Anyone here heard of Columbine?:
Columbine dad lobbies Washington
Associated Press
The father of a slain Columbine student took his gun-control campaign to Washington, D.C., where Congress is considering a bill to tighten up gun laws.
Tom Mauser stood outside the Capitol Thursday and demanded that Congress "think of the victims." During a news conference by Handgun Control Inc., he pledged to closely monitor the votes of his representative, Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo of Littleton.
The House of Representatives will consider a bill passed by the Senate that would, among other things, crack down on sales at gun shows and require safety devices on all new handguns.
The legislation was prompted by the April 20 massacre at Columbine High School in Jefferson County. Mauser's son, 15-year-old Daniel, was one of 12 students gunned down by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, also students.
The gunmen also shot a teacher before killing themselves.
Mauser has been active in gun-control rallies since the shootings. He joined the new group Sane Alternatives to the Firearms Epidemic, a gun-control lobby.
Harris and Klebold were too young to buy their guns. Investigators say an 18-year-old friend bought a rifle and two shotguns for them, and a 22-year-old man, who has been charged, sold them a semiautomatic handgun.
Mauser said Congress should listen to people who support closing gun-law loopholes, including a lack of background checks of buyers in private transactions at gun shows.
"How many more shootings will it take before bureaucracy and inconvenience are put aside in favor of the people ? the victims?" asked Mauser.
The Senate bill would require mandatory background checks on all firearms transactions at gun shows and pawn shops; safety locks or other devices to be sold with all new handguns; a ban on the importation of high capacity ammunition clips; mandatory prison sentences for felons committing crimes with guns, and a lifetime ban on gun ownership for any juvenile convicted of a felony. |
