In Colorado, the site of both the Columbine and Aurora shootings, there have been some discussions about where the killers obtained their guns.
In Columbine, the guns were obtained through a friend who bought them at a gun show.
As a result, “[a]fter the Columbine massacre, Colorado residents pushed to close the gun show loophole, whereby anyone can buy a weapon from a private dealer at a gun show without having to undergo a background check first.” However, this would’ve done nothing to stop the Columbine massacre, because while the two kids who committed it had police records, the girl who bought them the guns would’ve had to undergo the background check.
Since then, according to Scott Keyes of ThinkProgress,
another glaring loophole exists: private sales outside of gun shows. Even though private sellers at gun shows are required to run background checks, anyone can still purchase a weapon—no background check required—from private sellers online and elsewhere. ThinkProgress showed recently how anyone could purchase 4 AR-15s, the same weapon used in the Aurora massacre, in 20 minutes with no background check by contacting private online sellers.
Once again, this would’ve done nothing to stop the Aurora massacre, where James Holmes passed every background check to legally purchase his guns.
Since neither of these laws would have prevented either of these massacres, then what’s the point of them?
ThinkProgress recently traveled to Colorado and spoke with lawmakers, family members of people killed at Columbine and Aurora, and gun owners about the push for universal background checks. They shared their own personal stories and how the state is rallying around the push for smarter gun laws. “We make it too doggone easy for the wrong people to get guns,” Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel was killed at Columbine, told ThinkProgress. “So the question is, are we gonna do prevention, or are we not? Otherwise, we’re going to continue reporting these stories and say, ‘gee, why couldn’t we do something?’”
In other words, ThinkProgress recently traveled to Colorado to interview family members of victims to give their opinions an air of authority.
While Tom Mauser and his family have suffered enormous grief after the loss of their son at Columbine, the fact is that no prevention measures, no background checks, would have stopped Columbine from happening. None of these measures they’re pushing would’ve kept Daniel Mauser alive.
Instead of pointing this out, ThinkProgress would rather convince these families otherwise, using them as political props to push an agenda.
The facts are clear: we know how the guns were obtained in all of these tragedies—through legal and nonpreventable means. So now that we understand that, wouldn’t we be better served by allowing concealed-carry or open-carry laws in these gun-free zones (schools and movie theatres) so that “potential massacres” can be reduced to “armed man shot by citizen”?
