Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Law enforcement officials back closing the 'gun-show loophole'

By: Reed Williams | Times-Dispatch
Published: June 27, 2012 Updated: June 27, 2012 - 12:00 AM

Law enforcement officials from across the state on Tuesday called for stricter background checks to make it more difficult for criminals to obtain firearms if they are prohibited by law from having guns.

"This is not about infringing on people's right to own guns, purchase guns, sell guns," Fairfax City Police Chief Richard J. Rappoport said. "Law enforcement and lawmakers ought to sit down and try to figure out how we can regulate that in a way that keeps guns out of the hands of dangerous people."

Rappoport, a past president of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, joined several law enforcement officials from around Virginia and elsewhere at a news conference Tuesday at the Berkeley Hotel in Richmond.

Speakers said they support a federal law that would close the so-called "gun-show loophole," which allows buyers to purchase from unlicensed sellers without having to go through a criminal background check.

"We need a federal law to address these issues," said Hubert Williams, chairman of the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence.

Rappoport said a solution needs to be found to keep dangerous people from going online, putting the word out that they need a gun and getting one without having to submit to a background check.

"A person can go on the Internet using the pseudonym 'Fred' and arrange to buy a semiautomatic weapon from someone using the pseudonym 'Sam' and meet in a dark parking lot and money exchange hands and weapons exchange hands," he said.

Rappoport said those kinds of sales need to be made illegal "so that we move legitimate buyers and legitimate sellers into a legitimate marketplace that's regulated."

Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights organization, countered that people should be able to meet and sell guns just as they would sell anything else online at sites such as Craigslist.com.

"Are they going to get rid of Craigslist? Of course not. They're just going to pick on guns," Van Cleave said.

He also opposes a federal law closing the so-called loophole, which he said is not a loophole but something legislators carved out from background-check requirements.

"That will not do anything to slow down crime," Van Cleave said. "We don't want guns registered in Virginia. It is not the government's business to know how many guns you have."

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said any federal law that would strengthen background checks should include exemptions allowing, for example, someone to will a gun to a family member without a check.

"We don't want to overregulate private sales," she said.

Local law enforcement officials attending the news conference included Petersburg Police Chief John I. Dixon III, representing the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; David M. McCoy, police chief at the University of Richmond, representing the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators; and Ashland Police Chief Douglas A. Goodman Jr., a board member of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police.

Also present were the police chiefs of Staunton, Williamsburg and Baltimore County, Md., among others.

I can somewhat understand where they"re coming from but aye law enforcement needs to give this a break. Criminals will nearly always be able to access firearms. If they cant access them then they'll construct them ( ala Saturday Night Specials aka Please don't blow up in my hands). The way I see it we need more law abiding, trained and educated, carrying individuals. More of these types of people will make any criminal who does manage to access a firearm really think before attempting to use it.

I seem to recall a headline from the Salt Lake City Tribune from the late nineties in which a criminal with an ill gotten firearm attempted to hold up a convenience store. If I remember the story correctly when the perp turned to leave he found himself staring down the business ends of multiple lawfully carried sidearms. It's practically a cliche now but ya... An armed society really is a polite society. Just my two cents.

Be well one and all!

Gun control is just job security for Law Enforcement.

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We should inaugurate a letter-writing campaign to fire (or at least reduce the budgets of) police chiefs who use their taxpayer-paid jobs and government resources to advocate for the abridgement of Second Amendment rights. Whatever money they are spending on that kind of stuff need to be taken away from them and returned to the taxpayers. Write to the mayors, town councilmen and city managers that they work for. Give those ol' boys something else to worry about.

Like its been said, no measure of gun control will stop criminals from getting guns. Look at England, no one can have guns there including general police officers, you have to be on a tactical team to even carry a gun to an emergency call. But yet the BGs still some how get guns. It may be over played but as the saying goes, if they outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns. They need to accept the fact that no measure will prevent illegal firearm ownership. The police force just needs to be more vigilant on keeping the gang bangers and drug dealers at bay. As far as private sale goes, if they do end up putting an end to it (which I dont believe will happen) it won't do anything about illegal sales. Criminals aren't just gonna up and say "sorry, I'm not allowed to sell you this Hipoint because I'm not a licensed dealer" they need to get their heads out of their asses is what they need to do. If I'm selling one of my guns to you, it's not leaving my hands until I see a CCW and va license and you sign a bill of sale. I know that's not full proof either but it's better than nothing

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The funniest? Why is the police chief of a STATE RUN UNIVERSITY doing on that panel!?!? (David McCoy, UoR Police Chief). He's not voted in, or elected, he's appointed by the Board of Visitors!

I think our Universities are becoming a bastion of restrictions, not freedoms.

What I don't understand is even if something like this happened, why does it have to be a federal law? Whatever happened to states rights? As a police chief in VA, are you really that concerned that someone from WV or MD will purchase an illegal firearm and use it in VA?

Putting this additional burden on private sales is bad enough, but having a federal mandate just compounds the problem.

We don't need anymore of their restrictions and Bull$hit!!! Period!

Quoth the op:

meet in a dark parking lot and money exchange hands and weapons exchange hands," he said.

Aren't p2p transactions generally done in well lit areas like Gander mtn, Bass Pro, etc? It seems like he's confusing private gun sales with prostitution. I guess it would be easy to do if you have more knowledge of the latter than the former.

Also, does the FFX City Chief of Police still has to approve a handgun sale? Always found it odd considering the NRA HQ is basically just down the road.

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Considering more people die in car accidents we need a law that closes the private seller loophole. You must take your car to a licensed dealer in order to sell it. I wonder how those clowns would like that one. Also a background check needs to be made in order to insure that the car is not being sold to a habitual offender (drunk driver).

Gotta get those nasty Girl Scout cookies off the street as well...Why anyone could buy them!!!! All those dangerous calories!!!

BlackKnight wrote:Considering more people die in car accidents we need a law that closes the private seller loophole. You must take your car to a licensed dealer in order to sell it. I wonder how those clowns would like that one. Also a background check needs to be made in order to insure that the car is not being sold to a habitual offender (drunk driver).

Don't give them any ideas. The dumber it sounds, the more likely they are to champion it.

Non-existent gun show loophole? How dated!

Now the parking lot outside a gun show? Thats where the real wheeling and delaing seems to happen. And its all legal private citien sales which are a really great perk of Virignia livin.

Hell, I see guns at yard sales sometimes here.

Its interesting how the United States is so "violent" because of relaxed gun laws. Check this post

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... a-U-S.html

Great Britain with some of the most restrictive gun control laws has the highest rate of violent crime on earth. Check the list, the US isn't even in the top ten.

When they outlaw baseball bats only outlaws will have baseball bats.