Gun Shows

[Ed Ely]

http://www.courier-journal.com/
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 Over the weekend, they held a big gun show at Somerset. Another one's scheduled for Nov. 17-18 at Cave City, and Nov. 23-25 at the Lexington Center. Then there's the Ashland show at El Hasa Temple, Dec. 1-2; another in Louisville at the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center, Dec. 8-9; still another at Somerset, Dec. 15-16, and finally, another in Louisville, Dec. 28-30. You get the picture. Gun shows are very big business, here in Kentucky and across the United States. I just wonder how many illegal aliens and would-be terrorists show up to shop. Gun sales have been in the news lately. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently signed the "Crime Gun Identification Act of 2007," which requires "microstamping" of all new semiautomatic handgun models sold in that state, beginning in 2010. After the terrible Virginia Tech shootings, a review panel came up with a report that won applause from the Virginia Center for Public Safety, Virginia Million Mom March Chapters, ProtestEasyGuns.com, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. It urged closing a huge loophole in Virginia gun laws. As things stand, firearms can be bought in Virginia through a "private sale," without the necessity of a background check. The report said, "Such purchases are common at gun shows that occur regularly throughout the commonwealth." The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and the Education Fund to Stop Gun Violence just released their own report, titled, "America's Gun Shows: Open Markets for Criminals." It said an estimated 5,000 gun shows are held each year in the United States, and federal law requires legitimate, licensed dealers at such events to conduct background checks before completing sales. However, there's a loophole big enough to accommodate a Humvee. Excused from the requirement are private sales by those "not engaged in the business" of selling firearms, and those who make only the "occasional" sale. Seventeen states have moved to close this Gun Show Loophole. Kentucky, of course, is not one of them. Most Kentucky politicians treat gun control like a third rail of civic life. But not all. During last spring's Republican primary, former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup defended her support of background checks at gun shows. She insisted that instant checks at such events do not hamper gun sales. In an interview after he defeated Northup last year, Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, said, "I don't sense any strong momentum for significant new gun control legislation." However he added, "I am for the assault weapons ban and for requiring checks on people who buy guns at gun shows. I don't believe we should search grandmothers at airports and not take minimal steps to make sure terrorists don't get weapons at things like gun shows." Background checks by licensed dealers work. The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence says 72 percent of them are completed "in just a few minutes," and 95 percent within two hours. And consider this: "Between 1994 and 2005, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) prevented approximately 1.4 million prohibited purchasers, including convicted felons, from buying firearms." But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says between one-fourth and one-half of those selling at gun shows are not licensed, and the real figure may be much higher according to a recent study. Meanwhile, ATF also says gun shows provide a major market for illegal trafficking in firearms, second only to corrupt federally licensed sellers. According to one accounting, "In an analysis of 1,530 firearms trafficking investigations during the period July 1996 through December 1998, gun shows were associated with the diversion of approximately 26,000 illegal firearms. From 2004 to 2006, ATF conducted operations at just 195 gun shows nationwide, but these operations resulted in 121 individual arrests and 5,345 firearms seizures." Nobody wants to put gun shows out of business. Well, anyway, I don't. But experience with strict regulation in California shows that gun shows are thriving there, as well as in other states that have closed the loophole. You get the picture, but Kentucky's General Assembly doesn't. David Hawpe's columns appear Wednesdays and Sundays in the Community Forum. His e-mail address is dhawpe@courier-journal.com.
FYI Ed