Third District Congressman Nick Rahall says he thinks there is room for improvements when it comes to the current requirements for background checks associated with firearms purchases.
“Shadow sales that allow legal purchases, yet then subsequent sales to criminals or mentally deranged individuals have to be strengthened and that’s a current loophole that, yes, I support strengthening that,” he said.
But Congressman Rahall says he does not yet know if will support universal background checks.
“I’m not there. I have to see what else is in the package as well,” he said on Wednesday’s MetroNews Talkline.
On Wednesday, the first Congressional hearing on possible additional gun control measures since 20 kids and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut was held on Capitol Hill.
Former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords opened the hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee by urging members to be “bold.”
“Too many children are dying, too many children,” she said. “We must do something.” Giffords was shot in the head at a grocery store near Tucson, Arizona while meeting with constituents in 2011. Six others were killed.
National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre also testified Wednesday, saying the government has not enforced current gun laws and new restrictions would not stop future mass shootings.
Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, did call for stronger background checks during the hearing, but he did not endorse the ban on assault style weapons California Senator Dianne Feinstein, also a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has proposed.
Congressman Rahall says a ban is not the answer. “We need to look at this in a comprehensive approach,” he said.
“We need to look at violence in the media. We need to look at how guns come into the hands of those with deranged mental backgrounds or criminal backgrounds.”
2
Comments
Don Jr.
Why is it that every time we "do something" it is almost always the wrong thing?
Why not replace our glass security doors with steel ones??
Why not train and qualify some teachers and principals to carry concealed weapons for protection of our students???
Why not place qualified armed security guards in schools that are in the more dangerous areas or where this extra protection can be afforded????
Why not challenge the media to stop hyping up these stories when these cowardly derainged killers commit these attrocities?????
Why not challenge the video game and movie producers to show more responsibility when it comes to the violent "entertainment" that they're pushing??????
No, It's much easier to harrass the law abiding gun owner because our liberal, elite minds do not comprehend why our neighbor may want to protect themselves, hunt, target shoot with those evil guns.
January 30, 2013 at 7:44 pm | Report comment
Geno
The problems with background checks, is, The Gov. is going require your life history, plus a big fee, and a renewal each year, If the registered gun is used for a crime and it wasn't you that committed the crime, you are going to spent a great of money and time, to prove you didn't. After saying all the above, I received three gun for christmas one year and they were all registered with the county police, one was stolen from the house and the police were notified, in the conversation with the police, I found they had lost the records on all three.
February 1, 2013 at 3:07 pm | Report comment