RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – The percentage of people arrested after being denied permission to buy firearms at Virginia gun shows has increased over the last two years.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that 10.6 percent of the people who were denied permission to buy guns in 2011 were charged with an offense related to being someone legally prohibited from possessing a firearm. That increased to 12.4 percent in 2012 and to 27 percent last year.
Thomas Baker is a criminologist at Virginia Commonwealth University. He says that while the upward trend is a positive sign, it’s important to note that those who weren’t arrested after failing a background check could simply go to a private seller at a show and buy a gun. Existing law requires only federally licensed dealers to run background checks.
Pre-School: For want of a nail a shoe was lost…for want of a shoe….
Prince William County qualified for enough state funding this year to provide pre-kindergarten classes to more than 1,600 children from low-income families. But the county turned down nearly all of that money and instead serves just 72 children in four classrooms.
Manassas Park was eligible for state funding to help 104 children prepare for kindergarten, but its program serves just 36.
Across Virginia, about $23 million designated for preschool was left on the table because localities — citing limited resources, lack of classroom space and politics — did not contribute the required matching funds to take full advantage of the program. As a result, more than 6,000 disadvantaged children missed the opportunity to go to school before kindergarten.
