RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — “It’s past time for Congress to quit hiding and address what is a real sickness in this country.”
Those were the words of Senator Tim Kaine speaking on WTOP radio Thursday.
The senator is calling for action in reaction to the shootings in California. A few months ago, Senator Kaine introduced a bill that didn’t require background checks but did say gun sellers could be held liable if they don’t do a reasonable job determining if the person they’re selling to can legally own a gun.
“This is just politics, gun control doesn’t prevent these sort of tragedies,” said Phillip Van Cleave with the Virginia Citizens Defense League.
Mass shootings have continued to reignite debates over gun control.
“We’ve got to look at the ways that guns go from law abiding people into the hands of people that shouldn’t have them,” said Andy Goddard of Virginians for Responsible Gun Laws.
This week there have been calls for a lift on the ban on federal research on gun violence, including from the man that helped create the ban, former congressman Jay Dickey. In a letter to the chair of the house gun violence prevention task force, Dickey writes:
“Research could have been continued on gun violence without infringing on the rights of gun owners, in the same fashion that the highway industry continued its research without eliminating the automobile.”
“Nobody should be afraid to find out the truth, the gun lobby should not be afraid to find out the truth,” Goddard added.
Said Van Cleave, “totally against it, I don’t think we need such research, the problem is we have people walking around that we should not have walking around.”
