Dannel Malloy: Lawmakers who allow gun show loophole have ‘blood on your hands’

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Wednesday that lawmakers who don’t pass stricter laws on gun show sales “have blood on your hands.”

Sellers at gun shows are not required to conduct a background check on buyers since they’re considered private party sellers. They are also not required to record the sale or ask for any form of identification.

“If you vote to allow that to happen in Washington, or in your state capital, you do have blood on your hands,” Mr. Malloy, a Democrat, said on CNN.

His state suffered a mass shooting in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and six adults dead. The state has since passed stricter gun laws, but he said this so-called “gun show loophole” allows people to buy weapons in neighboring states and bring them to Connecticut.

He said the activism seen by the survivors of the Majory Stoneman Douglas High School students will pressure lawmakers to make national changes.

“I think that they are going to make a change. I don’t think it’s going to happen overnight,” Mr. Malloy said.

Students have since taken to pressuring legislators in Florida, and across the country, to make changes to gun laws.

A gunman opened fire on the high school leaving 17 people dead in Parkland, Florida, last Wednesday. The shooting suspect, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, was a former student at the school who had a propensity to violence, according to disturbing social media posts. Police said he used an AR-15 to carry out the mass shooting.

Mr. Cruz was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and is being held without bond.