That Private Sale Loophole Through Which Semi Trucks Loaded with Illegally Sold Guns Often Drive

This is a document from earlier this year, which you can read in its entirety HERE.

It addresses the investigation of the so-called gun show loophole, at - where else - gun shows, aka private sales. 

In response to the oft-repeated whines (you can almost hear the THROB in their voices) from the gun loonz, that they are safe (sort of), that they are law abiding (sort of), that they make good decisions about their guns, and 'why don't we trust FREE MEN? WHY, why why?"  the answer is in every page of this report.

I would comfortably assert that the overwhelming majority of the people attending the gun shows described in this document share most of the following:

- 2nd Amendment Rights enthusiasts (personal, not militia), including those who believe rights cannot be limited or regulated.

- support the SCOTUS Heller decision, (mostly inaccurately);

- advocate AGAINST any restrictive gun regulation, of any kind, anywhere, by any level of government (local, state, federal, international), and see government as generally  an 'enemy', including denying illegal gun sales occur at gun shows, and particularly resisting checks for private sales;

- are in favor of open and /concealed carry of firearms, pretty much anywhere, anytime, by anyone (or nearly so);

- believe they need a firearm for a likely instance occurring for self-defense, regardless of crime rates, or the reality that the instances they cite are NOT safe for defensive gun fire;

- believe they themselves are law abiding, defined as including ignoring laws with which they don't agree, like those regulating gun sales and gun carry;

- describe themselves as anti-crime even when they knowingly disregard the law;

- describe guns as inanimate objects / tools;

- blame the criminal, never the weapon, never the person who provides the weapon, when a crime occurs.

-  believe inaccurately, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that more guns are the cause for declines in crime rates, and that more guns will hasten that crime decline

-  belong, or have belonged at some point, to the NRA, and/or support the lobbying efforts, policies and positions of the NRA;

-  believe that Obama or someone from his administration will confiscate their firearms at some point in time;  

-  are fanatic about the importance of being able to acquire large capacity ammunition cartridges / clips/ magazines, and obsessive (but inaccurate) about the correct terminology for that item;

- believe machine gun shoots are good events;

- believe they are themselves safe with firearms, even when they demonstrate in various ways that they are not;

- have a mythic or glamorized / fantasized view of firearms, including in the reading material, entertainment (tv, movies), games, etc. they enjoy;

I've excerpted a few pages to give you an idea of the content:

Page 1

Executive Summary
On January 8, 2011, Jared Loughner, a mentally ill
drug abuser wielding a Glock semi-automatic pistol
with a 33-round extended magazine, shot and killed
six people in Tucson, Arizona, wounding thirteen
more, including U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle
Giffords. Even though the U.S. Army had rejected
Loughner after admitting to a history of drug abuse
during his application to enlist, it failed to share this
information with the FBI, as required by law.1 As
a result, Loughner’s name was never entered into
the National Instant Criminal Background Check
System (NICS), a database used to screen prohibited
purchasers from buying guns. Less than a year later,
Loughner was able to pass a background check and
purchase a shotgun,2 and only one year after that,
Loughner bought the Glock gun that he used in the
Tucson shootings.3
Like the tragedies at Columbine and Virginia Tech,
the Tucson shooting raised questions about the gun
background check system: why did the system fail?
And, what are the major gaps in the background
check system that make it easy for felons, the mentally
ill, drug abusers, and other federally prohibited
persons4 to buy guns?
Just two weeks after the tragic shooting in Tucson,
Arizona, the City of New York sent undercover
investigators to the Crossroads of the West gun show
in Phoenix, Arizona – 120 miles from Tucson and
one of thousands of such shows that occur across the
country every year.
The investigation sought answers to two different
questions:
Question 1: How easy is it to buy a gun
without a background check?
Result:
An undercover investigator bought a
Glock 9-millimeter pistol, similar to the weapon
used by Jared Loughner, from a private seller with-
out a background check. Under current law, this
no-background-check sale is legal assuming the man
making the sale is in fact only an occasional seller.
The investigator also bought three high-capacity
33-round magazines like the one Loughner used.

Question 2: Would private sellers sell
guns to people who said they probably
could not pass a background check?
Result: An undercover investigator bought two
9-millimeter semi-automatic pistols from two differ-
ent private sellers. In these buys, the investigator told
the sellers “I probably couldn’t pass a background
check.” Both sellers sold the gun despite a federal
law making it illegal to sell a gun to an individual the
seller “knows” or “has reason to believe” is a prohibited
purchaser.

Context: Gun Sales Without
Background Checks
In the United States, federal law prohibits dangerous
people, including criminals, the mentally ill, and drug
abusers from owning guns. In 1993, the FBI estab-
lished the National Instant Check System (NICS),
which contains federal and state records indicating
whether a person is a prohibited purchaser.

