Wednesday, January 30, 2008

CLOSE THE GAP











The Virginia Legislature recently voted against
S.B 109, legistlation that would have closed a loophole that allowed private sales without background checks at unregulated gun shows. The defeat came after the National Rifle Association and the Virginia Citizens' Defence League lobbied to torpedo the bill.

The defeat of the bill occurs after family members of students killed in the Virginia Tech Massacre staged a "die-in" on the lawn of the Virginia capitol to support S.B. 109. During the protest and support of the legistlation, pro-gun lobbyists heckled and taunted those who suffered the loss of their family and friends.

My sympathies are with those who supported closing the gun show loophole. I champion their cause not only for the common sense of requiring background checks on gun buyers and dealers but also for their civility. It is trashy to heckle and taunt someone whose family or friend was murdered in a horrible event such as happened at Virginia Tech. The NRA and the Virginia Citizens' Defence League are what is commonly referred to, regardless of skin colour, as "white trash" and "patterollers". Yes, those are loaded terms. The obscene behaviour of taunting someone whose family or friend has died in gun violence warrants harsh words of condemnation.


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