Prometheus 6

Is turf protection more important than citizen protection?

Days after signing the new bill into law, Gov. Tim Kaine visited the bloody campus at Virginia Tech and shamefully warned against “hobby horse” politicking over firearms. The deaths of 33 students and teachers highlighted other flaws in the porous gun laws that would-be political leaders should be attacking, not abetting. The horror of tens of thousands of annual gun deaths will be compounded if the new crop of presidential candidates manages to duck an issue that more than 200 mayors, led by Mr. Bloomberg, are fighting from the trenches.

The Mayor Strikes a Nerve

We might ask why Virginia’s Legislature has decided to protect some of its shadier gun dealers from being unmasked. But, unfortunately, we already know the answer: more craven service to the all-powerful gun lobby.

The most recent toadying is an effort to block Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s inventive sting operation against illegal guns flooding New York. Virginia dealers are among the most notorious suppliers in the nation’s “Iron Pipeline” of illicit gunrunning, and six have been cited in the city’s federal court suit to force dealers to obey the law.

But the Virginia Legislature has tailored a new law to try to stop New York City’s use of private investigators who pose as shoppers and videotape illegal gun purchases. As of July, the investigators must be accompanied by state or federal police officers or face a felony prosecution.