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1. They Claim: There is no such thing as the “gun show loophole.” Every sale that requires a background check outside a gun show requires a background check inside a gun show.
Quick Answer: The “gun show loophole” is really part of a larger loophole that allows unlicensed, private sellers to sell guns without the Brady criminal background checks required for all sales by licensed dealers.
Because gun shows are a primary venue for unlicensed sales, the absence of any background check requirement for unlicensed sales at gun shows is often referred to as the “gun show loophole.”
Our national policy should be no background check, no gun, no excuses, whether the sale is at a gun show or not. A good first step is to require background checks for unlicensed sales at gun shows.
Background: A loophole in the Brady Law requires background checks only for sales by licensed dealers. Under federal law, unlicensed sales, whether at gun shows or elsewhere, do not require a background check. Without background checks on unlicensed sales, including those at gun shows, police cannot prevent thousands of felons, fugitives, domestic violence offenders and the dangerously mentally ill from easily getting firearms.
The photos below are from UC-Davis Professor Garen Wintemute’s study of gun shows. The photos document that assault weapons are for sale by unlicensed sellers at gun shows - no background check required.
The photographs were taken in Jacksonville, FL (1), Waukesha, WI (2), and Dallas, TX (3, 4). Click on each photo to see it in detail.
You can see more photos of gun shows here.
Key Anecdote: You can use this story from the high profile Columbine shooting to show that criminals obtain guns at gun shows. The Columbine shooters exploited the gun show loophole to obtain three of the guns they used in their massacre. The Columbine shooters were not old enough to buy their shotguns and rifle from a licensed dealer because they were not yet 18. They recruited their friend Robyn Anderson, age 18, to buy the guns for them at the Tanner gun show in Colorado. The killers specifically looked for an unlicensed seller so there would be no paperwork or background check. Anderson stated in testimony to the Colorado legislature, “It was too easy. I wish it had been more difficult. I wouldn’t have helped them buy the guns if I had faced a background check” (Congressional Record - Senate, 2000).
2. They Claim: Only a small percentage of criminals get their guns at gun shows.
Quick Answer: Even if that were true - and it’s not - are you saying that’s okay? Unlicensed sellers and corrupt gun dealers traffic huge numbers of guns OUT OF gun shows, in addition to criminals buying them directly AT gun shows.
Background: Their statement is based on surveys of criminals, in which researchers ask criminals where they bought their last gun and then calculate the percentage of criminals who got their last gun at a gun show. You can already see the problem with this strategy: it doesn’t account for guns bought at gun shows and then resold to criminals.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 80 percent of state inmates purchased guns from family, friends, a street buy or an illegal source (Harlow, p. 1). Those guns don’t grow on trees. ATF trafficking investigations show that many of them come from trafficking from gun shows.
Criminals can’t tell the purchase history of their guns by looking at them. Consequently, surveys of criminals are not a reliable way to judge the magnitude of the illegal gun problem at gun shows. A better way to understand gun shows’ contribution to the illegal gun market is to look at police investigations of gun trafficking rings and eyewitness accounts of illegal activity at gun shows.
Our federal firearm law enforcement agency (ATF) states that gun shows are major contributors of guns to the illegal market based on their actual investigations of trafficking at gun shows, documented in three major reports on gun shows in 1999, 2000, and 2007. Gun shows are a major trafficking channel according to ATF, with an average of 130 guns trafficked per investigation, and over 25,000 firearms trafficked in total over one 17-month period alone (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, June 2000, p. 13).
The results of the ATF investigations are consistent with academic studies of gun shows (Wintemute, 2007 & 2009) and government-funded undercover stings at gun shows in Ohio, Tennessee and Nevada, which documented that 63 percent of private sellers sold guns to purchasers who stated they probably could not pass a background check (City of New York, 2009, p. 6, 7).
During the fight to pass the Brady Law to require background checks at dealers, the NRA repeatedly claimed that criminals don’t try to buy guns at licensed dealers. They were wrong. Since 1994, the Brady Law has blocked over 1.9 million felons and other dangerous people trying to buy guns at gun stores (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 20101.8).
Key Anecdote: You can use this story to show that no-check sales at gun shows provide guns to traffickers, who sell them to felons. In May 2006, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Alabama announced the arrests of a gun trafficking ring. The traffickers moved an estimated 70,000 guns over the last several decades, including 267 linked to violent crimes and drug offenses, by selling guns at gun shows and flea markets without background checks and without dealer licenses. The ring sold guns directly to felons among other offenses (U.S. Attorney, N.D. Ala., 2006).
3. They Claim: Onerous regulation of gun shows will hurt the gun show industry.
Quick Answer: That’s not true. There is nothing onerous about doing a criminal background check. Licensed dealers conduct background checks all the time. There is no evidence that regulation of gun shows hurts the business.
Background: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Illinois, and New York have all closed the gun show loophole for all firearms. As can be seen from this online calendar of gun shows, the gun show business is alive and well in all of these states.
