http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3854f9945dcc.htm
GOP Resists Gun-Show Checks
By Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Capitol Bureau
Dec. 13 - Requiring criminal background checks at gun shows is, arguably, the one piece of Gov. Bill Owens' gun-control package that could have changed the course of the Columbine High School massacre.
But it's also the piece that has the least chance of winning legislative approval next year.
No Republican has stepped forward to sponsor a bill to close the "gun-show loophole," as some call it, for the legislative session that starts Jan. 5.
"It's hard to carry a bill if you don't believe in it," said House Majority Leader Doug Dean, a Colorado Springs Republican who has established himself as a key GOP broker on gun issues.
In fact, Owens' whole gun agenda is suffering from a lack of interest from his fellow Republicans. And Owens isn't doing much to build support.
Owens announced five proposals in August in response to the Columbine massacre. Republicans have stepped forward to sponsor only two - allowing local police to arrest people who buy guns for criminals and requiring parents to store guns safely.
There are no sponsors for his proposals to include juvenile records in background checks and raise the age for buying handguns at gun shows from 18 to 21.
And the only legislator carrying a bill to require background checks at gun shows is House Minority Leader Ken Gordon, a Denver Democrat distrusted by pro-gun Republicans. Gordon said regulating gun shows could have made it harder for the two Columbine killers to get three of the four guns they used in the massacre.
GOP support is key for gun-control bills because Republicans dominate both chambers of the Colorado Legislature, and they tend to oppose restrictions on guns. Owens is not seeking sponsors for his proposals and will not lobby for them, said his spokesman, Dick Wadhams.
"His major agenda items are education, growth and another permanent tax cut," Wadhams said.
But one gun-control activist thinks Republicans will change their tune when the legislative session begins next month.
"Republicans are waiting to see what the size of the gun-control movement is," said Brian Malte, who coordinates Handgun Control Inc.'s activities in western states, including Colorado. "Many think the response to Columbine was temporary. In fact, it's permanent."
Background checks were fought over for years at the congressional level, but they have emerged as one of the most popular firearms safeguards. Anyone who buys a gun from a federally licensed dealer in Colorado undergoes an instant computer background check looking for criminal records, restraining orders and other reasons why they should not be able to buy a gun. But at gun shows, many sales are not conducted by dealers. They are not subject to background checks because they're considered "private sales." Though the seller might have a booth set up, the sales are treated the same as someone selling a gun to a friend in his living room.
That's how Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold obtained the guns they used to kill 13 people, then themselves on April 20 at Columbine High School. All the guns came from the Tanner Gun Show in Adams County. One of them, a TECDC9 semiautomatic handgun, was bought for them by Mark Manes, who is now serving six years in prison. Two shotguns and a rifle were purchased by Klebold's girlfriend, Robyn Anderson.
Gordon questioned whether Anderson would have bought the guns for the pair if she were required to give her name and show identification. "It would have made her nervous," he said. "That may have been enough to stop these people from going through with it." But supporters of gun shows say that wouldn't have stopped her.
"I think she knew she was buying guns she shouldn't have bought," said Bill Dietrick, legislative director for the Colorado State Shooting Association, the state chapter of the National Rifle Association.
Gordon would like to require background checks for all gun sales, including private sales done over the Internet, through the newspaper and over the back fence. But he says he is bowing to political reality by adding background checks only at gun shows.
"Gun shows are a way that people who shouldn't be getting guns get them," Gordon said. "Politics is the art of the possible, and it may only be possible to do gun shows this year."
Gordon's bill would require sellers at gun shows to call the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for a background check. The check would not include records outside Colorado because only federally licensed dealers may request a federal background check.
Dietrick questions whether the state can effectively regulate gun shows, as does the NRA.
NRA spokesman Jim Manown says many bills that have been introduced in other states effectively would end gun shows. But the group says it is willing to work with legislators on regulating gun shows.
"We are skeptical that requiring background checks at gun shows is going to have any impact on criminals getting guns," Manown said. In Congress earlier this year, the NRA supported a gun-show background check requirement that critics said actually would have gutted many existing safeguards. The measure would have cut the maximum amount of time for lawenforcement officials to complete a background check from three days to one day, and would have repealed restrictions on the interstate sale of guns.
Two states, Maryland and California, regulate all private sales. In Maryland, sellers must go to a state police barracks or a licensed gun dealer for a background check that takes place during the sevenday waiting period.
California has a 10-day waiting period, and private sellers must go through a licensed dealer, who gets a fee for doing a background check.
Both states still have gun shows, and background checks are done there. But buyers generally can't walk out of a show with a gun because of the waiting period.
