RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A bill requiring private sellers at gun shows to perform background checks on buyers, with an exemption for antique weapons, passed out of a Senate committee Jan. 26, but there remains little chance it could become law.

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted 8-7 for legislation to close the so-called gun-show loophole, where private sellers at the shows are not required to perform the federal checks required of licensed gun dealers.

The legislation is introduced annually, but it has only cleared the committee a couple times in the past. It has never passed in the full Senate. Even if it does, the measure is all but guaranteed to die in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates.

Still, victims and the families of those killed or injured by a student gunman at Virginia Tech in 2007 were happy to have cleared the first hurdle. After the vote, they celebrated and embraced in the hallway.

“It’s not over, but it’s a step forward and that’s where the hope comes in,” said Joe Samaha, whose daughter Reema was killed at Virginia Tech.

Lily Habtu, who was shot twice at Virginia Tech, said the vote – no matter how tight – was encouraging.

“After hearing no, no, no, no so many times coming down here, it’s so good to know that people are actually listening to what we’re saying,” said Habtu, who has a bullet still lodged in her head.

Seung-Hui Cho did not buy the two guns he used to kill 32 students and faculty members at a gun show, but supporters of the bill claim he likely would have if he had been turned down by other means.

But opponents said it is wrong for the bill’s supporters to continue to invoke the tragedy at Virginia Tech in the debate when sales at gun shows played no role in it.

They also take issue with the suggestion there’s a loophole, because private sales are unregulated no matter where they take place.

“The implication here is there’s something magic that’s been given to gun shows. There is nothing,” said Philip Van Cleave, president of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League.

Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, amended the bill to exempt those with concealed carry permits from the background checks by private sellers and to not require them for antique weapons sold at the shows.

Van Cleave said even with the changes, he doesn’t think the legislation has a chance of passing.

“I think it has a very, very high uphill battle,” he said. “They tried to sweeten it up a little bit, but it’s still unacceptable.”

Republicans, including Sen. Thomas K. Norment of James City, asked supporters such as Public Safety Secretary John Marshall for proof that guns bought from private sellers at gun shows end up being used in crimes. Although they could offer no evidence, Norment changed his previous vote and supported the bill.

Norment said afterward that he felt like even if it isn’t an actual problem that many Virginians perceive that it is and that it was time “to deal with it once and for all.”

“I don’t think it’s going to prevent the sale of one firearm in Virginia,” he said.”I don’t think it’s intrusive on Second Amendment rights, but at least it will eliminate those perceptual arguments.”

The committee also passed bills to increase the fees dealers pay for the background checks and to expand regulation for out-of-state concealed weapon permit holders.

Virginia State Police asked for the background check fee increase – from $2 to $5 for Virginia residents and from $5 to $8 for out-of-state buyers – to help cover the cost of operating the system. The information from those checks would be exempt from public inspection.

Sen. John Watkins’ bill passed 9-6.

Marsh’s bill would require out-of-state concealed carry permit holders to also carry with them a photo ID. It also would disqualify those who have been convicted of driving while intoxicated or for public drunkenness in another state in the past three years from received a permit. Currently, only a conviction in Virginia over the past three years is a disqualifier.

Marsh’s original bill would have required training to prove competence to carry a weapon be completed in person instead of over the Internet, but that was taken out after much debate.

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