By Paul Lathrop | Contributing Editor
A pair of bills are making their way through the Virginia Legislature that would require ranges to run background checks and ban firearms on the area of the Capitol Building.
The Virginia Mercury is reporting that Sen. Creigh Deeds (D) has sponsored a bill that would require gun ranges to run a background check before renting a firearm.
The Federal NICS system is only available to FFLs who sell guns, so a range that only rents guns to the public does not have access to its use. Therefore, the proposed new law would make the ranges go through the Virginia State Police for a background check.
The stated purpose of the bill is to prevent suicides. Deeds said in a committee hearing that suicides are often carefully planned, and a background check may have stopped two recent suicides at ranges.
“Anything you do to interrupt that plan may end up saving that person’s life,” the lawmaker stated.
The bill does have detractors. D.J. Spiker, Virginia director for the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, said range suicides are “exceptionally rare.”
“It’s best left to ranges and Virginia State Police to come up with in-house policies to regulate this,” Spiker said.
The proposed legislation assumes that mental illness would show up on a background check, something that is not at all certain. It also assumes that someone who has decided on suicide will not attempt another form if a firearm isn’t available.
It would also create 200 plus background check inquiries daily for the Virginia State Police. Something they would need to expand staffing for.
Once certain effect the law would have is the curtailment of legitimate training, the “trying out” a specific gun model to make sure it fits the new owner before buying and the overall use of ranges, as an “Instant” background check rarely is actually instant.
The gun ban at the Capitol grounds would apply inside the Capitol building, within Capitol Square, and on directly adjacent streets and sidewalks legislators frequently use.
At the bill’s initial hearing, Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, its patron, said it would prevent future occurrences of armed extremist groups demonstrating near the Capitol. Those groups are free to challenge the General Assembly’s decisions, Levine said, but they shouldn’t be allowed to do it with weapons.
“There hasn’t been any violence in the area to justify this,” said VCDL President Philip Van Cleave.
