PORTLAND, Ore. – Family members of murder victims gathered outside City Hall Monday to call for a better background check system.
Teressa Raiford is the aunt of 19-year-old Andre Payton, who was shot and killed by a suspected gang member in downtown Portland last September. Six months later his killer is still free.
“They haven’t found them, and that’s the problem with these illegal weapons,” Raiford said. “The shooters are never found, they’re not attached to anybody.”
Outside City Hall, Raiford joined others like Omar Samaha, whose sister died in the April 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. They’re calling for a national Do Not Sell database that’s up-to-date and requires background checks for all private gun sales.
“The gunman at Virginia Tech was able to pass two federal background checks to buy his guns,” said Samaha. “He should have actually failed both, but he was able to pass only because his name wasn’t updated into the database.”
Over the weekend a Northeast Portland home with seven children inside was shot up. No one was hurt. Police haven’t arrested anyone yet but they said the shooting was gang related. It was the fifth gang-related shooting in Portland in little more than a week.
Portland police said tougher background checks wouldn’t necessarily keep guns out of the hands of gang members.
“They don’t buy them at gun stores,” said Portland’s Assistant Police Chief Eric Hendricks. “They end up getting them from a variety of ways. But in Portland, they’re typically taken in car prowls where folks leave firearms unattended in vehicles.”
The national campaign to fix gun background checks also keeps a running a total of how many Americans have been shot to death since the mass shooting in Tucson last January. At 1 p.m. Monday, the number was 2,449 and by 2 p.m. the number was 2,450.
Supporters want background checks for all private gun sales with some exceptions like if a person is inheriting guns from a family member.