Victim’s parents spearheading effort to close ‘gun show loophole’
Richardson family pushing for voter referendum
Judi and Wayne Richardson have tried to close the so-called gun show loophole through the legislature in the past, but said they kept hitting roadblocks. Now the couple is pushing for a voter referendum on universal background checks.
The Richardson’s daughter, Darien, was shot by an intruder inside her Portland apartment five and a half years ago. Richardson survived the shooting, but developed a blood clot in her leg and died six weeks later.
“When you know someone else intentionally killed your child and that it’s unsolved, it’s even more heartbreaking. It’s just compounded,” Judi Richardson said.
Portland police were able to connect a gun from another shooting to their daughter’s case. Investigators tracked the handgun to its “last owner of record,” a man who told police he sold the weapon at a gun show. That type of sale didn’t generate any paperwork or require the buyer to undergo a background check.
“We know background checks work,” Judi Richardson said. “That’s why we have the system in place so what you need to do is close the loopholes that enable those people that can’t pass a background check to go get one.”
David Trahan is the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine. He said new background check requirements will be too expensive and too cumbersome.
“I guess, for us, it’s: ‘is the price or the freedoms that we’re giving up- the new government control- worth supporting this policy’? And we continue to say now,” Trahan said.
In reference to the gun used to shoot Darien Richardson, Trahan responded, “Guns can be smuggled over our borders. It can come from all over the world, and until they know where that firearm came from, they should not use it as the poster child for why we should pass this system.”
The Richardsons said background checks are quick and easy and they see no downside to making this change.
“One life saved is worth it,” Judi Richardson said.
The Richardson’s and other gun control advocates have to collect more than 61,000 signatures by February to get their question onto ballots next fall.