Proposed gun curbs have some up in arms

By Jon Moffett

The bill in the U.S. House would require a license for all handguns and certification for all owners.

YOUNGSTOWN — Kenny Graft doesn’t fear guns. He respects them.

The 54-year-old New Middletown man grew up with firearms and owned his first at age 11. His business, Shooting Star Firearms in New Middletown, sells to hunters and sport shooters, Graft said.

But he believes a bill in Congress would limit his ability to sell firearms to his clientele.

The proposed Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 would require a license to own a handgun or semi-automatic firearm. Currently no license is required to own a handgun in Ohio. The bill would also require current handgun owners to become certified or risk losing their property.

The bill was submitted by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., in January. The bill has no co-sponsors and was referred to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

The bill came about in response to the fatal shooting of Blair Holt, a 16-year-old student in Chicago. He was killed by gunfire in a gang-related attack on May 10, 2007. Holt moved to shield another student while riding a school bus and was fatally shot.

The bill has become a fixture in e-mails forwarded throughout the Internet. Web sites such as Snopes.com have fact-checked the e-mails and the bill and said some seemingly onerous aspects – such as a fear the bill would force gun owners to submit to a physical and mental evaluation at any time – are unfounded.

Though the bill is not expected to get out of committee, it still leaves Graft up in arms. He believes guns are being unfairly targeted.

“You’ve got to wonder if it’s not the government’s personal agenda for guns and crime,” he said. “A lot of [the bill] has nothing to do with crime. Unfortunately, I think it’s a path our government is taking”

He added that the government should focus less on making new laws and more on enforcement.

“My take on law is we have enough laws; we don’t need to add more restrictions to honest people,” Graft said. “We have more laws on the books than we’ll ever need right now.”

One law in particular is being targeted by Citizens for Safety, a group whose goal is to get guns out of the wrong hands while still upholding the Second Amendment.

“When you look at the total number of gun crimes in our country, about 50 percent of the perpetrators are criminals and juveniles,” said Lori O’Neill, executive director of the group.

The group petitions local, state and federal governments to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which prohibits the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms from releasing information on firearms in its trace database to anyone other than the agency directly involved in an investigation.

Though the amendment started with good intentions, it has been counterproductive, O’Neill said.

“It essentially restricts the information the ATF can share with local police when they are trying to solve or prevent gun crimes,” she said. “It seems counter intuitive that Congress would tie the hands of law enforcement, but that’s exactly what it does.”

Gerry Nunziato, a retired ATF agent, said the Tiahrt Amendment significantly reduces law enforcement’s ability to do its job.

“I think the simplest way to explain it is if you have a crime scene in Youngstown and you find a fingerprint, the Tiahrt Amendment would only allow you to look at fingerprints on file at the Youngstown Police Department,” Nunziato said. “So it has a major impact on law enforcement ... It’s very restrictive.”

The law doesn’t directly affect many people, she said. But it could if ever they or someone they know is involved in a gun crime. The group urges citizens to voice their concerns to their representatives.

Graft said the law was just another example of government trying to unarm good citizens.

“There is no reason for all the negative attention on guns; our country was formed on firearms,” he said. “The problem is people have created the mindset about them.”

He added that violence will occur no matter how tightly guns are regulated.

“There are people who are willing to do harm with others with a firearm or a baseball bat ... It’s a problem with society, not with firearms,” he said.

“If somebody went and started running over everybody with their car, people would start to say that cars are bad.”

jmoffett@vindy.com