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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
GOP Resists Gun-Show Checks
By Mike Soraghan
Denver Post Capitol Bureau
Dec. 13 - Requiring criminal background checks at gun shows is, arguably, the one piece of Gov. Bill Owens' gun-control package that could have changed the course of the Columbine High School massacre.
But it's also the piece that has the least chance of winning legislative approval next year.
No Republican has stepped forward to sponsor a bill to close the "gun-show loophole," as some call it, for the legislative session that starts Jan. 5.
"It's hard to carry a bill if you don't believe in it," said House Majority Leader Doug Dean, a Colorado Springs Republican who has established himself as a key GOP broker on gun issues.
In fact, Owens' whole gun agenda is suffering from a lack of interest from his fellow Republicans. And Owens isn't doing much to build support.
Owens announced five proposals in August in response to the Columbine massacre. Republicans have stepped forward to sponsor only two - allowing local police to arrest people who buy guns for criminals and requiring parents to store guns safely.
There are no sponsors for his proposals to include juvenile records in background checks and raise the age for buying handguns at gun shows from 18 to 21.
And the only legislator carrying a bill to require background checks at gun shows is House Minority Leader Ken Gordon, a Denver Democrat distrusted by pro-gun Republicans. Gordon said regulating gun shows could have made it harder for the two Columbine killers to get three of the four guns they used in the massacre.
GOP support is key for gun-control bills because Republicans dominate both chambers of the Colorado Legislature, and they tend to oppose restrictions on guns. Owens is not seeking sponsors for his proposals and will not lobby for them, said his spokesman, Dick Wadhams.
"His major agenda items are education, growth and another permanent tax cut," Wadhams said.
But one gun-control activist thinks Republicans will change their tune when the legislative session begins next month.
"Republicans are waiting to see what the size of the gun-control movement is," said Brian Malte, who coordinates Handgun Control Inc.'s activities in western states, including Colorado. "Many think the response to Columbine was temporary. In fact, it's permanent."
Background checks were fought over for years at the congressional level, but they have emerged as one of the most popular firearms safeguards. Anyone who buys a gun from a federally licensed dealer in Colorado undergoes an instant computer background check looking for criminal records, restraining orders and other reasons why they should not be able to buy a gun. But at gun shows, many sales are not conducted by dealers. They are not subject to background checks because they're considered "private sales." Though the seller might have a booth set up, the sales are treated the same as someone selling a gun to a friend in his living room.
That's how Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold obtained the guns they used to kill 13 people, then themselves on April 20 at Columbine High School. All the guns came from the Tanner Gun Show in Adams County. One of them, a TECDC9 semiautomatic handgun, was bought for them by Mark Manes, who is now serving six years in prison. Two shotguns and a rifle were purchased by Klebold's girlfriend, Robyn Anderson.
Gordon questioned whether Anderson would have bought the guns for the pair if she were required to give her name and show identification. "It would have made her nervous," he said. "That may have been enough to stop these people from going through with it." But supporters of gun shows say that wouldn't have stopped her.
"I think she knew she was buying guns she shouldn't have bought," said Bill Dietrick, legislative director for the Colorado State Shooting Association, the state chapter of the National Rifle Association.
Gordon would like to require background checks for all gun sales, including private sales done over the Internet, through the newspaper and over the back fence. But he says he is bowing to political reality by adding background checks only at gun shows.
"Gun shows are a way that people who shouldn't be getting guns get them," Gordon said. "Politics is the art of the possible, and it may only be possible to do gun shows this year."
Gordon's bill would require sellers at gun shows to call the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for a background check. The check would not include records outside Colorado because only federally licensed dealers may request a federal background check.
Dietrick questions whether the state can effectively regulate gun shows, as does the NRA.
NRA spokesman Jim Manown says many bills that have been introduced in other states effectively would end gun shows. But the group says it is willing to work with legislators on regulating gun shows.
"We are skeptical that requiring background checks at gun shows is going to have any impact on criminals getting guns," Manown said. In Congress earlier this year, the NRA supported a gun-show background check requirement that critics said actually would have gutted many existing safeguards. The measure would have cut the maximum amount of time for lawenforcement officials to complete a background check from three days to one day, and would have repealed restrictions on the interstate sale of guns.
Two states, Maryland and California, regulate all private sales. In Maryland, sellers must go to a state police barracks or a licensed gun dealer for a background check that takes place during the sevenday waiting period.
California has a 10-day waiting period, and private sellers must go through a licensed dealer, who gets a fee for doing a background check.
Both states still have gun shows, and background checks are done there. But buyers generally can't walk out of a show with a gun because of the waiting period.
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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