page 2

Current federal law recognizes two classes of indi-
viduals who sell firearms: federally licensed gun
dealers who are “engaged in the business” of selling
guns and unlicensed, “private” sellers who make
occasional sales from their personal collections.5
Federal law requires licensed dealers to conduct
background checks of their buyers,6 but private
sellers are exempt from this requirement because it is
presumed that they only sell guns occasionally. This
private sellers’ exemption is often referred to as the
“gun show loophole” because gun shows provide a
central marketplace for prohibited purchasers to con-
nect with private sellers who make anonymous gun
sales. Even though federal law exempts private sales
from background checks, it is a felony for private
sellers to sell a gun to an individual they “know” or
“have reason to believe” is a prohibited purchaser.7
Data suggest that private sales are common. Accord-
ing to some estimates, 40 percent of all gun sales in
the United States take place through private sales.8
Gun Shows Linked to Crime
Gun shows are a unique marketplace that typically
feature both private sellers and federally licensed gun
dealers selling guns side by side. According to federal
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
(ATF), this creates an environment where criminals
can easily and anonymously purchase firearms from
private sellers: “Gun shows leave a major loophole
in the regulation of firearms sales” and “provide a
large market where criminals can shop for firearms
anonymously.”9 However, by ATF’s own account, “it
is difficult to determine the precise extent of crimi-
nal activities at gun shows,”10 in part because private
sales are typically unrecorded, cash transactions.
According to ATF, 27 percent of illegally trafficked
guns are connected to private sellers and 30 percent
are connected to gun shows.11
Gun shows have been linked to mass shootings and
other gun crimes:
COLUMBINE:
All four of the guns used by the teenage shooters
at Columbine High School were bought at gun shows from private sellers.12
To help them buy the guns, the shooters enlisted the help of
Robyn Anderson, an 18-year-old senior. In a state-
ment to the Colorado House Judiciary Committee,
Anderson reported “I wish it would have been more
difficult. I wouldn’t have helped them buy the guns
if I had faced a criminal background check.”13

Trafficking of U.S. guns into Mexico:
According to ATF, increased gun trafficking to
Mexico is caused in part by “a readily accessible
source of firearms and ammunition originating in
mostly the secondary market, such as gun shows,
flea markets, and private sales.”14 The Special
Agent in Charge of ATF’s Phoenix Field Division
testified before Congress in 2009 that “drug traf-
fickers are able to obtain firearms and ammunition
more easily in the U.S., including sources in the
secondary market such as gun shows and flea mar-
kets.”15 As Dennis Burke, the United States Attorney
for Arizona said on January 25, 2011, “Mexican
drug lords go shopping for weapons in Arizona.”16

Terrorism: In 2001, Ali Boumelhem was
caught attempting to ship to Hezbollah guns,
ammunition, flash suppressors, and other material
that he and his brother Mohamed had bought at
Michigan gun shows.17 Other investigations have
linked gun shows to potential terrorists in Florida
and Texas.18

Street crime: For example, one investigation
of illegal sales at gun shows and flea markets in
Alabama led to charges against 13 people who
ATF estimated had trafficked 70,000 firearms over
the past several decades.19 Hundreds of these guns
were connected to homicides, robberies, assaults,
and drug and sex crimes, including one that was
used in the attempted murder of a Chicago police
officer.20


Page 3
The Undercover Investigation
New York City’s investigation documented gun sales
at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the
Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix on January 22
- 23, 2011. The City organized a team of undercover
investigators, most of whom have prior law enforce-
ment experience. Investigators used sophisticated
video and audio recording devices. Cameras were
concealed and had lenses no larger than the tip of a
ballpoint pen. On Saturday, January 22, investiga-
tors observed sellers, and purchases were made on
Sunday, January 23.
The Arizona investigation sought answers to two
questions:
Question 1: How easy is it to buy a gun
without a background check?
To answer this first question, an investigator approached
a private handgun seller and after a couple of min-
utes of conversation purchased a Glock 9-millimeter
without a background check.  The only identification
the seller needed to complete the sale was the
investigator’s Arizona driver’s license. Under current
federal law, this no-background-check sale is legal,
assuming the person selling the gun was making only
occasional gun sales. This gun is similar to the Glock
used by Jared Loughner. The undercover investiga-
tor also bought three high-capacity, 33-round maga-
zines like the ones Loughner used.
Question 2: Would private sellers sell
guns to buyers who said they probably
could not pass a background check?
To answer this second question, an investigator
conducted “integrity tests.” He purchased two
9-millimeter semi-automatic pistols from two differ-
ent private sellers. In both cases, before the transac-
tion was completed, he told the seller he “probably
couldn’t pass” a background check. Both sellers sold
the gun despite a federal law making it illegal to sell
a gun to an individual the seller “knows” or “has
reason to believe” is a prohibited purchaser.
(this section is followed by photos of guns purchased without background checks,  where buyer indicated that they could not pass a background check, sales included ammunition, regular magazines and extended magazine)

Failing The Private Seller Integrity Test
It is a federal felony for anyone to sell a gun to someone they “know” or “have reason to believe” is a
prohibited purchaser. Below are excerpts from the transcript of an illegal sale involving a private seller
at a gun show in Phoenix, Arizona on January 23, 2011. The investigator bought a Sig Sauer Sig Pro
2009 9mm for $500.


(photos and transcript )


page 4  (partial excerpt)

The integrity tests in Arizona were similar to the
City’s 2009 investigation conducted at seven gun
shows in Nevada, Tennessee, and Ohio. In October
2009, the City of New York announced the results of
that investigation: 19 of 30 gun sellers approached by
investigators – 63 percent – violated federal law by
selling guns to an investigator who said he “probably
couldn’t pass a background check.”21

The background check system itself is also under-
mined by a lack of resources and action in Wash-
ington. In the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting,
where the shooter should have failed a gun back-
ground check but didn’t because his mental health
records were never forwarded to the background
check system, Congress passed the NICS Improvement
Amendments Act. Since then, Congress has only ap-
propriated 5.3 percent of what it said was necessary
to get all of the records in the system. In addition,
many federal agencies have submitted zero records to
the system.

(and)

Enforcing existing gun laws will only go so far as long
as a loophole exists that enables criminals and other
dangerous people to buy guns without background
checks. Congress should change the law to require
a background check for every gun sale.27 State laws
requiring background checks for every handgun sold
at a gun show are associated with reduced interstate
gun trafficking. The 16 states and the District of
Columbia that require background checks for all
handgun sales at gun shows have a crime gun export
rate that is more than 60% lower than states that do
not (7.5 crime guns per 100,000 inhabitants versus
19.8 crime guns).28