Since the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, holes in US gun laws have taken centre stage in Washington, DC. Legislators are sparring over proposed new gun control measures, but they face stiff opposition in a deeply divided Congress.
For years, gun control advocates have been saying it’s much too easy for dangerous people to get a deadly weapon, with no paper trail. Under federal law, background checks are required to purchase guns from licensed dealers. But private sellers don’t need to take any information. And there are an estimated 4000 online marketplaces in the U.S. where anyone can buy a gun with no questions asked.
Jonathan Lowy is a lawyer with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. He’s lobbied for years to close that “private seller” loophole.
“For no rational reason we had this gaping hole where (one) simply can choose to go another route buy guns from an unlicensed seller no questions asked no background check,” Lowy explains. “That makes no sense.”
One of these marketplaces, Armslist.com, is where B.C. resident Dmitry Smirnov bought a 40 calibre handgun from a man in Washington State.
In April 2011, Smirnov bought the gun, drove to Oak Brook, Illinois and murdered Jitka Vesel, a 36 year old woman he’d met on an online gaming site. Smirnov tracked her car to a dark, empty parking lot and shot her 11 times.
Smirnov confessed to the murder and is serving life in prison without parole. Oak Brook Police Detective Vel Torlo has been a cop in the quiet Chicago suburb for 16 years, and even he was shocked by the vicious, pre-meditated nature of the crime.
“Cold-blooded just cold-blooded. You know what, we’ll probably never see something like that again (here).”
The man who sold Smirnov the gun, Benedict Ladera, was sentenced to a year and a day in jail for the illegal transfer of a firearm.
Vesel’s best friend, Theresa O’Rourke, is pressing for stricter national gun control legislation. “It infuriates me that this Armslist is able to be in business. It’s infuriating that they make money off circumventing our laws,” she says.
Lawyer Jon Lowy says that despite the disclaimers posted on the website, Armslist makes it easy for users to break the law. “They should take reasonable action. There are a lot of things Armslist could have done and should have done to prevent sales like this.”
O’Rourke has no doubt her best friend would still be alive if it hadn’t been so easy for Dmitry Smirnov to get a gun.
“It was easier for this man to purchase a deadly weapon than it is for me to get a parking pass, than it was for me to get a driver’s license, than it was for me to register my child in school,” she says. “Everything is shadowed by the empty chair that’s sitting in your kitchen table. And that’s what our lives are. This is what life is like as a survivor of gun crimes.”
Watch an encore presentation of “Point, Click, Fire” Friday on 16×9.
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