Virginia Tech Killer Used Easy-To-Get Guns (CBS News)

[eppur_se_muova]

CBS News: Shooter Used Pistol, Handgun In State With No Registration, Gun-Waiting Period

Both are readily available in gun shops across the United States and particularly accessible in the commonwealth of Virginia, which recently earned a C-minus rating by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

“It’s much too easy to get guns in the state of Virginia,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center.

That’s in part because there's no gun registration, no mandatory waiting period to purchase weapons. The only major restriction: a limit of one gun purchase per month.

It remains unclear where the shooter purchased his pistols, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.

But CBS News discovered there was a gun show just 25 miles from Blacksburg last weekend where 405 guns were sold.
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more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/16/eveningnews/main2691645.shtml

VA Tech specifically banned firearms from dormitories.

ETA: From what I have read, the weapons used had their serial numbers filed off. I would doubt that such guns were obtained legally in any case. This makes the CBS headline a bit misleading, IMO.

[Squatch]

1. "VA Tech specifically banned firearms from dormitories."

Well, that ban worked well, didn't it?

[Xenotime]

4. My thoughts exactly

Maybe that korean guy didn't know there was a ban.

[villager]

10. too bad those dorms were in the middle of gun-spreadin' Virginia, though...

kinda like Virginia's lax laws making guns easier to bring in to D.C...

[billbuckhead]

2. It's time to stop gun shows.

Anyone who has ever been to one and sees the clientele knows that these are the people who shouldn't have guns.

[Xenotime]

5. 3/4 at any given gun show are very scary..

[aikoaiko]

6. Why don't you describe the way they look, Bill. so that we all know what to look for.

:shrug:

[Wcross]

9. That means nothing coming from you Bill.

Nobody should have a gun in your world Bill.

[hobbit709]

12. Most of the people that have kids

shouldn't have been allowed either, judging what my wife sees every day at the homelees/abused children's shelter where she works.

[Jacobin]

20. classified ads? Craigs list? etc?

There are something like 250 million guns owned in this country.

If they are made harder to get legally, then a black market will open up, bigger than the one we know have.

I don't know the answer to the problem. I'm just saying its a bigger problem than one method of buying guns

[marions ghost]

24. absolutely

but nothing much happened about gun shows after Columbine, right?

[Thothmes]

26. And exactly who would that be?

[slackmaster]

28. I guess your Ingore sentence has expired

Anyone who has ever been to one and sees the clientele knows that these are the people who shouldn't have guns.

How liberal and progressive of you to judge what civil rights people should enjoy based on their appearance.

:argh:

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Gun nuts believe that guns are toys & you'd better god damn

let them have as many toys as they can afford to buy.

[justinjj1]

11. .....

The right-wing assault on our civil liberties is what drove me to become a Democrat in the first place, let's not jump to knee-jerk reactions like banning gun shows. I know plenty of fine people who attend gun shows, myself included. So lets not make broad, sweeping, generalizations.

[Sapere aude]

13. That doesn't deserve a reply so I won't.

[The_Casual_Observer]

23. You got lots'a toys right?

But you are one of the responsible toy owners who take things seriously I'm sure.

[hobbit709]

7. All, you have to do

is look in the for sale want ads. No record, no nothing. You only go through the paperwork at a dealer, not from private sellers or down at the corner of the parking lot. All it takes is cash. How hard or easy it is to "officially" purchase a gun has nothing to do with availabilty of same.

[Sapere aude]

8. IMHO, there is no gun law that could have prevented this. A determined person can get a gun.

Sane gun laws are OK by me because I think they do some good, but this guy seemed determined to do what he did and even if Virginia had a law outlawing guns he would have gotten what he wanted underground.

[gravity]

14. I believe the gun laws in Virginia will change after this

I am not blaming the laws for the killings, but despite what some believe, the majority of Virginians support common sense gun laws. I'll bet anything that there is going to be enough pressure on the government to change the laws.

[marions ghost]

25. Right the laws will have to change

but sad that it takes the death of 33 at once to get attention on it.

This affects Virginia in a big way. My sister has a kid at UVA, which is not far from Tech. Both campuses have been shattered by this. Just about everyone in VA has a friend or relative associated with VA Tech or UVA.

The parents are "up in arms" over this, but a different kind of arms hopefully. There will be changes.

[leftchick]

15. why couldn't the shooter have filed the numbers off

after he purchased the guns?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

17. Exactly.

A few minutes with a file or a Dremel MotoTool and bingo, no serial numbers. Not exactly the hardest thing in the world to do.

I would not be surprised if there are websites out there that give you chapter and verse on the process, for many gun models.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. That's possible, but why?

If he had stolen them, filing the numbers off would make it harder to trace the source (NOT impossible, BTW).

If he had bought them legally for his own use, filing the numbers off would serve no purpose. Only useful if you intend to sell it to someone who doesn't want it traced.

If he bought this at a gun show, it was "under the table". Any registered gun dealer selling a gun with no SN is in serious trouble -- and wouldn't be handing out receipts (there's now a report the student had a receipt, but that needs confirmation etc.).

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

29. And if he'd purchased them for this specific purpose...

Why file the numbers off? You're dead. Why do you care if they can or can't trace your numbers.

I would strongly suspect that he bought them this way. What that mean, I have no idea.

[napi21]

16. Receipt found in the Student's backpack.

One law enforcement official said Cho's backpack contained a receipt for a March purchase of a Glock 9 mm pistol.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-ustech-main,0,5858464.story?coll=ny-tintboxrelateds-sports

Of course they didn't give any additional info on where the receipt was from, and I guess it COULD have been a hand written one from an individual. The one thing I think it does prove is that it didn't come out of the trunk of some car! THEY don't hand out receipts of any kind!

[jody]

19. Group of truths and lies. Federal law applies to handgun purchases from dealers that include

a thorough check of the purchaser through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

[Richard Steele]

21. VA law is irrelevant. FEDERAL law requires backround check for handgun purchases in every state.

And why would a "waiting period" have made a difference?
It wouldn't have. Period.

[alfredo]

22. They found a receipt for one gun.

[slackmaster]

27. Neither registration nor a waiting period would have made any difference

We have both in California (for handguns), and we still have handguns misused by criminals.

...The only major restriction: a limit of one gun purchase per month.

Which, of course, did not prevent this guy from getting two handguns.

:dunce: