During a recent conversation with a very liberal friend and work colleague, the subject of "gun show loophole" was broached. Now mind you, my progressive pal is fully aware that I am a federally-licensed gun dealer, a firearms enthusiast and sport shooter, and a conservative.
He also lives to argue — passionately yet civilly — but I usually tend to ignore his baiting to deny him from wreaking havoc on my last remaining nerve. Not this time.
He spewed forth absurdly manipulated statistics, specious allegations, and abject bias from a recent State-run Media ambush piece and a debunked treatise from the now-defunct and discredited Americans for Gun Safety. After methodically dismantling their predisposed prattle citing relevant statutes and most-recent statistics from his own beloved guvmint bureaucracies, tranquility returned. He stubbornly refused to concede but my last nerve was unsullied.
Fallacies in contrived studies
As a result of outdated, court-challenged, and congressionally-denounced "studies" conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), gun shows were egregiously labeled as major sources for illegal weapons procurement. This opened the door to a flurry of unwarranted and illegal arrests, new infringements on the Bill of Rights, and ushered in the short-lived but deceitful and ruinous Clinton Gun Ban.
However, current data and analyses from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) indicate otherwise. Gun shows are not likely or significant weapons sources for terrorists, criminals, psychotics, jilted girl friends, Yosemite Sam, postal workers, or NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg … well, maybe Bloomberg.
A BJS report entitled Firearm Use by Offenders found that only approximately 0.7 percent of U.S. “crime guns” came from gun shows, with repeat offenders even less likely than first-time criminals to buy guns from any retail source.
The lamentable reality is that federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies are not enforcing the more than twenty thousand existing gun laws nationwide. If they did, State-run Media would have no spurious gun show allegations with which to scare and manipulate the public.
Just how susceptible to special-interest propaganda are some people when it comes to gun shows? Very, it seems, because 1) Many Americans have never attended a show or own firearms; and 2) Delusional anti-gun radicals, with Democrat Party assistance, have invented and propagated the myth that there is some insidious gun show loophole on the purchase of firearms.
Gun sales primer
In simplest terms:
Any gun, new or used, that is transferred (shipped) from one state to another, or that is sold by a gun dealer, must be regulated through a Federal Firearms License (FFL) licensee. Period.
Any purchase from a FFL licensee where the buyer is acting as a proxy (a go-between also called a Straw Man) for another person who legally cannot purchase a firearm is a felony offense. Period.
If you attend a gun show, mosey up to an exhibit operated by an FFL gun dealer and decide to buy a new or used gun, you will be required to fill out a Federal Form 4473, and undergo a National Instant Criminal System (NICS) background check. Period.
This system covers all new and most used firearms (certain ATF-approved firearms are exempt). Depending on your state and the type firearm, you may also be required to undergo a mandatory waiting period before you can take possession.
Anyone — dealer or buyer — who knowingly breaks these laws should be arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. The laws exist — enforce them.
Now then, for heirloom or personal firearms:
Depending on your state’s regulations, if you wished to sell your dad’s old deer rifle to someone who lives in your state, you can do so without a buyer background check or Form 4473 (although there are defined seller obligations). This applies whether you take your gun to a gun show, advertise it in a newspaper or on the Internet, or simply make a gift of it, as long as the recipient lives in your state.
If you aren’t regularly engaged in the sale of firearms, not in it for profit, and not a dealer, you can sell or give away an occasional personal firearm without license or penalty — even at a gun show as long as you are registered as an exhibitor for that show.
Jane Doe, selling guns for profit but claiming them to be family heirlooms, should be arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. The laws exist — enforce them.
John Doe, standing outside the door of a gun show and illegally selling a firearm for cash, should be arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned. The laws exist — enforce them.
Gun show basics
Gun shows are large, public events. As such, promoters register with state and/or local jurisdictions for a permit to publicly assemble. As with any other type of exhibit, gun show participants (exhibitors) register with the show and pay a fee.
