By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Mark Kelly was allegedly denied the ability to purchase an AR-15 last year. (Story Here)
Just over one week after appearing before the Washington state House Judiciary Committee to push for so-called “universal background checks,” former astronaut Mark Kelly – husband of former Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords – was back in the Pacific Northwest, this time in Salem, Ore., to support similar legislation in the Beaver State.
Kelly spoke to the Senate Judiciary Committee, supporting SB 1551, an “updated” version of a bill that was tried last year but, as the Salem Statesman Journal noted, it failed to get a vote. There is some dispute whether this is the same measure with some tweaks, or a different bill, but that will be sorted out if the measure moves forward.
It is being supported by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, who told the committee, “I hope that this bill passes. I hope that it gets 16 votes on the floor.”
During his testimony, Kelly told the committee, “When dangerous people get guns we are all vulnerable.”
However, under questioning from Sen. Betsy Close (R-Albany) about whether the gunman who shot his wife in Tucson in January 2011 passed a background check, Kelly acknowledged, “Yes, he did. If there were changes in the law in Arizona, he shouldn’t have…While mental illness is a component of this, you can’t allow a loophole that you can drive a truck through.”
But Northwest gun rights advocates quickly countered on internet gun forums that the man who pulled that trigger did not take advantage of some “loophole.” He purchased that gun aretail gun shop and passed a background check that was mandated by Congress more than 20 years ago as a solution to what was then called a “loophole.”
In an attempt to make the legislation more palatable, SB 1551 contains exemptions for people transferring a firearm to:
(A) The person’s spouse or domestic partner;
(B) The person’s parent or stepparent;
(C) The person’s child or stepchild;
(D) The person’s sibling;
(E) The person’s grandparent;
(F) The person’s grandchild;
(G) The person’s niece or nephew; or
(H) The spouse or domestic partner of a person specified in subparagraphs (B) to (G) of this paragraph.
(b) A transfer that occurs because of the death of a firearm owner, if the transferor is
a personal representative as defined in ORS 111.005 or a trustee of a trust created in a will.
When he testified in Olympia, Wash., in support of Initiative 594, the 18-page gun control measure voters in that state may decide in November, Kelly acknowledged that, “This law will not be perfect. Law enforcement will not be able to police every transaction. Some criminals will still get guns. There will still be gun violence.”
But, he insisted, the measure would allow responsible gun owners to make sure their guns don’t end up in the hands of criminals.
Kelly’s appearance strongly suggests that the Pacific Northwest is definitely in the crosshairs of gun control proponents who desperately want a symbolic victory. Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns has given $30,000 to the I-594 campaign effort, and the battle over gun rights will likely get lots of attention as the elections approach this fall.
