It's really a frightening scheme if you think about it. Politicians who make hay by pointing fingers at gun shows argue that gun show attendees get around federal law by buying their guns without a background check. What they never tell you is that there is no federal law requiring a background check on secondary gun sales, and there never has been.
In other words -- it's not illegal to buy a gun from your neighbor, your father, or your friend.
The other reason the meme is misleading is it pretends that most gun sales at gun shows don't go through a background check. This is completely false.
ReplyDeleteAlmost everyone exhibiting guns for sale at a gun show is a licensed firearms dealer, and they all run the checks on every purchaser. I've bought a gun at a gunshow, and I definitely did the usual FBI background check to do so. Booths are shows cost money, and someone selling just one or two guns would lose the entire proceeds paying for a booth, let alone their employee time. Retailers can do it because they are making sales in some volume, enough to cover their show costs and employee time. But they all are licensed and run the checks.
It is only two guys without a booth meeting in the parking lot that transfer guns without a check - and they don't need the gun show for that to start with. At most, it is a place they manage to meet. Any Craigslist listing would do the same thing.