The “Gun Show Loophole”

A real issue caught up in a game.

EDIT: I have an updated viewpoint that supersedes this one. View it here.

If you listen to people talk about the “Gun Show Loophole” you’ll hear 2 things:

“We need to close it.”

and

“It doesn’t exist!”

Both sides of this argument are flawed however.

One side is playing a game of distraction, and the other side is too busy playing the game to do anything.

First Some Facts:

1. FFLs (holders of a Federal Firearms License) are gun dealers. They are required to run background checks on every firearms sale they facilitate.
2. Most vendors at gun shows are FFLs.
3. NOT ALL are however.
4. Federally, private gun sales DO NOT require a background check.

The net result is that I can sell a gun to a stranger without running a background check on said stranger; even at a gun show.

The “Gun Show Loophole” in action:

I recently acquired a shotgun. I bought it at a gun show from a vendor. He had 3 tables with 50+ guns for sale. I do not know his name. He does not know mine. I showed no ID. I paid cash.

All of this was possible because he was selling as a private citizen instead of as a dealer.

This is the “Gun Show Loophole”.

This is a real problem.

The Game of Distraction:

The Right is playing a game of distraction by lying and saying that the problem doesn’t exist. They do this to avoid talking about requiring background checks for private sales. And it works.

The Left is so caught up in playing the game and arguing that the problem is real that very few have been able to see past it and smell the BS.

Some have been perceptive enough to start cutting through such as Kamala Harris who proposed recently:

“…anyone who sells more than five guns a year, they will be required to perform background checks on the people they sell them to…”

This is how to make progress — by refusing to play the game and taking action.

The Game Ends

The only way to close the “Gun Show Loophole” is to require background checks for all private gun sales. Even the proposal by Harris is only a partial solution. Due to the lack of accountability of ownership there’s extreme difficulty in enforcing such a law, but at least it would be a start.