Don’t blame gun shows for killers’ access to weapons February 7th, 2007
Tacoma, WA – Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Don’t blame gun shows for killers’ access to weapons
DAVE WORKMAN
Last updated: February 7th, 2007 01:31 AM (PST)
One Seattle newspaper editoÂrialized recently that, with Democrats firmly in control of the Washington Legislature, “this is the year … to get rid of the gun-show loophole.” But nobody has explained how attacking gun shows will keep firearms out of the hands of criminals.
Yet lawmakers are considering Senate Bill 5197, the so-called “gun show loophole” bill, which, even if had been law, would not have prevented the Jan. 3 murder of Samnang Kok in the hallway at Tacoma’s Henry Foss High School, nor stopped cop-killer Raymond Porter from getting his hands on a pistol, and the proponents know it. The 9 mm pistol used in the Kok slaying and the gun Porter used to kill King County Sheriff’s deputy Steve Cox – and was used in another slaying just hours before – were both stolen in burglaries. Either gun could just as easily have been Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske’s 9 mm Glock, stolen from his unattended car on a downtown Seattle street.
Teenage murder suspect Douglas S. Chanthabouly could not have legally purchased a handgun, even at a gun show. Porter could not have legally purchased a firearm anywhere, thanks to a lengthy criminal history.
SB 5197, supported by Washington CeaseFire, would not have prevented the July 2006 attack at Seattle’s Jewish Federation office or the March 2006 mayhem on Capitol Hill. Neither accused Federation gunman Naveed Haq nor deceased Capitol Hill gunman Kyle Huff bought their firearms at gun shows.
Haq legally purchased his guns, following background checks, from dealers in the Tri-Cities area. Huff brought his firearms from Montana, where they were bought legally from gun shops. Yet editorials, some state legislators and Washington CeaseFire insist that closing some mythical gun show loophole is “reasonable.”
What is “reasonable” about attacking a problem that doesn’t exist when it would not prevent criminals from getting their hands on guns? In fact, not a single firearm involved in any of the high-profile shootings now being exploited to push this “gun show loophole” legislation came from a gun show.
A study done for the Department of Justice (NCJ-189369) found that “During the offense that brought them to prison, 15 percent of state inmates and 13 percent of federal inmates carried a handgun, and about 2 percent, a military-style semiautomatic gun.” Notice how few of these criminals used so-called “assault rifles.”
The most damning statistic from the DOJ report is that fewer than 1 percent of these thugs (0.7 percent) got their guns from gun shows.
Another 1 percent got theirs from flea markets. A staggering 78.8 percent got their guns from friends, relatives, on the street or by other illegal means.
The solution to violent crime in this state won’t be found in laws that target gun shows, sport-utility rifles or law-abiding gun owners. Yet
“close the gun show loophole” is the broken-record mantra that clearly proves CeaseFire and its friends in Olympia have an agenda that has nothing to do with crime prevention or punishing criminals.
They want to put gun shows out of business by holding gun show operators and patrons liable for crimes they did not commit.
Dave Workman is senior editor of Gun Week (www.gunweek.com) in Bellevue, and author of Washington State Gun Rights and Responsibilities.
Originally published: February 7th, 2007 01:00 AM (PST)