Regulation of gun shows doesn’t hurt the gun show business and reduces illegal activity at gun shows. A study of 28 gun shows provides strong evidence that California’s strict regulation of gun shows, including a requirement that all gun sales, including those by private sellers, go through a Brady criminal background check at a federally licensed dealer, reduces anonymous, undocumented gun sales at gun shows without negatively impacting the gun show business (Wintemute, 2007).
There is nothing onerous about a background check. The call center handling background checks answers the phone in fewer than 8 seconds on average, and 91 percent of the checks are completed during the initial phone call (FBI, 2007).
4. They Claim: Only a small percent of sales at gun shows are unlicensed sales.
Quick Answer: There is no record of the transaction, so no one can know if that is true. Our point is that all unlicensed sellers at gun shows should have to conduct a background check.
Background: Even one unlicensed seller bent on gun trafficking, especially one that is working with a corrupt gun dealer, can funnel thousands of guns into the illegal market. The best way to measure the problem is to look at the volume of trafficked guns. Gun shows are the second highest source of trafficked guns, accounting for tens of thousands of guns according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF, 2000).
If there is no background check, there is no record of the sale. This means that police can’t trace the chain of possession of guns purchased at gun shows via private sales and are deprived of a key lead to stop gun trafficking rings before they arm criminals. All gun sales should generate a record of sale.
Government and academic studies of gun shows estimate that between 25 and 70 percent of sellers at gun shows are private sellers who are not required to do background checks (ATF, 1999; Wintemute, 2007).
Key Anecdote: You can use this story to show that no-check sales at gun shows provide guns to traffickers. In May 2006, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Alabama announced the arrests of a gun trafficking ring. The traffickers moved an estimated 70,000 guns over several decades, including 267 linked to violent crimes and drug offenses, by selling guns at gun shows and flea markets without background checks and without dealer licenses. The ring sold guns directly to felons, among other offenses (U.S. Attorney, N.D. Ala., 2006).
Key Quote: You can use this quote to show that even a conservative Republican recognizes gun shows as a source of crime guns. Alberto Gonzales, former U.S. Attorney General under the Bush Administration, in an op-ed published March 27, 2009 in the Houston Chronicle: “…gun shows are a marketplace for felons and other prohibited persons to buy firearms from unlicensed sellers without background checks” (Gonzalez, 2009).
5. They Claim: Most gun show sellers are licensed dealers.
Quick Answer: Our point is that all gun sellers should have to conduct a background check.
Background: ATF and academic studies of gun shows estimate that between 25 and 70 percent of sellers at gun shows are private sellers who are not required to do background checks (ATF, 1999; Wintemute, 2007).
Key Anecdote: You can use this story to show that no-check sales at gun shows provide guns to traffickers. In May 2006, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Alabama announced the arrests of a gun trafficking ring. The traffickers moved approximately 70,000 guns, including 267 linked to violent crimes and drug offenses, by selling guns at gun shows and flea markets without background checks and without dealer licenses. The ring sold guns directly to felons (U.S. Attorney, N.D. Ala., 2006).
Key Quote: You can use this quote to show that requiring background checks on all sales at gun shows can benefit licensed dealers by creating a level playing field. Merlin Scales, Virginia licensed dealer, as reported March 3, 2008 in the Virginian-Pilot, said, “See that guy over there? He’s at every [gun] show. And he sells some of the same guns I do, only he charges more. Now why do you think some people are willing to pay more at his table than mine? Because he doesn’t have to run them through a background check” (Kimberlin, 2008).
6. They Claim: We don’t need any new gun laws because the ATF already monitors gun shows for illegal activity.
Quick Answer: That is a false choice. We need strong gun laws, and we need ATF to monitor gun shows for illegal activity.
Background: ATF conducts investigations at about 3 percent of the 6,000 gun shows every year. The U. S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, reported in 2007, “From F[iscal] Y[ear] 2004 to F[iscal] Y[ear] 2006, ATF opened approximately 6,233 firearms trafficking investigations. During that 3-year period, ATF Special Agents conducted 202 operations at 195 of the estimated 6,000 gun shows held nationwide - or about 3.3 percent of the shows” (ATF, 2007, p. 21).
7. They Claim: Background checks take too long. It’s an inconvenience to law-abiding gun owners.
Quick Answer: That is not true. There is an instant check system that is quick. For the most part, if a background check doesn't do through immediately, then the buyer is not allowed to purchase the gun. What’s inconvenient is being shot because our weak gun laws allowed a criminal or mentally ill person to get a gun. Just ask Jim Brady.
Background: The call center handling background checks answers the phone in fewer than 8 seconds on average, and 91 percent of the checks are completed during the initial phone call (FBI, 2007).
Sixty-three percent of private sellers at gun shows sold guns to purchasers who stated they probably could not pass a background check, based on undercover stings conducted at gun shows in Ohio, Tennessee, and Nevada in 2009 (City of New York, 2009).
Background checks work. The Brady law has stopped over 1.9 million attempts-to-purchase by dangerous people, including over 800,000 felons (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010).
