All sales at gun shows would be subject to instant background checks under a legislative proposal proffered yesterday by Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

"It is long past time to apply existing Virginia law to every firearm sale at a gun show," said Kaine, flanked by state legislators, local law-enforcement officers and family members of Virginia Tech shooting victims at state police headquarters in Chesterfield County.

Efforts to pass legislation closing the "gun-show loophole" have faltered in recent years, failing to make it out of the Senate or the House of Delegates.

But Kaine and a handful of legislators present yesterday said they are more optimistic for its chances this year, given increased awareness of gun violence in the aftermath of the April 16 massacre at Virginia Tech.

"I think people understand some things about how these loopholes can lead to horrible crimes that devastate families and devastate communities in a way that maybe they didn't understand before," said Kaine, who wiped tears from his eyes when he spoke of the Tech families.

Kaine's proposal came the same day that President Bush signed legislation aimed at preventing the severely mentally ill from buying guns -- a rare bipartisan agreement with the Democratic-led Congress after the Virginia Tech shootings.

That legislation authorizes up to $1.3 billion in grant money for states to improve their ability to track and report individuals who shouldn't qualify to buy a gun legally, including those involuntarily confined by a mental institution.

Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho did not purchase his weapons at a gun show but at a gun shop operated by a licensed firearms dealer.

But subsequent disclosures that a local court had ordered Cho to seek outpatient mental-health treatment before the April 16 shootings led Kaine to issue an executive order requiring that such people be added to the State Police list of people who should not be allowed to purchase firearms.

Kaine said current Virginia law prohibiting felons, domestic abusers and the mentally ill from purchasing firearms is undercut when any of those people can purchase a firearm from a private seller at a gun show without going through a background check. Licensed dealers must conduct a background check of any person who wants to buy a firearm.

As it is currently constituted, the proposed legislation is narrowly drawn and would not require background checks on private sales that take place outside of gun shows.

"It's not about interrupting just good old-fashioned horsetrading, it's not about going after people who buy, sell, and trade guns with their family, friends, hunting buddies, those sort of things," said Virginia State Police Superintendent Col. W. Steven Flaherty.

Gun owner and former hunter Mike White, father of slain Tech student Nicole White, said the legislation strikes a "healthy compromise" between gun owners and public safety.

Sen. Henry L Marsh III, D-Richmond, will sponsor the legislation in the Senate, a role he has played several times before. "It's a no-brainer whose time has come," he said.

But Del. William R. Janis, R-Henrico, said the legislation is more political posturing and symbolism than substance.

"It's a largely meaningless gesture," Janis said. "There's no reason why those same casual sales can't take place outside of a gun show. I'm not sure how this does anything to prevent this type of transaction."

Janis said he supported Kaine's executive order covering mental-health outpatients and gun ownership but is concerned that the governor's legislative agenda on the issue is far more ambitious.

"I think it's the first step toward the governor's ultimate goal of banning all casual sales and or transfers of firearms between private persons in Virginia," he said.

Kaine said after the news conference that "working with these [Tech victims'] families has been a real emotional thing.

"There's things you support, but there's only a finite number of things that you can push. The events of April 16 convinced me that this is one I'd be using my energy on this year."
Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or jnolan@timesdispatch.com.