes and worked to get them made.

The fact of the matter is that requiring private citizens selling a gun at a gun show to adhere to the same regulatory regime as a business, small or otherwise, is a ham-handed solution in search of a problem. There’s no evidence that criminals are using gun shows to buy guns. In fact, considering the police presence at these events, most crooks avoid them like the plague. They’re buying guns on the street from private individuals, yes, but those people aren’t going to set up a sale at an event swarming with BATFE and local law enforcement.

I’ll look for the actual text of the proposal and link it when I find it but this just seems like yet another stab at piling up regulations so high they can make the jump to a firearm ban without raising alarms. I’m skeptical.