8. They Claim: The only kinds of guns sold by unlicensed sellers are antique curios and relics.
Quick Answer: That’s not true.
Background: A recent study of 78 gun shows in 19 states from 2005-2008 documents conclusively that unlicensed sellers sell a full range of firearms (Wintemute, 2009).
The photos below are from UC-Davis Professor Garen Wintemute’s study of gun shows. The photos document that assault weapons are for sale by unlicensed sellers at gun shows - no background check required.
The photographs were taken in Jacksonville, FL (1), Waukesha, WI (2), and Dallas, TX (3, 4). Click on each photo to see it in detail.
You can see more photos of gun shows here.
9. They Claim: A study from researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland has found “no evidence that gun shows lead to substantial increases in either gun homicides or suicides. In addition, tighter regulation of gun shows does not appear to reduce the number of firearm-related deaths."
Quick Answer: That study is flawed and has been debunked.
Background: In 2008, professors Mark Duggan and Randi Hjalmarsson at the University of Maryland and Brian Jacob from the University of Michigan released a draft paper to the media (an unusual move for a draft paper) finding “no evidence that gun shows lead to substantial increases in either gun homicides or suicides. In addition, tighter regulation of gun shows does not appear to reduce the number of firearm-related deaths.” The draft paper was based on gun shows in Texas and California.
The draft paper was critiqued publicly by a group of prominent gun violence prevention researchers on the NY Times Economix blog.
The flaws were so severe that the gun violence prevention researchers stated, “As it stands, the paper evaluates a straw man hypothesis and is not a serious test of the effect of gun shows on rates of gun violence.”
One example of the problems: Duggan et al inexplicably chose to measure exceedingly narrowly the impact of Texas and California gun shows on homicide rates: within three weeks of a gun show and only in the surrounding 25 miles. Even a layperson could guess that a study structured this way might be unlikely to generate meaningful findings.
In fact, the draft paper is the subject of an article on research errors entitled "How to Find Nothing."
10. They Claim: There are increases in violent crime after gun show regulations are enacted.
Quick Answer: How is that supposed to work? Background checks that screen out criminals make crime go up? While people with a clean record can still purchase guns? That doesn’t make any sense.
Background: This myth derives from research by John Lott published in his book, More Guns, Less Crime. The argument is that gun show regulation makes it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to get their hands on guns by reducing the number of gun shows. There is no evidence that gun show regulation hurts the gun show business.
Regulation of gun shows doesn’t hurt the gun show business. Regulation of gun shows reduces illegal activity at gun shows. A study of 28 gun shows provides strong evidence that California’s strict regulation of gun shows, including a requirement that all gun sales, including those by unlicensed sellers, go through a Brady criminal background check at a federally licensed dealer, reduces anonymous, undocumented gun sales at gun shows without negatively impacting the gun show business (Wintemute, 2007).
And, simple measures like requiring a background check for private sales, including those at gun shows, have been shown to reduce gun trafficking in a state by 48 percent (Webster, 2009).
11. They Claim: Harsh penalties for crimes committed with the use of a firearm will be more effective than gun control.
Quick Answer: This is a false choice. Strong penalties for illegal firearm possession and background checks for gun sales are reinforcing tactics. We can do both.
Background: Requiring a background check for private sales, including those at gun shows, has been shown to reduce gun trafficking in a state by 48 percent (Webster, 2009).
Sources
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearms Traffickers, June 2000. See also: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Gun Shows: Brady Checks and Crime Gun Traces, January 1999 (p. 4 for percent of sellers that are unlicensed); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Investigative Operations at Gun Shows, June 2007.
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2009 - Statistical Tables, October 2010
City of New York, Gun Show Undercover: Report On Illegal Sales at Gun Shows, October 2009
Congressional Record - Senate, Statement of Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) on Gun Safety, February 9, 2000, p. S555
Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) 2007 Operations Report.
Harlow, Caroline Wolf, “Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities: Firearm Use By Offenders,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, November 2001, NCJ 189369, p. 1
Gonzalez, Alberto, “Southern Strategy Needed to Keep Mexico Secure,” Houston Chronicle, March 27, 2009
Kimberlin, Joanne, “Gun Sale Rules Can Be Easy to Avoid,” Virginian-Pilot, March 3, 2008
U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Alabama, Alabama Receives National Recognition for Operation Flea Collar , May 3, 2006; Associated Press, Contraband Guns Targeted, March 1, 2007
Webster, Daniel W., Jon S. Vernick, and Maria T Bulzacchelli. “Effects of State-Level Firearm Seller Accountability Policies on Firearm Trafficking.” Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 86 (2009): 525-37
Wintemute, Garen, “Gun Shows Across a Multi-state American Gun Market: Observational Evidence of the Effects of Regulatory Policies,” Injury Prevention 13 (2007)
Wintemute, Garen, Inside Gun Shows: What Goes On When Everybody Thinks Nobody's Watching, Violence Prevention Research Program, University of California at Davis: Sacramento, California, September 2, 2009
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