Let’s Hear It For Loopholes
I’m as happy as the next guy to see Creigh Deeds trounce Terry “I’m a Virginian” McAuliffe, but I could really do without a subpar editorial disguised as news reporting:
Only toward the end of the campaign, after Deeds began surging in polls, did his two opponents take aim at him for Senate votes against efforts to close a loophole in state laws that exempt firearms sales at gun shows from the background checks required of federally licensed gun retailers.
Note that the Ass. Press didn’t say Moran and McAuliffe accused Deeds of voting against laws to change a law they called a loophole that supposedly exempted firearms sales at gun shows from regulation. That statement may very well be true. In fact, given the track record of that weasel McAuliffe, it almost certainly is true. However, it is not true that any federal or state law, voted on by Deeds or not, exempts firearms sales at gun shows from anything. Federal law requires background checks for all retail handgun purchases, and so does Virginia. Federal law does not require background checks for any private handgun purchases, and neither does Virginia. Federal law does not treat a sale any differently based on whether it does or does not occur at a gun show, and neither does Virginia. A decent argument can be made that private sales that happen to occur at gun shows should be regulated as though they were retail sales (I’ve offered qualified support for this view myself in the past), but it’s hardly a slam dunk. Certainly not the slam dunk it would have to be to justify using such a loaded word as “loophole” in a news story.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Then I guess I’m making you … unhappy? I don’t think I understand the post.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
People should please ignore my previous comment, as it does not apply to the whole post but to the one-line stub of a post that originally appeared by mistake.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I think what DAI was getting after was the two mealy-mouthed losing weasels were trying to scuttle Deeds’ election by doing the same thing that Brady does, by using emotionally loaded buzzwords in a phony and misleading manner.
Then showing what the law REALLY says.
Hope I was able to express that clear as mud.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I got it when I saw the whole post, yeah, but my first comment was made when the post consisted of “I’m as happy as the next guy to see 0 Comments” and nothing else.
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June 10th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
The original post had a nested anchor due to “helpful” editing from my email client. Oh well. I shoulda just left the fractured post up the way it was, let y’all flame me in this thread, and re-posted the intended entry somewhere else.
June 13th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Ah, now I see the post. Sorry I missed its update until now.
I feel obligated to point out that Deeds has worked hard for the past two years to build a “close the gun show loophole” law in Virginia that could get passed through both houses and signed by the Governor.
Fortunately, his efforts haven’t yielded his desired results. With “gun rights friends” like Deeds, we don’t need any enemies. There’s no doubt I’m hoping he loses to McDonnell in November.