NYT editorial: Virginia’s Gun Market

[DeepModem Mom]

Virginia’s Gun Market
Published: August 22, 2007

The “Iron Pipeline” of Interstate 95 remains alive and deadly, as a new federal study grimly confirms. Saddest of all is the evidence that some of the most far-reaching shady gun marts continue to operate in the state of Virginia, where the suicidal Virginia Tech student shot 32 people to death only four months ago. Virginia dealers have been a standout source for guns used in crimes up and down the seaboard, according to the federal study. They accounted for half of the 10,000 guns tracked by the study in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, and one in 11 in New York City.

Richmond officials deny their gun control laws are porous, particularly now that the state announced it was closing the loophole that allowed the Virginia Tech marauder to legally buy guns despite his documented history of mental disturbance. But for every loophole closed in the wake of the nation’s latest gun mayhem — from Columbine to the D.C. sniper, ad infinitum — others beg attention in the crazy quilt of state and federal regulations cynically manipulated by the gun lobby.

For all the official dedication to closure in Richmond these days, the State Legislature rejected a proposal to close the egregious loophole by which “private” (i.e. unlicensed) dealers sell weapons at weekend gun shows free of the federal obligation to conduct background checks on buyers. More than a quarter of the dealers have been found selling guns as easily as midway trinkets. Their lethal marts should be flying the skull-and-bones of pirates — the better to attract sportsmen shoppers.

Virginia is hardly alone in following the gun lobby’s diktat to protect laissez-faire gun shows. But political cowardice only compounds the grief at Virginia Tech over its contribution to the domestic gun toll of 30,000 lives a year....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/opinion/22wed2.html?hp

[villager]

1. Yup.

n/t

[Squatch]

2. "Iron Pipeline"?? Who came up with that little gem?

[DeepModem Mom]

3. An article in the Times indicated it was a commonly used term, but didn't give a derivation. nt

[Squatch]

4. Well, that's news to me...seeing as how I drive that "pipeline" every day

Who wrote the editorial you posted? I wanted to check the credibility of the author but was unable to find a name.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. The Times, like most all newspapers, never attaches a name to editorials.

The names of the editorial board, I think, can be found on the Times website.