The Virginia State Crime Commission refused Tuesday to back a measure to close the “gun show loophole,” splitting 6-6 on a vote that drew protests from friends and relatives of victims in the Virginia Tech massacre.
The deadlocked vote means bills seeking to close the loophole, which allows gun buyers to skirt background checks at the shows when purchasing from unlicensed dealers, won’t have the weight of the panel behind them. The 2009 legislative session kicks off today in Richmond.
The legislature’s stark suburban-rural split appeared to play into the decision as much as party politics, with both Republican and Democratic members crossing traditional partisan lines in their votes.
House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, a pro-gun Democrat from Martinsville, voted in opposition. Del. Dave Albo, R-Springfield, the commission’s chairman, sided with members who voted to require unlicensed sellers conduct background checks.
“Practically speaking, a person can go into a gun show who is a terrorist or a convicted felon, bypass a table where a federally licensed firearm dealer is selling guns and walk to a table of somebody who says they’re doing private sales, buy a gun and walk out,” Albo said after the meeting. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Parents and friends of victims in the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech shooting, which left 32 students and faculty dead, also voiced their displeasure with the decision.
Virginia gun advocates have long opposed the expansion of background checks at the shows and point to the fact that the shooter — mentally ill student Seung-Hui Cho — did not buy any of the weapons he used to carry out the attack at a gun show. Virginia Citizens Defense League President Philip Van Cleave hailed the vote as a victory.
Tuesday’s decision doesn’t bar legislators from introducing measures seeking to close the loophole. The proposals have consistently failed, however, last year dying in both House and Senate committees.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
