Gun Shows and Terrorists

Gun Shows are the equivalent of al Qaeda terrorists walking right onto the airplane while law abiding citizens wait in the TSA line!

At over 5,000 gun shows each year, in 32 States, criminals and terrorists are allowed to purchase firearms from private gun dealers without an ID or background check. Although many dealers at gun shows are federally licensed and therefore legally required to contact the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NCIS) to ensure that a prospective purchaser is not prohibited from possessing firearms, private sellers have no such requirement. This dangerous "gun show loophole" has allowed criminals and terrorists to legally buy and sell guns in the US on a cash-and-carry, no-questions-asked basis for years. The following are just a few proven and frightening examples of how terrorists and criminals have bought guns undetected at US Gun Shows.

A manual titled, "How Can I Train Myself for Jihad" was found among the rubble at a training facility for a radical Pakistan-based Islamic terrorist organization. The manual contains a chapter on "Firearms Training" and singles out the US for its easy availability of firearms and states that al-Qaeda members in the US can "obtain an assault weapon legally, preferably AK-47 or variations". In Texas, Muhammad Asrar was arrested in an investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks. He pleaded guilty to immigration violations and illegal possession of ammunition. The Pakistani store owner said he had bought handguns, rifles and a submachine gun at gun shows since 1994. On September 10, 2001, just one day before the devastating attacks against the United States, Ali Boumelhem was convicted on a variety of weapons violations plus conspiracy to ship weapons to the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon. He and his brother Mohamed had purchased an arsenal of shotguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, flash suppressors and assault weapons parts from Michigan gun shows without undergoing background checks.

On April 20, 1999, in the deadliest High school shooting in United States history in Littleton Colorado, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold procured two shotguns, an assault rifle and a TEC-9 assault pistol and shot 26 students, killing 13 of them before turning the guns on themselves. Subsequent investigation by the ATF found that all four of the weapons had been purchased from private sellers at gun shows. Some of the guns were purchased for the killers by their friend, Robyn Anderson. Later, Ms. Anderson would state publicly that, had she been required to undergo a background check at the gun show, she would not have purchased the guns for the teens. Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh used Texas gun shows to make large gun purchases. According to an ATF arrest warrant, Koresh and his cult made "regular purchases of weapons and ammunition [from] flea markets and gun shows." In the end, authorities estimated that Koresh had at least 200 automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles stockpiled, plus thousands of rounds of ammunition. Finally Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was a "Private Seller" at Gun Shows. He along with accomplice Michael Fortier, admitted to stealing $60,000 worth of shotguns, rifles and handguns from an Arkansas gun collector's ranch and then reselling the stolen weapons at gun shows.

It's just common sense that buyers and sellers at gun shows be required to abide by the same reasonable standards that law abiding gun buyers and the majority of Federally Licensed gun dealers comply with. It's not too much to ask that criminals and terrorists who have been known to exploit the "Gun Show Loophole" undergo criminal background checks and show ID's before they buy guns in the US. Both Presidential Candidates and the majority of Americans including gun owners support closing this dangerous loophole. It's time for Congress to act.

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Stop Handgun Violence (www.stophandgunviolence.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of gun violence, today unveiled its newest advertising campaign on the nation's largest billboard alongside the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston. The 252-foot billboard displays a new powerful and provocative call-to-action message urging lawmakers to close the "gun show loophole" in federal gun laws that allows terrorists and criminals to purchase firearms at gun shows, "no questions asked," without a criminal background check or ID. The billboard, created by the Boston-based advertising agency Modernista, is designed as a mock gun show advertisement containing the message that highlights the ease and accessibility for individuals to legally buy guns in the U.S. without detection: "We Sell Guns! No ID Required. No Background Checks. Criminals and Terrorists Welcome!"

The billboard unveiling marks the beginning of a national public awareness campaign by Stop Handgun Violence that includes a grassroots initiative featuring "wild postings" of campaign fliers designed as mock yard sale advertisements and leafletting at the Democratic and Republican Conventions in Denver and Minneapolis.

Comments

[StinkyPete]

US Department of Justice
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Firearm Use by Offenders

http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/abstract/fuo.htm

There is more where this came from - seems as gun shows are a marginal source for firearms used in crime. Alternate sources are easily available to provide firearms in the event that all gun shows are prohibited. So why bother?

[BluePimpernel]

Bottom line: Firearm sales at gun shows are subject to the exact same rules as firearm sales anywhere else. Dealers must do background checks, private sellers do not.

Bit of irony: It used to be that most of the private firearm sellers you see at gun shows had dealers licenses and would have to do a background check to sell a firearm, but the gun control jihad thought that it was too easy to get an FFL and successfully lobbied Congress to increase the fees and tighten the restrictions on who can be an FFL. As a result, most of these sellers let their FFLs lapse or never got one because it is too expensive, too restrictive, too much work, and leaves you open to no notice searches by the BATFE. The gun controllers basically peed on their own boots.

[BluePimpernel]

Mistake #7: McVeigh primarily sold, not bought, and therefore would not have been subjected to a background check. Further, if he had, he would have passed one.

[BluePimpernel]

Mistake #6: Many of the weapons charges against the Branch Davidians were shown to be false or were later thrown out. Most of them would have passed background checks.

[BluePimpernel]

Mistake #5: Anderson would have passed a background check and can only say she would have been deterred in hindsight. Obviously the idea of being a proxy buyer because Harris did not want the firearms to be traceable to him did not deter her.

[BluePimpernel]

Mistake #4: Harris would probably have been able to pass a background check and at the time of the shooting was old enough to purchase any of the firearms used from a private seller or the rifle and shotguns from a dealer. Klebold also would have passed a background check and was old enough to buy the rifle and shotguns from a private seller.

