WKSU News: Fix Gun Checks tour comes to Youngstown

Monday, February 21, 2011 Fix Gun Checks tour comes to Youngstown The truck tour is part of New York Mayor Bloomberg's push to toughen gun background checks by WKSU's JEFF ST. CLAIR and ALISON RITCHIE	Reporter / Host Jeff St. Clair

Mayors who say their cities suffer because of loopholes in gun background checks are coming to Youngstown and Euclid Tuesday as part of a national truck tour.

The group “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” includes seventy mayors from Ohio and New York’s Mayor Bloomberg. The group wants every gun sale subject to a background check, including private sales at gun shows. It also wants a national database of everyone prohibited from buying firearms.

Omar Samaha is part of the Fix Gun Checks tour. His sister was one of the 32 people killed during the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. He says even a complete background check database could not solve the problem.

Omar Samaha

Other options:

MP3 Download (0:24)

But Buckeye Firearms Association chairman Jim Irvine says gun regulations have made it tougher for firearms dealers to get a federal license that would allow them to do background checks. He says loosening the costs and restrictions would create more federal firearms dealers and fewer private dealers.

Irvine also says that high-profile shootings have been mischaracterized by gun opponents.

Jim Irvine with the Buckeye Firearms Association

Other options:

Members of "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" will meet with a priest in Youngstown to discuss the recent shootings at Youngstown State University. In Euclid, a victim of gun violence will share her story with the group.