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Jan 18, 2:29 PM EST
Despite pleas by Tech families, Va. panel rejects gun bill
By LARRY O'DELL
Associated Press Writer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Families of those killed and wounded during a deranged gunman's rampage at Virginia Tech implored a legislative panel to close the loophole in state law that allows criminals and the mentally ill to buy firearms at gun shows.
The Republican-dominated committee ignored them, voting 13-9 along party lines Friday to kill legislation to require unlicensed sellers at gun shows to run criminal background checks on buyers. Such checks now are required only of federally licensed gun dealers.
Only a few relatives of those slain and wounded during the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech were able to attend the meeting because they had less than 24 hours notice. The committee refused to delay a vote until more family members could attend.
Thirty-two people were killed at the Virginia Tech by student Seung-Hui Cho, who committed suicide as police closed in.
"Please don't say these innocent lives were lost," Lori Haas of Richmond, whose daughter Emily was shot twice in the head but survived, told the committee. "They weren't lost - they were killed by a sick person who should not have had that gun. Every one of you sitting here today can prevent someone else from suffering this anguish."
Gun-rights advocates who opposed the bill noted that Cho did not buy his weapon at a gun show, and one even suggested gun-control activists were capitalizing on the Virginia Tech tragedy to advance their agenda.
"Gun shows were not part of what happened there," said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. "Some of those who are not in favor of guns saw this as the opportunity to open up the toy box."
Despite the setback, the gun show loophole issue is not dead. Similar legislation is pending in a Senate committee, and supporters plan a lobbying blitz and vigil in remembrance of the Tech victims Monday on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
"We're not going to give up," Andrew Goddard of Richmond, whose son Colin was wounded in the Tech shootings, told reporters after the committee meeting. "We're going to be energized by this."
Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said the administration prefers the Senate bill, and he and others have only begun to politically pressure the proposal's House opponents.
"There are those who apparently think it's fine for a felon to have a gun or a dangerously mentally ill person to have a gun or a domestic abuser to have a gun. They usually won't stand up and say that because they'll be laughed out of the room if they do, but apparently that's what they believe," Kaine told reporters.
"Contrary to the clear federal law denying felons, domestic abusers with protective orders and dangerously mentally ill individuals the right to have a gun, these gun shows provide a very easy and public means for people who cannot legally have weapons to go in and get them," Kaine said.
Even if the Senate votes to close the loophole, the bill's next stop would be the same House committee that moved swiftly to reject the House version before supporters of the legislation could marshal their forces. Haas said she didn't receive notice of the meeting until about 6 p.m. Thursday.
"Families from all over the commonwealth should be given the opportunity to be here," said Del. Chuck Caputo, D-Fairfax and co-sponsor of the bill.
Del. Beverly Sherwood of Frederick County, chairwoman of the committee, joined its other 12 Republicans in opposing Caputo's request to delay the measure. She said she had asked the speaker of the House to schedule Friday's floor session to start an hour later than usual to allow time for a full hearing.
"We probably won't be able to set aside this time again," she said.
As of Friday, the committee had more than 60 bills to consider and three more scheduled meetings before the Feb. 12 deadline for each house to act on its own legislation.
The committee has long been hostile to gun-control measures and friendly to gun-rights groups and firearms dealers. Eight of the Republicans who voted to kill the gun show bill received more than $4,100 in contributions from gun advocacy groups or dealers last year, according to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.
Sherwood told reporters that she believed both sides had a fair hearing on the bill. She said the bill's sponsors were given notice Thursday morning, and it was their responsibility to get their supporters to the meeting. Such short notice is not unusual given the compressed schedule of a 60-day session, she said.
Caputo had a different take on the proceedings and the vote: "I'd describe it as a lack of courage, compassion and execution of responsibility to protect the citizens of the commonwealth."
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AP Political Writer Bob Lewis contributed to this report.
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