Richmond rally supports more checks for gun purchases - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Central Virginia
Posted: Friday, August 23, 2013 12:00 am |
Updated: 12:54 am, Sun Aug 25, 2013.
Richmond rally supports more checks for gun purchases BY MARK BOWES Richmond Times-Dispatch Richmond Times-Dispatch
The father of a young boy fatally shot in the Newtown massacre last year stopped in Richmond on Thursday as part of a
“No More Names” national bus tour to drum up support for universal background checks for gun purchases.
“It’s something that shouldn’t have happened,” said Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was
one of 20 students and six adults fatally shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. “It’s something that can’t happen again. It’s something that’s got to be changed, and we can help prevent that.”
Speaking to a sparse crowd — perhaps 15 local supporters — Heslin said one of the simplest things that could be done “to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands” is for Congress to pass legislation that would expand background checks for all firearm transactions, including private sales.
“Background checks are not something that’s treading on anybody’s Second Amendment rights,” he added. “It has nothing to do with taking guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.
Echoing a repeated complaint from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose
Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization is sponsoring the 25-state national bus tour, Heslin said many guns that show up on the streets of New York and are used in crimes come from Virginia and North Carolina. “Background checks would help cut down on that,” he said.
In a
news release distributed at a rally in Byrd Park, Mayors Against Illegal Guns — citing ATF data —
said the number of guns sold by Virginia firearms dealers in 2009 that were trafficked to other states and recovered at crime scenes was 130 percent more than the national average and 422 percent more than in states that require background checks for private handgun sales. The number of firearms was not provided.
Eleven people, nine from the Richmond area, stood behind Heslin as a show of support and held signs that read, “Guns kill our children,” “Demand Action to End gun violence,” and “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”