[BluePimpernel]

Mistake #3: No assault rifle was used at Columbine. Assault rifles are select-fire rifles and a category of machine gun. The only rifle used was a semi-auto carbine. A similar term, "assault weapon" has been applied to some semi-auto firearms, causing much confusion with assault rifles. The rifle used did not meet the definition of an assault weapon either.

[BluePimpernel]

Mistake #2: If memory serves, Boumelhem would have been able to pass a background check.

[BluePimpernel]

Mistake #1: Asrar did not buy a sub-machine gun without a background check at a gun show. Sub-machine guns, like all machine guns, are NFA Class III firearms and to purchase one ANYWHERE requires being fingerprinted, photographed, getting an affidavit from state or local authorities, submitting that all that plus a form and $200 to the feds who will conduct a lengthy background check and if they approve you, you will get a tax stamp and the firearm will be registered to you. Failure to adhere to these rules will result in 10 years in federal prison.

[SnowflakesInHell]

Yes... John Rosenthal would love for you to think that you can go buy a machine gun, no questions asked, at any gun show in the US. But the fact is that nowhere in the US can you buy a machine gun, no questioned asked, and the idea that terrorists are going to come over here and go through the whole NFA process to get one of the few legally transferable machine guns that are still out there is absurdly laughable. Even if they do, their lethality compared to, say, a fully fueled jetliner, or a few pounds of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel, is pretty appallingly small.

[LeftRight]

He never said machine guns. The fact of the matter is that a few handguns can EASILY be more deadly than a machine gun! And it IS easy to buy a few handguns at gun shows without undergoing a SINGLE background check!

[SnowflakesInHell]

Is it really? Have you tried it, or is that just what people have told you?

[Thirdpower]

Do you know the difference between a "submachinegun" and a "machinegun"?

[thebugman]

Well let me address Michigan since that is where I am from... First off you don't undergo any background checks to buy Ammo and Parts.. I guess he just put those in there for "shock" value.. Secondly, you need either a purchase permit or a CCW License to buy any Handgun period.. Even an "individual" is not supposed to sell you one without verifying that you can leagaly buy one... Obviously some do either beacuse they don't know the Law or they don't care about the Law...And in reality, if I want one you can buy one on the street for dirt cheap... Maybe we should get the "illeagle street loophole" closed as well...

By the way, most Guns bought on the street are stolen Guns.. If the Gov't cared soooo much about keeping Guns out of the hands of Criminals,, they could surely afford to buy every law abiding gun owner a lovely Gun Safe in which to store their Weapons.. Most would love to have one but many can't afford the couple thousand dollar price tag..Of course People that own Thousands of dollars worth of Guns but have no Safe are Idiots in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong.. I have NO problem with the instant background check system.. But if you think for one minute that closing the Gunshow loophole will stop gun crime, you are not very bright...There are too many Guns already available to Criminals..

[BluePimpernel]

"He never said machine guns."

Um, yeah, he did. He mentioned sub-machine guns and assault rifles, both of which are types of machine guns. (BTW, there was no assault rifle used at Columbine)

[Mark0]

"And it IS easy to buy a few handguns at gun shows without undergoing a SINGLE background check!"

And you have done this?

[45superman]

Tell me, John--how many terrorist attacks have been facilitated by guns purchased at U.S. gun shows? Assuming you can name even ONE (a generous assumption, perhaps, but what the hell--I'm in a generous mood), how likely is it that thwarting the gun show route for acquisition of the guns would have made the terrorist give up his jihad plans, and become a productive member of society?

Don't feel compelled to rush to answer--I'll wait.

[LeftRight]

And how many CRIMINAL actions have been facilitated by the gun show "loophole". Go ahead and compile the list. It'll take you a while, so I'll wait!

[Thirdpower]

Few. An FBI analysis concluded that NO firearms involved in police shootings came from gun shows.

"Researcher Davis, in a presentation and discussion for the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, noted that none of the attackers interviewed was “hindered by any law--federal, state or local--that has ever been established to prevent gun ownership. They just laughed at gun laws.”

Now defend Rosenthal's claims.

[BluePimpernel]

FBI data indicates that less than 2% of firearms used in crimes came directly from a gun show.

[45superman]

As Thirdpower and BluePimpernel have explained, the mythical "gun show loophole" has very little to do with criminal violence in the U.S.

Besides, I was responding to Rosenthal's bizarre implication that TERRORISM is abetted by gun shows--he didn't title his little rant "Gun Shows and Criminals," after all.

[Thirdpower]

"How Can I Train Myself for Jihad". This "manual" was a photocopied piece of tripe from now defunct "assam publications" in the UK. It had as much to do w/ real Jihad as a cookbook.

"The Pakistani store owner said he had bought handguns, rifles and a submachine gun at gun shows since 1994."

Selling "submachineguns" which require an Class III license and numerous background checks? Seems someone isn't telling the truth.

"Later, Ms. Anderson would state publicly that, had she been required to undergo a background check at the gun show, she would not have purchased the guns for the teens."

So why wasn't she indicted for straw purchases? More to the story?

Now let's ask John if he supports non-FFL access to the NICS system? Oh, wait, no he doesn't. He wants all sales to go through licensed dealers. The same dealers that he advocates civil lawsuits against to put them out of business.

And this is the alleged voice of "hunters and shooters" across America.

[LeftRight]

But.....but......but..... Then someone might have to suffer for a minute while legally getting a gun!!!

[Thirdpower]

So you would support allowing private sellers access to the NICS?

[LeftRight]

In a freaking heartbeat!