Ward W. "Chip" Fetrow, III
Call for tighter US gun controls after Sept 11
WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - U.S. gun control advocates on Thursday urged the government to tighten gun laws as part of its wider effort to keep weapons away from potential terrorists and boost domestic security after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"As our nation struggles to fight a broad war against terrorism, it is unconscionable that loopholes in our law allow terrorists to buy firearms easily in the United States," said Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
The groups said criminal background checks should be compulsory for all firearms sales.
Although anyone buying a weapon from a gun store must undergo a background check, at gun shows customers can purchase arms freely from unlicensed sellers in more than 30 states, Barnes said.
Some 4,000 gun shows take place in the country every year.
"If President George W. Bush is serious about denying weapons to terrorists ... then he should support our efforts ... by requiring a check every time a firearm is sold," Barnes added in his statement.
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the National Troopers Coalition and the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, joined Barnes in pushing for gun records, which could be kept to help law enforcers track gun crime.
They cited the case of Ali Boumelhem, a member of the Lebanese Hizbollah guerrilla group who bought weapons at a gun show in Michigan.
Boumelhem was convicted of smuggling guns and ammunition to Lebanon on Sept. 10 -- the day before hijacked planes leveled the World Trade Center in New York and smashed into the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing around 4,500 people.
"I can't tell you how many lives will be saved by applying the same background check system ... but I do know that murderers, armed robbers and even terrorists exploit the gun show loophole," Richard Gallo, vice-president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, said.
The National Rifle Association, an influential gun lobby, dismissed the calls as opportunistic.
"It's a rather crass attempt to bill their agenda on the the back of the victims from September 11," chief NRA lobbyist Jim Baker said in a telephone interview.
"To suggest that terrorists are arming themselves at the nation's gun shows is laughable. They brought down the planes with box cutters and no one is talking about closing hardware stores," he added.
Baker said the NRA was willing to talk about a simple check for every gun sold at a gun show, but said gun control groups were seeking more restrictive measures.
"The devil is in the detail," he said.
17:52 11-15-01