WASHINGTON — After a shooting on live TV that killed WDBJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, a renewed push is on for more gun restrictions in the commonwealth of Virginia.
“Clearly, something went wrong here,” Chris Hurst, a WDBJ-TV anchor and Parker’s boyfriend, told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Wednesday night.
So now he and Parker’s father, Andy Parker, are vowing to push for tougher gun restrictions, which would include more background checks on gun buyers.
The goal is to “shame legislators into doing something about closing loopholes in background checks,” Parker told Kelly.
It’s a battle Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told WTOP he has yet to win.
To him, tougher gun laws make perfect sense — “I own three hunting rifles and a shotgun; I hunt,” McAuliffe said on WTOP’s Ask the Governor – but added that the background check would only take a maximum of five minutes while making the purchase.
“There are certain people who should not be entitled to owning a firearm. There are people who have been convicted of a dangerous crime, of violent crime, domestic abusers, stalkers — we could go through the whole list.”
However, the governor has grown frustrated that his proposals have not been considered by the General Assembly. Del. Tim Hugo said lawmakers have their own plan: focusing on mental health.
“It’s a key component that we really will, I hope in a bipartisan way, focus on,” Hugo told WTOP. “People who commit these horrendous tragedies, horrendous crimes, have mental health problems and they are not getting the mental health care they need. I think that’s something we can do now and should do now.”
Despite that, Parker vows, “This is not the last you’ve heard of me. This is something of Alison’s legacy that I want to make happen.”