At a typical gun show, approximately 50 to 60 percent of the exhibitors are gun dealers — the rest are selling ammunition, reloading systems, associated gun care equipment and tools, shooting accessories, optics, camping and survival gear, archery equipment, etc. It is important to remember that only the firearms dealers, smiths, manufacturers,
and importers are required to be federally licensed — associate, non-regulated exhibitors are not.
As stated earlier, Congress specifically exempted from the federal dealer licensing (FFL) requirement persons who occasionally sell guns from their personal collections.
It is this lawful exemption that anti-gun agents proclaim as a "gun show loophole." Yet there is nothing you can do inside a gun show that you can’t do outside a gun show. More importantly, the firearms industry has never opposed instant background checks for everyone at these events.
Spin and lies
You probably have been led to believe that the "loophole" was something much darker and more sinister. Remember, anti-gun activists falsely claim that many criminals get guns from gun shows, yet as we now know the most recent federal data puts the figure at only around 0.7 percent.
The laws exist — enforce them — and it will be 0.0 percent.
Another favorite disingenuous claim by anti-gun activists is that 25 to 50 percent of gun show exhibitors are not FFL licensees. This wildly arbitrary figure is touted to perpetuate the myth that gun shows are hotbeds of illegal gun sales. It is premeditated spin.
In the real world, 40 to 50 percent of gun show exhibitors don’t even sell firearms — they sell non-regulated products. For example, review the list of exhibitors at the 2010 NSSF Shot Show held this month in Las Vegas. Less than 50 percent of the exhibitors are gun manufacturers or dealers, and a very large number of them cater to law enforcement needs!
Unlicensed dealers
Pick any gun show and you may find at least one undercover ATF inspector present as well as local and/or state law enforcement. Quite simply, it is extremely difficult for criminal unlicensed dealers to sell inside a gun show. Law breakers may lurk nearby, or outside, but rarely if ever in the show. The reasons are as clear as they are ominous:
Under current federal law, it is illegal to "engage in the business" of "dealing in firearms" without a license from the ATF. "Engaged in the business" means buying and selling firearms as a regular business with the objective of profit. Violations carry a five year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.
A licensed dealer may do business temporarily at a gun show, just as he could at his permanent licensed premises. Every legal requirement applies equally at both types of location, including background checks and record keeping on all transactions.
People who "engage in the business" without a license can be arrested and convicted of a federal felony — whether they "engage in business" at a gun show, out of a home, an office, or vehicle.
The laws exist — enforce them.
Terrorists and drug cartels
Incredibly and against all common sense, anti-gun organizations have tried to claim that terrorists and drug cartels buy guns at gun shows. Terrorists? Drug cartels? Buying Ruger single-action, six-shot revolvers? Semi-automatic AR-15s? Mossberg 500 shotguns?
Please … spare us. The gun shows under egregious wing nut attack do not trade in assault or automatic weapons, grenades, plastic explosives, self-propelled grenades, anti-tank weapons, or even underwear bombs.
By now, and after a years-long media barrage of all things terrorist- and drug-related, even the most obtuse amongst us should realize that terrorists and drug cartels have no shortage of money or access to firearms and far more powerful weapons, without resorting to highly-regulated, weapons-restricted gun shows in the United States.
The laws exist — enforce them.
Anti-gun fantasy
Licensed gun dealers are required by federal law to toe a very straight line at gun shows just as they do in their places of business. But the anti-Bill of Rights horde is fixated on the private sellers, who can sell guns from their personal collections without the FFL hassle.
According to one such group, these "unlicensed sellers" constitute 25 to 50 percent of the retailers at gun shows. Remember what you read earlier? This conveniently ignores the fact that a great many of the retailers at gun shows don’t sell guns.
But ending private sales at gun shows isn’t going to satisfy these zealots. After all, a private sale at a gun show is no different in principle from a private sale anywhere else. The Brady Campaign, in fact, no longer even bothers to hide the fact that the goal is a ban on all private gun sales — anywhere — "No background check, no sale, no excuses."
And ultimately? These anti-freedom socialists will demand a ban on all guns.
Resources:
ATF 2005 Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide (large PDF document)
Gun Facts 5.0
National Rifle Association, Institute for Legislative Action
National Shooting Sports Foundation
Second Amendment Foundation
Hype and Chains.
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