GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE BILLS: A STUDY OF LEGISLATIVE MISDIRECTION IN 2009

In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, which left thirty-two students and faculty dead at the hands of a student armed with two handguns, gun-control organizations saw an opportunity to press their legislative agenda items forward with vigor. A host of gun-control bills were introduced in the 2008 and, to a lesser extent, the 2009 General Assembly sessions. For pro-gun groups, Virginia Tech\u27s policy of not allowing any guns on campus was more proof that gun control only disarms good people. These groups argued that criminals, by definition, ignore the law and will simply get their guns through illicit methods, such as theft or straw purchases, and use those guns to commit mayhem wherever they please