To the editor:

On Monday evening (Jan. 27), Tim White did an article on the Rhode Island Blue Card. He started out by saying that due to the shooting in Westerly, he wanted to know if the shooter had a Blue Card. Why was this so important? Is this because the governor wants to make changes to the card?

There is no course for the Blue Card. You get the card by getting a book from DEM or a local gun store or gun club. They get the book and test sheets from DEM. There is no fee for the book or for taking the test. I am not sure of this, but I believe the state received a federal grant for this program.

Once a person takes the test, it is sent to DEM to grade the test. If they pass, they get a card. If they fail, they get a letter and can take the test over again. They can’t take this card into a gun store, show the card and say, “Sell me a gun.” They show the card, which lets the dealer know they passed a safety test; that is all that this card does.

Now this person has to fill out a state form which is brought to the police department, where the gun store is located for a background check. Once approved by the police department, it is forwarded to the attorney general’s office. Either before our after the state form is filled out, he also has to fill out a federal form so the FBI can do a background check. 

This all has to be completed within the seven-day waiting period before he can pick up his purchase. The seven-day waiting period is a state law. Rhode Island is one of a few states where a person has to go through two background checks and wait seven days. When a person has to go through all of this before he or she can buy a firearm, why was it so important to Mr. White is he had a Blue Card?

This governor wants to take the Blue Card system from DEM and turn it over to the AG. In my opinion, grading a test is not what the attorney general’s office is for; they have enough work to do. Every background check to buy a gun has to through the BCI department of the attorney general’s office.

With the mess this state is in, an investigative reporter can’t find something better to investigate or for the governor to worry about a Blue Card? Guns owned by legal gun owners are not the problem; it is the people who own guns illegally. Stopping them should be the problem to be investigated and solved; then you can say you accomplished something.

You want to talk, come and visit me.

Dominic J. Calarco

President, Island Gun Shop, Inc.

Portsmouth