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.
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.