WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) -- It's been one week since a Virginia Tech officer was shot and killed on campus. We now know that the handgun used in the shooting had been purchased legally from a licensed dealer. The guns used in the 2007 massacre were also purchased legally, including the one gun that was bought online. But the findings of an undercover investigation released Thursday show that the number of illegal gun sales online is soaring.
63% of unlicensed Internet sellers in Virginia agreed to sell guns illegally to undercover investigators. They were found on sites like Craigslist and Armslist.com and the conversations were recorded by private investigators hired by the City of New York. The following is an excerpt of one of those conversations between an undercover investigator and an unlicensed seller in Charlottesville who was trying to sell him a handgun:
INVESTIGATOR: I couldn't pass a background check anyway.
SELLER: That right there, a lot of people do have that problem. And just between you and me, there's a lot of people that buy guns that way that probably can't walk into a gun store and do it. But person-to-person private sales, you just sell the gun
As wrong as it sounds, legally, the seller is right. It's called the private sale loophole. A private seller can legally sell a gun on the internet without conducting a background check. But if the seller has reason to believe that the buyer could not pass a background check, then it's a felony to sell it to them.
"These Internet sales really are the new gun shows," said Mark Glaze, Director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. "People should be able to sell guns. We have no problem with that. We just think we need a better background check system to keep this from happening."
Even pro-gun groups like the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which opposes closing the private sale loophole, agrees that the recordings are problematic.
"If they are knowingly and intentionally selling a gun to somebody that they have reason to believe would not pass the test, that's a problem," said Philip Van Cleave with the Virginia Citizens Defense League."
The City of New York is now calling on Congress to close the private sale and require background checks for all guns sales.