How the Antis Examine an Issue "In Detail"

They load the panel with just one side of the argument. From Congressman Scott's web site announcing today's public forum on gun shows:

There are two systems for purchasing firearms in this country. One system involves those engaged in the business of selling firearms who obtain federal licenses and follow required procedures, including conducting background checks on firearms purchasers. The other system involves unlicensed individuals who claim not to sell guns as a business and who are, therefore, exempt from the procedures for licensees. Unlicensed individuals at gun shows can sell as many firearms as they wish without having to comply with the federal safeguards that apply to licensed firearms dealers and purchasers from them. They are not required to ask for identification, they cannot initiate a background check, there are no forms to fill out and no requirements to keep records of sales. This exemption of unlicensed sellers is called the "gun show loophole".

Anti-gunners Holding Forum on Gun Shows

On Wednesday, July 14, at 2:00 PM, Congressman Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE), Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) will be hosting a forum on H.R. 2324, the "Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2009." The gun ban lobby, led by the Virginia Center for Public Safety and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, is promoting this forum as open to the public. That means we need to have a good show of pro-gun folks in attendance to counter the antis that are certain to attend.

The usual suspects will be in attendance and scheduled to speak:

• Mayor Larry Gilbert, Lewiston, Maine
• Kenneth E. Barnes, Sr., MS, Founder/CEO ROOT (Reaching Out to Others Together), Inc.
• Colonel Gerald Massengill, (Former Superintendent VA State Police, Chair of the Virginia Tech Review Panel, Sutherland, VA.
• Michael J. Carroll, President, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Alexandria, VA
• Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH, Professor and Co-Director, Center for Gun Policy and Research at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore MD
• Tom Mauser, father of Daniel Mauser who was killed at the Columbine School shooting, Littleton, CO
• Gerry Nunziato, Youngstown, OH
• Colin Goddard, survivor of the Virginia Tech shootings, Richmond, VA

VSSA has a large number of members in the northern Virginia area so if you can be in Washington on Wednesday, your attendance would be appreciated.

What: Anti-gun Forum Attacking Gun Shows
Where: 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC
When: June 14, 2010, 2:00PM

Congressman Scott Pledges Hearing on Gun Show Bill

Virginia 3rd Congressional District Representative Bobby Scott has pledged to the Brady Campaign that he will hold a hearing on legislation to close the so-called gun shop loophole. Scott, who chairs the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security of the House Judiciary Committee, pledged to hold the hearing at a recent meeting with Lori Haas, whose daughter, Emily Haas, survived the April 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.

Scott is no friend to gun owners. Holding a hearing on the bill may simply be his way of responding to the emotional plea of those family members who have turned to the anti-rights movement to find closure. , But Scott can count, and he has to know the bill has a snowball's chance of making it out of the House of Representatives. It is even more doubtful that Speaker Pelosi wants a high profile hearing on a gun issue before the election.

I don't for a minute pretend to know what these families are going through but the Brady people are using their grief to advance an agenda. Gun shows played no role in the Virginia Tech shooting. If you have a congressman on the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee of House Judiciary, it would not hurt to give them a call and let them know you oppose attacking gun shows.

Representatives Randy Forbes (VA-4) and Bob Goodlatte (VA-6) , both strong supporters of the Second Amendment, are on the subcommittee in addition to Scott.