American leaders in no hurry to ban guns

They are reluctant to call for restrictions as many were elected on pro-gun platforms


NEW YORK - TWO months ago, a Virginia Tech student walked into a pawn shop on Main Street in Virginia and bought a .22-calibre Walther P22 gun.

A month later, the same student went to a nondescript gun store 65km away and paid US$571 (S$870) for a Glock 9mm handgun and a box of ammunition.

As required by law, the student presented identification: A Virginia driver's licence, cheques that matched the address on the licence and a federal immigration card to prove he is a legal US resident. He passed a background check and left Roanoke Firearms with his gun.

'It really was a very unremarkable sale,' said owner John Markell.

'He was about as clean cut a kid as you would ever want to see.'

On Monday, the student, Cho Seung Hui, made a horrible kind of history by using that gun and another pistol to go on a murderous rampage at his university, killing 32 people before taking his own life.

'He must have bought a lot more ammo somewhere else,' Mr Markell said.

The tragedy is drawing attention to Virginia's gun laws, which some gun-control advocates described as lax.

The legal age for buying a gun in the state is only 12, with parental supervision.

Several Democrats and at least one leading presidential candidate, Mr John Edwards, have called for measures to restrict gun sales, even as they proclaimed their support for the Second Amendment.

The article in the US Constitution enshrines 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms'.

But Senator John McCain, who is also running for president, said: 'This brutal attack was not caused by nor should it lead to restrictions on the Second Amendment.'

Mr David Codrea, a blogger and a columnist for Guns Magazine, said: 'We see calls for gun control, but we may not see as much empathy for calls for armed self-defence.'

Many advocates on both sides of this debate, including the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, suggested they were waiting for more information about Cho and how he acquired his weapons.

President George W. Bush, who was endorsed by the NRA in both his presidential bids, took the same cautious stance.

He told ABC television: 'Now is not the time to do the debate until we are absolutely certain about what happened and after we help people get over their grieving. But, yeah, I do think there is going to be a lot of discussion.'

In Congress, Representative Carolyn McCarthy pushed House leaders to move quickly on a stalled Bill that would improve databases used to conduct criminal background checks on gun purchasers. The New York Democrat's husband was killed and her son was seriously wounded by a gunman more than a decade ago.

But for the most part, congressional leaders limited themselves to expressing their condolences to the Virginia victims.

'I hope there is not a rush to do anything,' said the Senate majority leader, Mr Harry Reid of Nevada. 'We need to take a deep breath.'

Even Senator Charles Schumer, who helped spearhead a ban on assault weapons more than a decade ago, said it was too early to discuss additional gun control measures.

The muted political response was a testament to political realities. Many Democrats in Congress were part of the new majority who were elected on pro-gun platforms. The Democratic Party is also trying to reach out to voters in the south and west.

School shootings do not happen only in the US. For instance, a gunman killed 15 people at a school in Erfurt, Germany, in 2002. But they have happened in the US more often than anywhere else.

'It is clear the ready availability of guns in the US makes it easier for someone to commit one of these crimes,' said sociology professor Joseph Gasper at Johns Hopkins University.

In Virginia and on gun-rights blogs, some critics were challenging Virginia Tech's regulations which prohibit gun owners from carrying their weapons on the campus, a common practice at many colleges.

But Mr Blaine Rummel, a board member of Virginians for Public Safety, an anti-gun group, said:. 'If easy availability was a solution, Virginia Tech would not be in mourning today.'

NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE