Gun-control advocates push for checks at shows

Seattle Times ^ | Nov 8, 2002 | Nancy Bartley

[Blood of Tyrants]

TACOMA — Standing just yards from the gun shop where the Beltway sniper suspects are said to have obtained a rifle, gun-control advocates yesterday called for new laws that would restrict firearms sales at gun shows and make it easier to identify guns used in crimes.

Members of Washington CeaseFire, joined by several legislators, stood in the wind and rain outside Bull's Eye Shooter Supply and said it is time to close a loophole in state law that allows pistols, rifles and shotguns to be sold at gun shows without the standard background checks required at gun shops. The group estimates there are about 60 such gun shows in the state each year.

CeaseFire also plans to push for a law requiring gun manufacturers and distributors to send spent cartridges from guns to the State Patrol. State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, said such firearms fingerprinting would help police link bullets used in crimes to the guns that fired them.

"We can no longer turn our backs ... and look the other way as criminals use Washington's lax laws as easy access to guns," said Laura Lockard, executive director of CeaseFire.

Added State Sen. Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, "I've bought brassieres with inventory tags. How come there's more security there than for buying a gun?"

But the National Rifle Association insists no new regulations are necessary in Washington state.

"There are lots of regulations on the books already," said Michael Krei, the NRA's senior field representative for Washington and northern Idaho. "This is just the latest anti-gun initiative out there. It's popular with the wine-and-cheesers that can't stand guns."

Bull's Eye Shooter Supply is missing or cannot account for 340 weapons, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms audit. Among them, reportedly, is the Bushmaster M-4 carbine linked to the D.C.-area shootings.

The store owner has acknowledged none of the weapons should be unaccounted for and has been cooperating with the ATF investigation. On Tuesday, the owner reported the Bushmaster stolen.

John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, have been accused of shooting 20 people in Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, Washington state and Washington, D.C.

Court records show Muhammad had been named in a protective order stemming from domestic violence and should not have been able to purchase a gun. Yet somehow he obtained the Bushmaster, which had been in the display case at Bull's Eye. The store couldn't account for the gun, according to the ATF. Federal regulations require missing guns to be reported within 48 hours. (Me: Don't you have to know they are missing first?)

[Blood of Tyrants]

Somehow the anti-gunners want us to believe that the sniper shootings (using a STOLEN GUN) wouldn't have happened if only they could limit the rights of private citizens enjoying the right to trade with each other freely.

[epluribus_2]

(AP) (continued) And in a related story, house democrats introduced legislation requiring background checks at the time of weapon robberies. It was not immediately clear how this measure would be implemented but most lawmakers felt much better about themselves.

[earonthief]

I'm thinking of a counter campain. Revoke all gun laws save one,BRASS.

[glc1173@aol.com]

You'd think the antigun lobby would have learned from the failed efforts of that federal prosecutor Thomas Wales that Washington residents vote down antigun referendums when they are put to a vote.

In any case, nobody - not even the antigun lobby - has contended the AR-15 Malvo and Muhammad used came from a show anyhow. What's that case got to do with shows?

Scandals of antigun politicians and activists - with how-to guide to "outing!"

[LurkedLongEnough]

Awhile back, the sports team "The Washington Bullets" had a dilemma. A growing number of defensive DC residents claimed that the name suggested violence, gunfights and crime, and pushed to change it to something more politically correct.

So they changed their name to "The Bullets".

Credited to Jay Leno

[robertpaulsen]

To make their point about gun shows, they protest outside a gun shop? And why protest either one if that's not the way the gun was acquired? (Don't answer)

Idiots!

[Blood of Tyrants]

The answer is of course, the freedom haters use ANY opportunity to advance the disarming of America. Logic has nothing to do with it.

[timestax]

The perps don't believe in any ole rules, or laws!!

[lelio]

Maybe a FReeper refendum in 2004 that says "Those that don't know the facts of a case should just shut up. In particular Washington Ceasefire"

[m1911]

Makes as much sense as the guy who wrote Time magazine to say that the sniper proves we should ban handguns.

[SteveH]

WA gun grabber bang

[lelio]

Bull's Eye Shooter Supply is missing or cannot account for 340 weapons
I'm still puzzled at how this can happen. That's at least $300k in inventory that's missing.

[Billthedrill]

1. The gun wasn't bought at any gun show, and they weren't outside a gun show.

2. The gun may not even have been bought from that shop; it was probably stolen.

3. There are already laws requiring background checks at the shop, and it has a reputation for compliance.

4. Gun shows in Washington State are nearly all run by the Western Arms Collectors' Association, and you CANNOT purchase a firearm at one of their shows unless you're a member, and you get a background check when you apply for membership. That's actually MORE stringent than the new laws these bozos are demanding.

5. They're not really after background checks so much as they are to enact a waiting period long enough to essentially shut down all sales at gun shows.

I know these Washington Ceasefire guys. They are nearly a caricature of the gun control movement and aren't even taken seriously in liberal circles in the People's Republic of Puget Sound. But I do have hopes for them - if there is any hope at all of loosening the stranglehold the Dems have in this misbegotten political swamp it will be from them taking over that plank of the party platform. Kiss of death.

[Blood of Tyrants]

"5. They're not really after background checks so much as they are to enact a waiting period long enough to essentially shut down all sales at gun shows."

And to keep the registration lists up to date. If they can make private sales subject to background checks at gun shows, the next "loophole" to be closed will the "loophole" that allows me to sell a gun to you without government permission.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Well, probably not $300K as most guns are well less than $882 (more like the $300 to $500 range). But it DOES show sloppy bookkeeping that verges on criminally negligent.

[Sender]

I totally disagree with the 'loophole' BS and the fallacy of 'ballistic fingerprinting'. Having said that, I do find it really unbelievable that a gun shop just lost 340 guns. Instead of pushing their anti-gun claptrap on the rest of us, why not just deal with this one FFL dealer who can't manage his inventory? Or better yet, just deal with the Muslim / Farrakan hate-filled shooters and be done with it?

[archy]

Laura Lockhard of Washington Cease Fire must be the new director of the group, since the old one died of a lead overdose.

-archy-/-

[Mr. Bungle]

Gun-control advocates push for checks at shows

That's a good idea. I always seem to run out of cash.

[n2002duke]

LOL!

It's outrageous that people who steal guns or buy them on the black market won't register them with the authorities. We need legislation to fix this immediately!

LOL!