State crime panel will study ‘gun-show loophole’

BY FRANK GREEN
Media General News Service
Published: April 24, 2008

A limited look at Virginia’s so-called “gun-show loophole” will be among a dozen issues the Virginia State Crime Commission will study this year.

The commission agreed yesterday to study the applicable state and federal firearms laws so that General Assembly members will have a clear understanding of the law in any future legislative debates.

But recognizing the political divisiveness of the issue, the commission decided it will not recommend any proposed laws of its own as it has on other subjects, such as illegal immigration last year.

Legislation requiring criminal-background checks on all firearms transactions at gun shows was defeated at the most recent assembly session, and the crime commission was asked to study the matter.

Only licensed firearms dealers are now required to conduct criminal-background checks on buyers at gun shows in Virginia.

At its Sept. 9 meeting, the crime commission may direct staff members to try to obtain statistics on the number of gun-show sales by unlicensed sellers and how many of those firearms wind up being used in crimes.

However, the 13-member crime commission will not make that decision until it hears from the Virginia State Police on whether any such data is available. The commission may also decide in September whether to hold a public hearing on the matter.

Col. W. Gerald Massengill, former superintendent of the state police and a member of the crime commission, thanked the other members yesterday. “I’m not an activist on this. I feel very strongly about the Second Amendment,” he said.

But, Massengill, said, “I also feel strongly about public safety.” The chairman of the governor’s panel that reviewed last year’s massacre at Virginia Tech, he favors more-thorough background checks on gun-show purchases.

Del. Kenneth R. Melvin, D-Portsmouth, said he believes any further study on the subject is a waste of time and money. “It might as well be the public policy in Virginia that if you’re not a convicted felon, we want you armed to the teeth,” Melvin asserted.

Other subjects the crime commission will study this year include: juvenile justice; the capital murder of firefighters and the threshold amount for grand larceny in Virginia.

Frank Green is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.