The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) and Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence have released a new report entitled “America’s Gun Shows: Open Markets for Criminals.”
According to CSGV, their report collects and analyzes some of the most recent research available on these events, revealing that they are still a primary venue for criminals and other prohibited purchasers to obtain guns without undergoing background checks.
Federal law mandates that licensed dealers at [gun shows] perform background checks on purchases before completing a sale. There is an exception in federal law, however, for private sales by individuals who are “not engaged in the business” of selling firearms, or who only make “occasional” sales.
The “Gun Show Loophole” allows these unlicensed vendors to sell firearms at gun shows without conducting background checks on purchasers.
Here are some highlights from CSGV’s report:
* There are an estimated 5,000 gun shows conducted in the United States every year.
* To date, only 17 states have acted on their own initiative to close the “Gun Show Loophole”.
* ATF reports that 25% to 50% of firearm vendors at gun shows are unlicensed, though new research shows this is a low estimate.
* It is estimated that upwards of 80% of illegal firearms in Mexico come from the United States. (See recent Gun Guys posts here, and here).
* ATF only conducts investigations at approximately 2% of all gun shows held annually.
* Between 2002 and 2005, more than 400 guns purchased at gun shows in Richmond, Virginia, were later recovered at crime scenes.
* Gun shows in California which are strictly regulated, have a higher number of attendees per gun vendor than [gun] shows in nearby states that allow unregulated private sellers. (In other words, closing the “gun show loophole” has not put gun sellers out of business despite the rhetoric from the gun lobby).
* Federal legislation to close the gun show loophole has been introduced by Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), Christopher Shays (R-CT), and Mark Kirk (R-IL): H.R. 96, the “Gun Show Loophole Closing Act of 2007″.
Also, Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) has introduced S. 2237, the “Crime Control and Prevention Act of 2007,” would require background checks on the sale of all firearms at gun shows.
