While the gun lobby claims background checks won’t prevent any shootings, the Wisconsin spa murders prove them dead wrong. On Saturday in October 2012, Radcliffe Haughton walked into a salon and spa in Brookfield and shot and killed his wife, Zina, and two other women. Even though Haughton was prohibited from buying a gun–since his wife had taken out a restraining order against him for domestic violence–Haughton bought his .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun from a website, www.armslist.com. Because of the internet/private sale loophole, no background check was performed and none was required under federal law.
No background check required: Haughton bought a gun over the Internet and murdered three women.
The U.S. Senate, in April 2013, defeated proposed legislation that would have helped close this loophole and prevent a person like Radcliffe Haughton from buying a gun. By failing to close this giant loophole–and by ignoring 92% of Americans who support gun background checks–Congress is allowing murders like this to happen.
With no federal background checks, Zina Haughton’s husband was able to buy a gun and kill her and two other women.
